I was first introduced (have you noticed that everyone says that they were 'introduced' to this site?) to ApricotPie when a friend of mine emailed me a link and said it was a cool site and I should look at it.  I ignored it.  It sat in my email box for months.
Finally, one day, I was deleting old, dead emails, and I came across that one.  I decided to click on the link. (Apricotpie.com!  What kind of name is that?  It sounds disgusting.)  I figured I might as well.  I got stuck.  Mom found me there an hour later reading stories.  I started talking a mile a minute, telling her there was an actual website for homeschooled writers and please, please could I join?  She and dad talked about it and decided I could - provided I finished 9th grade first.  I was only halfway through at that time and thought it was forever.
I wasn't prevented from visiting the site, though, and in that time I was on here reading an hour or two a day.  I started with Anna's Stars Over Llorleya, and found Clare's And There Were Three (now titled Triumvir) a couple days later.  I found so many stories, and I loved them all.
I loved everything about this site.  I thought it was magic.  It made me want to write even more.  I loved the blue and orange theme, and the special place we guest writers had at the bottom.  For some strange reason, I even loved that we got to pick topics when we posted.  (I still like that.)
I was thrilled when someone commented on my stuff for the first time.  It was as cool as the rest of the site.
I've been on here for more than a year now, and since then (I have to say this, just like everyone else) I've learned a lot.  (Well, I have!)  I've learned to edit and get rid of unnecessary words, although I haven't figured out how to leave out unnecessary parts of the story altogether.  I almost figured out how to create suspense.  I learned that you always, no matter how good you think your story is, have to go back through it and touch it up.
Some of the stuff I've written wasn't very good.  I've even gone back and deleted some of it because I was so ashamed of it.  (I always copied it down onto a piece of paper though.  I didn't want it lost forever.)  I've edited a lot of the stuff I've done on here, although I haven't posted it yet.
I made friends here too.  Keri, and Ariel, and Alecia, and other people on the message board that I would never have gotten to know if I hadn't joined Apricotpie in the first place.
I don't post stuff on here as much as I used to.  I've gotten busier since 9th grade.  In fact, I'm starting college next year.  I still read posts on here though, and I still write occasionally.  I'm not about to give that up.
I've made this much longer and more complicated than it needs to be.  Long story short (even though I already wrote the long one), I like this site, it helped me improve my writing, and Ben, I'm glad you made it and took the time to make it better.

Thanks, Bridget.

(BTW, this is late - several weeks late, actually.  Sorry about that.)