THE MAIL - I have a LOT of mail I've not answered. I will get around to it - it's not that I'm particularly polite, but I am excessively obsessive! So I have to... if you've written to me at any time since mid-January and I've not replied, I will. I'm working through March at the moment and then I'll get onto February :)

All that stuff below is probably out of date by now - I'll get around to changing it in a bit. But first - my apologies for my absence. I have been away for quite a while due to - pick one:

a) Illness

b) Depression. Which is also an illness, but a different kind.

c) Misanthropy

d) Too much work to catch up with

e) An undercover assignment which precluded any contact with the outside world

f) All of the above

g) None of the above, make up your own...

But to return to reality, a and d pretty much sum it up. However, I'm now healthy and have caught up with the more urgent parts of the work, so back to the fics!

Update to Two Birds One Stone is on the way very soon. Dancing in the Dark should be not too long after and I'll finally get around to the last chapter of Double or Nothing which is completely written in my head, just wants typing out :)

Nothing new for now until I get going again with the ones I'm still in the middle of. TBOS has no more updates after this one, so I want to write some of that, there's no point making any new fics and then everything's waiting weeks for an update. But soon! I really want to get on with the sequel to Night and Day, it keeps nagging me to write it XD

Pictures.

Now I have a replacement hard drive I'm going to be working on my L and Light figures in odd moments. So hopefully there will actually be some new pictures before too long. I know there's a long list of fan-art I planned to do if I can ever remember what's on it XD

I need to do something about this! I'm now desperate to do one for Tierfal's The End Is Near, particularly chapter 24 where Mello is - well, I won't spoil it if you haven't read it, but he's using his imagination in an unexpected way. And if you haven't read it - why not? Go read! Now!

Being Written

Cruel and Unusual - a lot of people have asked for an epilogue to chapter 13. There was a bit more, and I've now found the notes for it, so I'll get that done when I have a few minutes spare time and feel like spending it creating angst and making myself really really miserable XD Oh God, yes, I forgot about this. I knew there was something else I meant to do!

Double or Nothing - One more chapter to go. Have decided I definitely have issues with last chapters. Why? I don't know. Some kind of abandonment complex no doubt.

Two Birds, One Stone - new fic, from a plot bunny kitsune55 sent me - and for which I'm eternally and endlessly grateful as I love it! It's very different to the other AUs I've done, so I'm even surprising myself with it - very enjoyable XD Also being very kindly beta-read by kitsune55 :)

Dancing In The Dark - this is my L POV story - beta-read by recipe for insanity who is an angel in human form and makes incredibly good suggestions to improve it. This is a canon AU and full of angst. And yaoi. Lots and lots of yaoi. THIS IS ON HOLD FOR NOW. Because I'm short of time.

Coming up next

Pretty Well Missing In Pink - sequel to Night And Day, now has a plot if a bit random and rambling. I'll probably be writing this one before Death By Chocolate, for the simple reason that I need to brush up nearly all my shamefully rusty European languages for DbC and haven't got around to it yet, despite the usefulness of the BBC language site XD This is much more accessible, especially after some conversation with Vera-Sama - thanks very much! :) - which led to the story finally having a central theme rather than just being a bunch of trimmings.

The Rule of Law. (working title) Gothic Regency romance. This was suggested by fouloldron whom I owe a fic to anyway - and inspired by the dream sequences in Cruel and Unusual, with a different and French (ooh la la!) version of L. I'm hoping to start this one round about the same time as Pink, although I have some research to do around it still.

Death By Chocolate. Apart from the language barrier, this has turned out to be a lot more complex than I first thought. I'm still deciding what to leave in it and what to take out. I have way too many OCs and suspects - or maybe too few. Well, let's just say it's not ready to roll off the production line yet XD