Finally got up the nerve to join and post.

Hoping it helps me become strong enough to write my own material.

No words of wisdom just now.

My spirit animal is a muppet...

UPDATED: I really do wish I had some words of wisdom to share. No, really. Unfortunately I don't think that will happen until I finish my story, Love's Divine.

UPDATED 09-01-2008: Thank you everyone who has subscribed and posted reviews :) I deeply appreciate it. I'm so sorry for the delays. Life is happening which means job layoff drama :( However, I am plugging away at Chapter 3 and hope to get it done by the end of the month although it could take longer. Please hang in there. Thanks again!

UPDATED 09-14-2008:I was trolling the web and wanted to see whether or not my story showed up in Google searches. Imagine my surprise when I saw it listed in the Excellence in Superman Fan Fiction section! WOW! Thank you for that fantastic vote of confidence. I hope I can keep plugging and not disappoint you by leaving the story unfinished. My goal is to finish it at chapter 10. So everybody please sent out a hope/prayer/postive vibe that I can do it.

Also, I figured since I have some free time on my hands I'd update my profile section.

1. Favorite Fan Fic Genres:
Harry Potter
Labyrinth
Superman (of course :) )
Blood Ties (I mean honestly, Henry had the best hair this side of Jareth!)

2.Favorite Fan Fic Authors:
Okay of course the incomparable K.L. Morgan who broke my heart when she stopped work on the sequel to A Forefeit of Dreams. K.L., you took my breath away! When I wasn't blown away reading your work I was green with envy thinking "Damnit! Why hadn't I thought of that?! Lol...

Then there is Clairecheaux with the jaw-dropping Kal-El's Journal. Holy moly!! If you haven't discovered this yet run don't walk to the fan fiction section of The Planet http://www.bluetights.net/theplanet/showthread.php?t=19253. You will literally laugh and cry reading this. It's as if she took Superman from black and white to full-blown technicolor. You'll never see Superman the same way again. (Again, why didn't I think of this?!lol...)

I have to give a shout out to Alphie who was the first must-read Superman fan fic author I discovered. Being Jason White and In the Shadow of My Father are just...she created a whole world. Wow. I was reading it again and remembering just how much you inspired me to write my own. Every time I read her work I feel like I'm watching a whole other movie. Moreover, she's taken a critical but minor character and made him three-dimensional. And she did it without resorting to cliche. My hat is off to you.

3. Why the title? Why Love's Divine?: The title comes from Seal's song. For me, the lyrics describe where Clark's psyche is at in this story.

Then the rainstorm came, over me
And I felt my spirit break
I had lost all of my, belief you see
And realized my mistake
But time threw a prayer, to me
And all around me became still

I need love, love's divine
Please forgive me now I see that I've been blind
Give me love, love is what I need to help me know my name

UPDATE 11-04-2008:Oh howdy! Sorry it's taking me soooooo long to update. I'm actually working on a project for which I hope to get paid. And since I'm between jobs right now, I have to give that the priority. I expect that I'll be able to come back to Love's Divine by mid-November or early December. If I manage to write a short, one-off piece I'll post it. Until then though please be patient. This story isn't over. And I need to see how it ends as much as you do :) (Heck if I could illustrate this sucker I'd go to down; and since I'm working with a comic book organization maybe I'll find someone who can.)

Random Thought:Has anybody noticed how Zac Efron looks like he could be Brandon Routh's brown-haired younger brother? Jus' sayin'...

UPDATE 11-22-2008: Okay yes, I'm stiiiiilllll trying to work my way back to Love's Divine, while job hunting and working on real-world projects. But while I've been dancing the unemployment blues, I finished reading the entire Harry Potter series. Then I went on a Harry Potter fan fic binge. Well Done, My Good and Faithful Servantis the result. I hope you like it. It may or may not remain a one-shot. Depends on what kind of feedback I get and my energy levels. In any event it feels good to get my Potter fic out of my head.

Random Thought: How hot is Snape? Oooh baby!

UPDATE 01-11-2009: Well now yes, I am a bad fan fic writer. I have not gone back to Love's Divine as yet. And I've kept you waiting on Chapter 4 of Well Done, My Good and Faithful Servant.hangs head in shame On the other hand, I've completed, that's right COMPLETED, a new Potter fan fic, For the Price of My Familiar. It features Dumbledore and Snape and is the first solo creative writing project I've finished in 13 years. Whooo hoooo!! does the happy dance. This last story was something I had to write before I wrote Chapter 4 of Well Done so hopefully you can forgive me in light of that. And I won't make anymore promises on Love's Divine other than that I haven't abandoned it. It would help me out a lot more if folks would read and review my work. The encouragement would definitely help keep me going. Thanks!

UPDATE 02-24-2009: Well I've finished another one. I can't believe I'm still plugging away. I've also written Ch. 5 of Well Done, My Good and Faithful Servant which is a bit awkward since I haven't written Ch. 4 yet. Ah well. Severus isn't going anywhere. But you readers might so I'm TRYING to keep writing. Love's Divine still languishes. I hope it doesn't disappear from the site. It will be finished. I just don't know when. The Harry Potter muse has got me by the throat. I'm realizing that I don't have to make my chapters so friggin' long and that lowers the burden tremendously. Whoo-hoo! And I'm reading a boat load of fan fiction which seems to feed my muse so there you go. Now if I can just get some good Superman fan fiction that might get me going on Love's Divine again. Anybody got any suggestions? Oh well please let me know what you think. Read and review and I'll love you! Lol.

UPDATE 03-18-2009: Hi all! I'm sorry it's taking me forever to update Well Done. This story is turning out to be more complex than I originally envisioned it to be. Not because of a complicated plot but because I find I need to write so much background information. The main point right now is to fully develop Ophelia's character. I feel like I gave Severus a firm foundation in For the Price of My Familiar. Events in that story WILL impact events in Well Done so check it out if you haven't read it yet. I think you'll like it.The story I'm working on for Ophelia is called The Healer's Apprentice (although the title might change to The Feeling Begins which comes from a melody on Peter Gabriel's Last Temptation of Christ soundtrack). This takes place when Ophelia is 16 and she and Severus first realize they love each other. Tricky situation! How they handle it impacts on events in Well Done. I'm actually willing to send off the first five pages if you're interested cause I could use all the encouragement I can get to keep going. (Yep, still unemployed although I might start a temp job at the end of the month). THANKS TO EVERYONE who is waiting patiently. And for those of you who are waiting on updates to Love's Divine, please forgive me. My muse keeps pushing me towards Severus and hasn't yet sent me the way to resolve the tension built up at the end of ch. 3. As soon as it does, and unfortunately I can't force it, I will update.

P.S.

Wanna know how much money Snape makes? Check out my blog at www.being-heard.blogspot.com.

UPDATE 10-29-2009

Wow! It's been...seven whole months since my last update. In that time I've worked for the Census Bureau, twice; had two articles published in Publisher's Weekly Comics Weekly section (Yay!), had my computer crap out TWICE...no THRICE (first it was the power source, then it was the hard drive, then Microsoft sent a download that crapped out my system, Bill Gates is evil!! Lol) and I'm STILL job hunting. On the other hand this past weekend I went to a writing workshop at Haverford College with the HILARIOUS Lynda Barry. She gave me enough inspiration to rough out a chapter for one of my WIPs. I hate to say which one because of course I'm the queen of LOOONNNNGGGGG intervals between updates. However, I do have a new Potter fanfic out there. It's called Confessions of a Cornwall Grad. The premise: "We can't all go to Hogwarts. Doesn't mean we want to end up making change on the Knight Bus."Because of my computer problems I couldn't upload it to Fan Fiction. Once I get the Open Office download straightened out I hope to add it here. In the meanwhile, if you want to read it, you can find it on my blog at www.being-heard.blogspot.com. And for any of you still hanging in there, THANKS!!

P.S. Color me embarassed! An hour or two later I managed to upload it. Doesn't that just figure? In any case, enjoy! Feel free to leave a review!

UPDATE 12-23-09

It's been nearly 2 months since my last profile update so I thought it was time for another go. First up, THANK you to everyone who has read and especially those who have reviewed Confessions of a Cornwall Grad. A bigger thanks to those of you who've read Cornwall and then gone on to read and review my other stories. And the biggest thanks to Penni and Helena for holding my hand and cheering me on through the multiple drafts, lol. Special thinks to Kellychambliss for recc'ing me and therealsnape for humoring my general goofiness. And now that that's taken care of, I suppose I should mention that I've finally got something of an idea of how the story arc should end. It occurs to me that my 5 Harry Potter stories are all related. Here's how I envision the sequence: 1. For the Price of My Familiar, 2. The Healer's Apprentice, 3. Confessions of a Cornwall Grad, 4. Well Done, My Good and Faithful Servant, 5. Answers to Nothing (which takes place within the time frame of Well Done) and last but not least, dun-dun-DUN, 6. Planting Stones. Although it's currently little more than a gleam in my eye, Planting Stones ends the series. It will be MY version of what the epilogue should have been. And it will probably be the only story in the series that has LOTS of Harry. Everything else is Severus-centric. And Planting Stones will be about the platonic relationship between Harry and Severus. If you'd like a stronger hint as to what it's about check out Answers to Nothing :) Meanwhile, the struggle to write Cornwall Ch. 3 continues, hampered a bit by The Healer's Apprenticetugging at my coattails. Then there's also the fact that I've started a new job. Yay! I'm writing web ads for a local suburban company. I live in the city so it's quite a commute. And it's the night shift. I don't get off until nearly midnight. So don't ask me how I'm going to finish any of this. But since I also need to know what happens, I'm going to keep plugging. So have patience but have faith as well. I'm trying! :) Thank you in advance to anyone who can hang in there for the ride or just keeps checking in from time to time. You keep me going!

UPDATE 06-12-10

Wow, is it taking me a while or what?

Okay, first off, PLEASE don't kill me for posting a new story while STILL working on Cornwall Ch. 3. I DO have a beginning for Ch. 3. It's blistering but short and needs many more layers to make it as rich as the chapters before it. For me that takes time. That's the sad truth of it. And then As Pretty Does decided it needed to be born NOW, and so I had to write and post it. Thank God, it's short!

Meanwhile, if you'd like to peruse an entertaining little by-product of my efforts with Cornwall, check out my non-fiction Trapped in the Alley series at my Live Journal account: http :// librasmile .livejournal. com /6604. html. Just take out the spaces and it should get you there. I was trying to figure out the geography of Demeter's world, a piece of which showed up in As Pretty Does. Blink and you'll miss it, but it's there.

And as always, thanks for reading and please review!

UPDATE 01-26-11

Just taking time on this snowy day to update my profile since I haven't done it since summer last year. For anyone's who's interested, Chapter 3 of Confessions of a Cornwall Grad has finally been posted. MUCH MUCH thanks to duj, Rose of the West, Laurel Hill, Oonga 5 and Megi (PLEASE forgive me if I've misspelled your name or forgotten it ) for your reviews. They're very encouraging and I hold to them to keep me going. I don't know when the next chapter will be posted. Currently I'm just letting my brain rest and twiddling around with the much longer delayed chapter 2 of The Healer's Apprentice. I also had an idea for a Dumbledore-centered one-shot.

I don't want to further delay a Cornwall but the truth is my feelings were a little bit hurt when I didn't get more reviews. Hey it's my own fault I took forever to update. But hopefully the depth of info in the chapter shows why. So once I've finished licking my wounds ( Yes I know I'll get over it! ) then I'll find the energy to tackle the next chapter. I expect that chapter to take a bit of a left turn with regard to Severus' background. And yes he and Demeter will finally get on a more intimate footing. Again thank you to everyone who took the time to read and review. You really do help keep me going. Happy writing!

UPDATE 02-07-2011
Sigh, still trying to figure out the writing direction. Since I got so few reviews on Cornwall I'm thinking of not publishing anything else until it's done or only publishing to folks who review. Let me know what you think about that. I NEED encouragement so it's discouraging not to get more response.

Second, I haven't abandoned Well Done, My Good and Faithful Servant. Cornwall is actually a bridge between that story and The Healer's Apprentice. And much of the background notes I figured out for Cornwall should actually show up in Well Done. Right now though I've been thinking about The Healer's Apprentice which still doesn't have chapter 2 and has been languishing WAY longer than Cornwall. ( By the way, I've finally updated my blog at www.being-heard.blogspot.com If you want to see what Severus' OTHER house might look like, check it out. What you didn't know he had another house besides the one at Spinner's End? That means you didn't read Cornwall Chapter 3 - for shame! )

Third, I've just posted a one shot that was rattling around in my head. I didn't want the lack of encouragement to keep me from writing anything. I just wanted to produce SOMETHING.

Fourth, for those of you who love my Superman story, I don't know what to say. You don't have to leave a review. Feel free to e-mail me if you want to see more. Encouragement helps me write more than anything and it's not very encouraging to see that Brandon Routh is out for the franchise reboot - which I'm pretty sure means they're jettisoning the Jason storyline. That affects MY story, lol. So I don't know what to do about that. If anybody know anybody over at DC Comics or Warner Brothers who thinks they might want to actually give permission for me to write and sell that story, feel free to make yourself known. Otherwise, I'm feeling kind of...not meh about completing it but not energized.

In other words, whatever you want to see from me, it's best if you EMAIL ME AND TELL ME, because otherwise I'm liable to run out of energy, enthusiasm and effort.

UPDATE 05-20-2011

Well here we are again with me rambling on about my writing life as if anyone cares, lol. Let's see...First, I've posted a few stories since my last update. I added Hair Without the Shirt, What Millicent Didn't Know, and the most recent Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain. This continues my streak of writing one or quasi-one shots in between chapters of my longer works.

As for Cornwall Chapter 4, this has stalled because I've created a character that's going to be a bridge between Cornwall and The Healer's Apprentice Chapter 2. Also, The Healer's Apprentice has woken up and demanded my attention. I tend not to write until I think I've gotten a good, solid understanding of a chapter's / story's underlying emotional architecture. This not only requires me to come up with a logical, coherent understanding but a metaphorical understanding as well. That last part is tricky. I have to both dig and explore as well as gather pieces of flotsam and jetsam to build up my image bank of metaphors so that I have enough power to write the way I want. I think I've reached critical mass with Ophelia Broomall ( who is in HA as well as Well Done ). This means Chapter 2 demands to be written. So there you go.

Hope you can hang in there. The writing continues. I don't expect to produce anymore one-shots in the near future but you never know. It all depends on how my creative process goes. Once HA 2 is done, Cornwall 4 and get off the ground. Don't kill me! * ducks and runs *

UPDATE 09-29-2011

Well my record for slow updates holds! Just dropping a line to let Cornwall fans know I haven't forgotten about Chapter 4. Real life kicks my patootie as always but I have a solid bead on how to launch the chapter. The challenge is that, because I have a key character who also appears in The Healer's Apprentice, I'm working on 2 chapters at the same time. There wasn't much action in Cornwall Chapter 3 which I hope to remedy in Chapter 4. Action isn't exactly my strong suit though so fair warning. On the OTHER hand, Demeter will be working REALLY hard to help Severus get his house back, so expect certain...machinations - possibly with a little assist from Madame Hooch. Okay enuf said. Back to the page.

UPDATE 10-02-2011

Okay I shall have to edit these updates at some point and remove the ones that just are too old. In meanwhile, here's another one-shot to chew on as I continue mulling over Cornwall chapter 4 and Healer's Apprentice chapter 2. Just a minor note: Just like Answers to Nothing, A Letter to Nurmengard takes places within the story Well Done, My Good and Faithful Servant. I don't know why it came out that way. Ask my muse. She runs the show. I just take dictation.