Update 2/5/12:

Currently working on several new Buffy/Angel stories and have just posted a NEW one! Stay tuned for more updates! :)

xoxo

About Me:

I’m just a girl who loves writing, reading, and watching good television. Fanfic fortunately involves all three of these obsessions. :)

xoxo

Thanks…

I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my stories. I write first and foremost for myself, but it thrills me to see that others enjoy my writing too.

Thanks also to those who have left a review or two. Your words of encouragement bring a smile to my face. As always, I love to hear from my readers, even on the old stuff.

And last but not least, thanks to that crazy muse of mine. I can’t forget her! Without her help, it would be considerably harder for me to finish anything at all! (Well, she helps me when she wants to, but that’s a story for another day…)

xoxo

To my Grey’s Anatomy fans - My Mer/Der story, “A Weekend Away,” is on hiatus as of now, possibly forever. I’d like very much to finish it, because unfinished stories make me cranky. But unfortunately, my muse refuses to cooperate with me on this one. We’ve argued about this many times. She tells me if I want it finished, I should just write it myself. I keep trying to convince her to help me with it. So far, no luck. But maybe if the mood strikes, I will finish it someday…

To my Port Charles fans - In case you didn't know, I have another Rafe/Alison fanfic, "Heaven Sent an Angel", the first one in my series of Rali stories. It's not posted here at ff.net because I'm too lazy to post the 80+ chapters of it lol. Not to mention that I'd probably make everyone on my author alert list really mad...80+ chapters, really. Follow the link below to read it:
http://www.rafealison.bravehost.com/

Also, don't forget to check out my Rafe and Alison website: http://alisonrafe4ever.bravehost.com

xoxo

FANFICTION.NET TIPS! (For everyone to read!)

As a member of FF.NET since 2002, I feel the need to share some “tips” I’ve learned through the years.

1) Upgrades = site problems! FF.NET, we love you, but every time you “upgrade”, something breaks. If the site is acting crazy, upgrades are probably happening. Just give it a few days (or up to a week in some cases) and it should be back to normal soon. They used to be really good about letting us know ahead of time when upgrades were planned on the homepage, but lately, not so much. Upgrades now are just frustrating surprises, you know, like when you’ve JUST posted your new chapter?

2) You’ve just posted your story, but it’s not appearing on the main page. Why? Well, it takes a while (not really sure how long exactly) for the newest content to appear. A trick to this is to go to the address bar at the top and add a slash mark (/) to the end of the url. You’ll then be able to view the updated content! Keep in mind this trick works 9 times out of 10. You might sometimes have to add multiple slashes to see even newer content. I can’t remember where I learned this trick, but it was a long time ago and to this day, it still works. It also works on the review pages too, which comes in handy when email alerts are down! (You KNEW you had more reviews! They were just hiding!)

3) Ads suck! Before I discovered Firefox, I was in IE hell. I understand this site is free, and I understand the site is supported by ads. BUT – when flashy ads give me a migraine and my computer spyware, something must be done. You know, I really wouldn’t mind a tasteful ad on the side of the screen, but a huge pop-up that freezes my computer? No. Download Firefox and make sure you get the Adblock Plus add-on. It’s all FREE! And trust me, you’ll be so much happier on this site when you do! (And on the web in general! Firefox rules!)

4) Don’t forget filters! Some of the more popular fandoms have character filters. Say I only want to read Bangel stories and no Spuffy. All I need to do is to select Buffy and Angel from the top, bookmark, and done! Now I will ONLY see Bangel fanfics when I visit the site! You can also use the filters to select story rating, story length, language, or completion status. Using filters is a great idea for very active fandoms. That way, the fanfics you most likely want to read won’t get buried to page 2 so quickly.

5) Review Replies. This is mostly a tip for authors, but it took me a while to realize it. Whenever you get a review alert in your email, there is a link in the email so that you can reply. But what if the email alerts are delayed or not working? Simple. Just go to the review page and click the little bubble on the right. Now you can reply! (Note: Replying to reviews used to be slightly different but now it's strictly through the PM system. You can only reply to reviews that are signed, meaning from a registered user on the site and not from a guest or anonymous reviewer but you probably already knew that.)

6) Dude, where’s my avatar? – Did you just update your avatar and are frustrated because it still hasn’t appeared on your profile page? Well, when the site says it may take up to 24hrs for it to appear, they aren’t kidding! And sometimes, it takes more than 24hrs. Usually the little tiny icon will appear first, followed by the bigger picture on your profile page, then by the medium size avatar on forum posts. Also, speaking of avatars, if you don’t have one, you should get one! Sometimes it’s easier to remember a picture than a screen name. Just fyi ;) Google is a great place to search for pictures to use! Try to get one that’s not used by someone else though.

7) My profile isn’t updating! Yeah, that can take a while too.

8) FF.NET hates your fancy scene breaks. This is another tip for authors. Say you’ve uploaded your new chapter, and you’ve got several scene breaks within the chapter. Keep in mind you will not be allowed to use fancy scene breaks, like three asterisks with squiggly lines or a series of dashes in the middle. A long time ago, you used to be able to use whatever characters you wanted, but now, the site strips certain characters. Why? I don’t know. I think mostly they want to force you to use the gray horizontal line. In any case, you have two options. One: Use the line. Two: Experiment with other characters. I’ve seen some people be very creative with this. I’m too nervous to do this though. Sometimes you’ll find that what worked before suddenly doesn’t work anymore, then you’ll end up with chapters with no scene breaks at all. Best to stick to the one that will work.

9) Along with certain characters, you are also not allowed to put web or email addresses into your story. If you do, the site will simply strip these away when you post. I think this was done to prevent spammers from collecting email addresses. Probably a good idea actually, although I bet it sucks if you have an email address in your story.

10) FF.NET is also riddled with frequent server failures, and they cause all kinds of problems. Expect it.

11) In the event you need to edit your chapter after you’ve already posted, don’t panic! This is easy. If the document is still in your document manager, you can simply update it as you normally would, then go to contents/chapters and replace the chapter. It’s at the very bottom and under the add new chapter button. If the document is NOT in your document manager, click the link for export (EXP). This will send it back to the document manager, and then you can update. How do I know this? I had to figure this out whenever FF.NET took out ALL of my scene breaks and I had to put them back. (See #8) I’m amazed I figured this out, because there are certainly no instructions on the web that I could find.

Well, that’s it. I feel like I’m forgetting something. I might add more if I think of something else. I hope this guide will help make your experience on FF.NET much more pleasant…or at least a little easier! And keep in mind that even though FF.NET makes you want to tear your hair out sometimes, it’s one of the few sites out there that’s still FREE so let’s be grateful for that!

HEY, FF.NET…LOVE YOU!

Happy reading (and posting!), everyone! :)