11.25.2008 -- I am alive. Just busy. But I am not done burning the Midnight Ego-Oil just yet.

8.12.2008 / edit 8.13.2008 -- It might be 4:00 AM but SAVING SHARD is COMPLETE! Omg, please read and review. . . I have never worked so hard on ANYTHING in my life as I have that final chapter. My fingers and eyes are numb. I don't care if you don't like it -- I finished it. I FINISH MY STORIES. I agonized over EVERY word. I do the dang best job I can and I do it for free, because I love writing. Bottom line: I write the stories that I want to read, that way I always love them an can feel proud and satisfied. I FINISHED IT!! .. . sorry, I'm really excited. Maia's Pen

7.5.2008-- I updated SAVING SHARD a few days ago. Please R&R. . . the epilogue will be up shortly. But, click HERE to see lilineko's cover art for SS first, it really heightens the reading experience. Now we can SEE what Shard looks like, tee hee! I find him saxxy. Best, MP

6.29.2008- Saving Shardwill be updated tonight or tomorrow. . . and. . . here is a MEGA surprise for all of my readers. . . the fabulous lili neko has created COVER art for Saving Shard check it out and worship. . . link to her DA page HERE!! Link on Egoshipping Central HERE!! I LOVE ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!

6.21.2008-- I'll be updating Saving Shard very soon, the rough draft is DONE & I'm just cleaning it up. So, look back in a week-ish for the update! & if you get a spare second check out THIS kick arse art work by lili neko, it's an OC of MEEEEEEE! SO COOL! See the rest on Egoshipping Central.

4.18.2008-- I'm still alive and Saving Shard is not dead, I swear! This semester of school is KILLING me. I have no time to write fan fiction. For real, I have NINE papers due by May 2. Ha. Ha. HA! Kill me now! Once the semester ends Saving Shard will also begin drawing to its grand finale. There are about 2 chapters left (3 tops if my imagination goes crazy). In the meantime, please feel free to busy your wonderfully creative minds HERE at Egoshipping Central, a Live Journal community dedicated to Gary Oak and Misty Waterflower. Sweet! SO GET OVER THERE AND JOIN! When I do update Saving Shard I will post the alert FIRST on Egoshipping Central. Plus it is jam-packed with other Egoshippy fan fics and avatars and fan vids and hotttt fan art of Gary and Misty and Gary and more Gary . . . so yeah. Egoshipping Central is the most comprehensive active Gary X Misty site out there. For sure!! See ya there. ~. (Oh, yeah, BTW-- I will be posting 2 brand-spanking NEW Egoshippy Oneshots this summer AND an ALL NEW short chapter Egoshippy as well once Saving Shard is over! Go Egoshipping! w00t!) Signing out, Maia's Pen

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Special thanks to: Alex Warlorn, Midnight Mist, Ori, and Reviewer 131 for getting my rear in gear and bringing WYB back to life! Don't thank me, thank them.

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RE: Watch Your Back -- Ori's awesome fan art of Gary can be found by using the address below (for some reason the site won't let me add a link). This was the drawing that helped me to fall in love with writing Watch Your Back all over again. (Thanks, Ori!) http://members.shaw.ca/orichan/picart/Gary20Oak.htm

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Updated 6.21.2007 -- MY PROFILE: Hello! My name is Maia's Pen. I have greatly enjoyed reading all of the fantastic stories on ff.net for many years now. I think that I discovered this site in 2001. I finally became a member in 2003.

I love to read (obviously) and I have had fun writing my own stories as well . . . even if they only entertain me! Most of my fics spotlight the Pokemon character Gary Oak. I feel the need to write this character. It does not matter how he is depicted, I just need to write him. He might be the soave romantic, the arrogant jerk, the angsty loner, or maybe even the hero – I just never know until I start writing. Despite the roles he plays I always strive to keep Gary, well, Gary. Generally, you’ll see him paired up with Miss Misty Waterflower. That’s called Egoshipping. GAML. Gary and Misty. Gary and Misty involved in a romance. Together. That, my friend, is called my second obsession next to Gary Oak himself. I LOVE Egoshipping. If you don’t like Egoshipping then that’s fine. I’m not going to try and convert you. I don’t care. I love to write what I write. It makes ME happy. I respect other shippers because we need them all. This place would be pretty dull if everyone shipped the same thing. In fact, I’ve written both Palletshipping (Ash X Gary) and Pokeshipping (Ash X Misty). I’ve written them, but, I do not prefer them. I wrote them as challenges to myself, because I wanted to at least try, and because I have cyber friends here who like them (I often write fics in dedication to other fan fiction writers). So, what I’m getting at is: please don’t be a hater. Don’t come screaming at me in a review because my opinion is different than yours. If you know that you hate Egoshipping then just don’t put yourself through the mental anguish and read it. Just be mature and skip to the next Pokeshipping fic on the page -- that will be easy because every other fic is one. OR you can be open minded and give my story a shot. You don’t have to like the pairing to like the writing, got it? wink

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Maia’s Reviewer Etiquette 101:

Let’s talk type-o’s

If someone has a type-o or a weird issue in their fic, then please, by all means, tell them. I love it if someone does this for me – I will thank them for it. But if you are going to leave a review saying “you spelled ‘critical’ wrong” then please also provide the sentence from where this type-o emerged. Let’s say that a chapter is 16 pages long, I, personally would have no idea where that word is. So copy and paste the sentence into the review. For example:

-“In this sentence you spelled ‘critical’ incorrectly. – Gary lanced Ash with a critial stare, but said nothing-” –

See how helpful that is? I LOVE my reviewers who do that for me!

Next, let’s talk about Constructive Criticism VERSES Flames.

Constructive criticism is great! That is when you point out mistakes in a helpful way. For example, let’s say that someone wrote a sentence like this:

“Misty’s beautiful sparkling cherry-red dress swayed gently down to her petite ankles”

Okay, clearly we have a problem here. THIS IS A VERY COMMON PROBLEM AROUND HERE. The sentence is way overcrowded with words. Too many adjectives. It’s over kill. A good constructive criticism would be to say:

“It sounds like Misty is wearing a lovely dress, but you might want to consider some editing. The sentence is difficult to read because there are so many descriptive words. I would suggest emitting the words ‘beautiful’ ‘cherry’ ‘gently’ and/or ‘petite’ and playing around with the sentence that way. We don’t need to know that the dress is ‘beautiful;’ that is a given, and if it ‘swayed’ then it’s probably ‘gentle’ fabric.”

See? The point will be taken by the writer without this person feeling crushed. Instead, this person will be challenged to correct this issue AND will then be more mindful in the future with the use of adjectives.

A FLAME. Now that is different. A Flamer is a Hater. Someone who just hates and rips on fics. A Flamer would look at the above sentence and immaturely bash the writer personally “You are a bad writer” or “your writing stinks” and they generally do not even point out what parts they don’t like. They are generally poor writers themselves and try to hurt the feelings of others to make themselves feel better. Sad, isn’t it? If you are ever the victim of a Flamer – I know it can be hurtful – but take a deep breath and just remind yourself that this person lacks the skills to even properly construct a review. They are NOT worth your agony. You worked hard on your story and it may have errors but it’s probably pretty darn-tootin’ good. Often enough, when I look at the stories written by a Flamer they are REALLY poorly done. Just ignore these people. The world is full of them. They are not worth your time. Constructive criticizers, however, ARE. They can help you improve by leaps and bounds.

Finally, let me touch on the difference between a weak review and a strong one.

I love ALL of the reviews that I get. No matter how short or how long. But there is a BIG difference in quality sometimes. A long review doesn’t necessarily mean it is the best, however, how can you possibly convey WHY you liked a story in less than a sentence? I’ll offer an example of a review:

“That was a good story, continue.”

Okay, well, great. Congrats, someone likes your fic. . . only, now you are wondering: Why? What did they like? Why did they decide to read MY fic over all the others on the main page? Now, those who know me know that I am notorious for my long reviews -- I pick out a lot of things to talk about, but, many people do not want to spent more than a second to bang out a review, right? After all, people are busy, right? WRONG. If you spend 5,10, 60 mins. Reading someone’s story then at least spend the time to point out something that you liked. Let them know something specific that you enjoyed. It means the world to a writer – you all know this, you are all writers! We are in this together. . And this doesn’t mean writing Maia’s Pen-mondo-ridiculous sized reviews, it means simpy this:

“That was a good story. I really like how you made Ash interact with Pikachu. When Pikachu licked that Ketchup off of Ash’s nose I almost giggled out loud. Continue!”

Okay, now how long did it take me to type that? I’ll tell you: about 5 seconds. Can you see the difference in the QUALITY if this review Vs. the first one? Both are short, but one is volumes more helpful and encouraging.

Got it? ~_ These tips are helpful -- not only for me-- but for everyone around here. You will become a more respected reviewer. You will be someone who the writer looks forward to receiving a review from. You can do it! Just always think of how long it takes to write these stories. Think back to your favorite review that YOU have received. Those are the kind that you want to give. The kind that just put a smile on your face to receive. Good luck.

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Random info about Maia’s Pen. College student by day and dog trainer by night. That about sums up my life. I train about 88 dogs a week, 90 if you count my own. I am an avid dog agility nut.

-I love Zelda games. I am a huge fan of Greek Mythology. I tend to be a "super nerd" I read comics, play video games, watch DBZ, Star Trek, Star Wars - see what I mean? Despite the above "nerdiness", I am a girlie-girl. I wear skirts; fret over my hair, clothes, you name it. My weakness: puppies, my boyfriend, Egoshipping, Obidala, Balthier X Ashe, pretty-boy-slash. I love Holland. I just got back from a 2 week holiday there. I LOVE that country, it’s my “mother land”.

- You can visit me at The Pokemon Tower . I like this site, but it lacks acceptance for pairings other than Pokeshipping/Rocketshipping. Egoshipping is like the plaque over there. You wanna know some of the Flames I’ve received? Phew! I could burn a forest with them.

-I have dubbed myself one of Gary Oak’s cheerleaders. It’s an unofficial gig, but hey, I’m slightly obsessed with the character. - is crushed under the massive understatement -

"Gary, Gary! See him grin! Lookin’ that cute outta be a sin!
Gary, Gary! He thinks so fast! Take him on and you’ll end up last!
Not a Gary cheerleader? Now that’s a crime. Cheering for anyone else is a waste of time!"

. . . I'm . . . not . . . obsessed . . . much . . . - _ - ;

I am a fan of some fictional cartoonie guys too. . . Let me list a few. . .

Gary Oak
Balthier
Gary Oak
Gambit
Gary Oak
Hiei
Gary Oak
Link
Gary Oak
Tidus
Gary Oak
Zell
Gary Oak also by the way. . .

. . . do we see a pattern here? (Better, Midnight Mist? ; )

As far as my own fics go: if anyone reads them, I hope they are enjoyed. My proudest accomplishment is Watch Your Back. I truly enjoyed writing it & am sad to have had to end it. My email: Greekdogs2@aol.com I'd love to hear from you all. Those of you who are not members & can't receive author alerts, just let me know and I will gladly email you when I update.

Gary love to all, Maia’s Pen