To my loyal readers:

I know it has been ages since I updated. I apologize.

In brief: In 2007 I went back to school for my MBA. I had so many academic papers to write that my creative muse ran away. In August 2008, I finally started the gluten-free diet my doctor had told me I had to start at the end of 2007 (except that I didn't really know what I had to do). In January 2009, I met the love of my life. Shortly after graduating that May, we moved in together, and I started a new job that had absolutely nothing to do with my new degree, which was depressing. I also still had some gluten-related health problems. I finally had income but doing something I had never wanted to do again, especially with a new MBA -- a degree I had gone for to get out of retail/related jobs. Home-wise, I was in heaven, but my job was making me unhappy, I was having health problems (unrealized gluten - I can't eat it OR touch it), and it hurt to use my hands, which made writing hard (on top of the unhappiness from work). In 2010, I moved up to the cash office (still in-store). This job I liked a lot -- and still enjoy. I even got full-time. Then I had to go back to part-time, and then we got new technology which took me from normal part-time hours down to 3 hours a morning, a couple of days a week. Seriously. Last year, I made just over $4100.00. I'm over 130% below Federal poverty guidelines, and we do not have assistance.

What does that mean for you, my dear readers?

Well, last year (2012), I received a request from a reader to take over my second "Take 2" story. But it turned out he wanted to completely ignore my second story, change the first one and go from there. I told him, "No thanks!" People like what I have so far, so I am not okay with this idea! Plus, I had never considered my stories abandoned, so therefore, they didn't need to be adopted.

If I got one offer though, surely, eventually, I would get more. Or, like some authors readers deem abandoned, I would get plagiarized and my story would be continued without my knowledge or consent.

Several months ago, I downloaded HPPS Take 2 into a Word file, and have been editing it. If I make any changes on this site, it will be to fix minor errors. I don't want to remove/combine entire chapters here and risk losing all the wonderful reviews I've collected on these stories over the last eight years. I will do HPCOS Take 2 next. What I'm hoping (assuming) is that by doing this, it will jump start my muse into finishing the next chapter for HPCOS Take 2 which has been sitting unfinished on my desktop for over two years.

To try to prevent you all from then waiting ages between that and another chapter, however, I am not going to post it until I have made sufficient headway into another chapter, or perhaps complete it (COS2) altogether, and then upload it, perhaps a chapter a week.

I may upload the revised HPPS: Take 2 onto another site and/or place it in a PDF file for you all to download for a quicker re-reading. It will seem shorter, but that is because I am combining the shorter chapters in the revised edition. Either way, I will let you know where you can find a revised version of the story for a quick re-reading before getting on with the next chapter.

Onto the profile . . .

Based on what I have read on other profiles, I suspect I’m a fair bit older than most of you.

I earned my BA in Journalism, History, and Russian, and my MBA in Economic Crime & Fraud Management.

I live in VERY southwest Virginia (not far from Tennessee), but my heart is northern and I hope to 'escape' out of the south one of these days, preferably to New York state since I have so much family there. But, who knows? No timeline on when (or if) I would move at this point. My fiancée and I are definitely staying here until we get the majority of our bills paid off and have money saved. Also, we're getting married in June 2013! If Virginia ever legalizes marriage, perhaps we'll stay where we are, given that it is a nice area and the cost of living is decent. (Or maybe close by where there are less tornadoes . . .)

I send my thanks to my wonderful beta-reader and dear RL-friend, Slave4Severus. My own beta-experience stems from the Journalism portion of my undergraduate degree, as well as having tutored English & Journalism. I do not have time to take on new beta projects right now, but if I have been doing this for you, assume I will continue to do so unless I specifically tell you otherwise.

I volunteer for Create!Roanoke, a regional (VA) chapter of Destination Imagination. I am also a moderator on the LiveJournal community Stop Plagiarism, which deals with plagiarism in Fandoms. (Although I am currently out of rotation on cases there, due to so many things going on in my life.)

On May 7, 2012, my first original book became available for sale, exclusively through The Book Patch. If you purchase a copy, I would absolutely love to hear from you about it, especially if you would be willing to write a review that I could place on my official author site. :)

NOTE Due to an incredibly rude wholly inappropriate review I received, I would just like to point out that if there is ever any sexual activity in my stories, the people involved ARE OF AGE. If I ever have a story that calls for otherwise, there will be hefty warnings available.

I do write slash here and there. Not all the time, but it is in some stories. If you do not like, do not read it. Please refrain from "reviews" telling me how sick you are going to be. Frankly, I am sick of reading about it, especially after I warned you.

"Duck Duck Goose" and "Our First Christmas" have slash, the latter story being very, very mild since it is a drabble, and is more just of a quick passing glance. "Duck" has intimate activity of both the slash/non-slash variety. I do not write in heavy, descriptive detail (regardless of the pairing).

Should any story turn into, or just have a chapter that would be relative to a "death fic," I would provide appropriate warning.

Constructive comments are one thing; nasty reviews are something else. If I write something that does not seem believable for any reason (ex: you have been in a similar situation), please review and let me know. Please include your reasoning though so I will understand why something is not working for you. On the other side, if you receive a review from me that you perceive to be nasty, please reply and ask me to clarify instead of lambasting publicly me on your next chapter. I do not have the time, or the desire, or the energy to flame anyone. If I really do not like your story, I am simply going to stop reading it, not send nasty notes about it. Also, please note -- for those of you who have the urge to write in and tell me all the things about the first of my Take Two stories and tell me how it's not original and how it's too much like the book... 1)It was published in 2004, at which point what I did was an original concept and 2)It was my first attempt at fan fiction. Loads of people have enjoyed it. If you do not enjoy it, that's fine, just stop reading it then. :-)

If I leave you a review with a lot of editing suggestions, please do not take it as a "flame". I am sending the suggestions as constructive criticism.

Aside from lack of editing, what really irritates me is when writers insist on giving characters a middle name, particularly when it is done to "make the wedding vows sound right". If you marry someone in real life who does not have a middle name, are you going to force them to take one?

STORY UPDATES as of 04/4/2013:

Time For a Four-Way: I took this story down quite awhile ago due to a personal life event that nearly ended the story and a friendship with a co-author. I really did not think I had it in me to finish it. Times change and I am once again working on this delightful little gem. When you see it show up again, know that it is totally finished and you will be getting a chapter a week. If I could just convince the other folks involved in the story to get back to me when I send out new chapters...! Dragon and I are slowly working on editing the existing chapters and filling in the empty spots as frequently as possible. Given that I live in the US and she is in Canada, frequent is a matter of opinion . . . but we try!

HP & the COS: Take Two: This story was updated 12/09/08. I hope to post the ninth chapter one of these days, but my muse got shoved aside while I was in grad school so I could write academic papers every other week, and it hasn't returned yet...*See note at top regarding this story!!*

OTHER UPDATES as of 8/12/2008:

For those of you familiar with my website, Slytherin Selection, it closed in April. I could no longer afford the fees - and the interest from others simply isn't there any more. Unlike larger (and even some small) HP sites, I never had people working the site with me. The first help I got was a lovely person who made a Slytherin-style skin for the eFiction archive. At least I can go out with a bang, winning a Golden Basilisk award in 2007 for Best Domain and Best Slytherin Site! Any icons that show the slytherinselection.com address are mine and may not be used without explicit written permission. At some point I hope to update them all with a new watermark/copyright.