Name: Tracy

Pen Name: starrymoonmaiden

Interests:

1. WRITING -- LOTS of it! As far as fan fiction goes, I'm not subject to a cannon or a certain House. I have my favorites and enjoy them, but if the story is good, then I'll read it.

2. Music (tons of different styles/genres/artists/etc. If anyone is interested, just give me a buzz and we can chat music until the cows come home.)

3. Other arts things like movies, singing, and reading.

4. TV. But only for Everwood, Grey's Anatomy, Law and Order: SVU, Charmed, CSI: Miami, and House. That's aboot it.

5. Drug of choice: DIET PEPSI. If I am addicted to anything and had to take something with me on a deserted island, I would take a life-time supply of Diet Pepsi.

Not Interested In:

1. Meanies -- no further explanation required.

2. People who think characters are "OOC" when you don't write them how Rowling writes them. Nobody should write EXACTLY like JK Rowling -- that would be plagiarism. I know about the cannon, rules, regulations, shippers, British slang, her style, etc., but COME ON! It's FICTION. FAN-fiction! GIVE ME SOME FREEDOM! SOME restrictions do apply, but don't cut my fingers and my imagination off. I NEED THOSE!

3. Insane, dramatic people who get p/oed if you spell one thing incorrectly or make a mistake in your story. Believe it or not, not EVERYONE can get a beta, nor does everyone HAVE a beta. I can understand being miffed at repeated mistakes, a completely off-base story, or constant grammatical errors, but cut a girl some slack. Writing a 200 page story with only WORD, a dictionary, and your brain as editing tools ain't gonna cut it or catch it all. (Besides, JK Rowling has some mistakes in her books and she's PUBLISHED and filthy stinkin' rich WITH an editor who looks over EVERY written word. Yeah, think on that for a while…)

4. People who get mad at how a story is written or when updates don't come soon enough. First, the stories are of my own creation, and that includes the beginning, middle, and end. I write them how I want to write them, and though I do hope to have people enjoy them, I, like Rowling, am not going to appease people. I've always been of the opinion that if you don't like how a story was written, then you should write your own, plain and simple. And as far as updates are concerned, please, to all those readers out there, BE PATIENT with your favorite authors. I cannot stress enough how difficult it is to always be creative and come up with a new chapter. Sometimes, the creative well dries up and we have writer's block, but you've just got to be patient and check back when you can for updates. (FYI: I will not leave a story incomplete, and if I decide not to write a story anymore, I'll pull the story and put a note on it.)

5. And finally, the one thing that hurts me more than I can say (and I think I speak for many, many authors on this one) is a reviewer (or seeing a review, especially by someone who has never picked up a pen and written anything themselves) who rips on a story. I'm not talking constructive criticism. I'm talking down right nasty, rude comments that do not help at all. A lot of time, effort, patience, and hard work go into stories, and for someone to tell you that you "clearly didn't put enough work into it," or "didn't edit it before you posted," is not only a slap in the face, it's insulting. People who may see errors or have issues don't tend to ask the author about what they are reading or do anything tohelp -- they're just quick to assume and point out mistakes and tear people down, and that’s not cool. Now, I understand posting a story for the public to see leaves one open to reviews that may not be polite or pleasant, and I'm okay with that. I have always felt that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I also welcome and appreciate honesty, but please -- if you're going to give a "bad review," at least be tactful about it. (Or better yet, revert back to your days of childhood and remember this: If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.) If you don't like a story, that's fine -- you don't have to like it. Just hit the little X on the screen and leave it be. Don't stomp on someone's creativity just because you didn't happen to enjoy it.

-- Tracy--
(starrymoonmaiden)

I have pulled Behind These Eyes. I'm sorry for those of you who were actually enjoying the story. Anyone who was wanting to read the finished product can PM me, and I'll give you the link to the site of where it is located.

Dear Readers,

I received several e-mails from you, informing me that someone (I will not name names) has been posting my fan-fiction stories under their name and taking credit for my work.

I want to thank all of you for bringing this to my attention. I know I have been absent from the fan-fiction world for quite some time, but it means a lot to me that you all are still reading my stories and sticking up for me. If I hadn’t gotten those e-mails, I would have never known this person was stealing my work.

I have confronted this person myself, and asked this person to remove my work from their page. I require no apology, nor do I ask that anyone else attack this person for what they have done. As I told this person, stealing someone else’s hard work and passing it off as your own is not only illegal, it is shameful, but I do not wish to cause embarrassment.

If the stories on this person’s page are removed within 24 hours, I will not write to the website administrators. I will also be looking at other fan-fiction websites to see if this person has posted my stories elsewhere under their name. If this person has posted my stories on other sites, I have asked this person to remove them from their pages. The same 24-hour rule applies.

I have no desire to report this or deter readers from reading this person’s own original work, but if need be, I will report it. Too many authors have had their great ideas stolen, and I will not be one of those authors.

To all who have e-mailed me and told me of this, thank you. I appreciate it.