Still miles to go, still words to weave, and there's still light at the end of the tunnel.

Just so you know - some of my fanfiction appears on my writing account over at LiveJournal before they do here. They are, for the most part, from other fandoms than Yu-Gi-Oh! though.

UPDATE 01.10.14: There's a YuGiOh! gen story I've been working on for most of last year and it has interconnected background 'ships going on that, I feel, don't really have a place in the story itself. Thus, they are being posted as separate stories. In order: Of All The Mirrors, Chance To Be, Between The Lifelines, May-Day, Like A Domino. The main culprit for this plot is due to follow before this year runs out.

· Name: Mandolina Lightrobber

· Age: 29

· Occupation: Procrastinator. (Too bad you don't get paid for that.) Eternal student. Would-be writer. Fangirl. From sales clerk to travel agent back to sales clerk again and onto English teacher, and then back into sales once more. (Oh, spellbound circle!) Florist. Hopelessly in love with life. Dreaming big.

To date, I have come second in The YuGiOh! Fanfiction Contest twice - in Season 10 and Season 11, which concluded in September, 2012 and December, 2013, respectively.
I joined the contest in 2011 for their 8.5 mid-season/summer round after missing the sign-ups for two years in a row after first hearing about it. Through this contest, I've gained two people I look up to, writing-wise: My Misguided Fairytale and Doubleplusgoodduckspeaker. Their creativity and high and consistent writing quality made me kick my own writing up a notch and get really serious with it. Season 10 was particularly trying and nerve-wrecking when I realised I would be facing off against the both of them in the semifinals for a shot at the winner's crown. I was positively reeling by the time it became apparent that I was proceeding to the final round along with MMF.
Both of them have been my greatest inspiration, as well as cause and reason, for not giving up on my writing even when all odds seem stacked against me. And at this point, it's already become a thing of honour to carry on.

My contest entries:

Season 8.5: Round 1 - Deconstruction Road, Round 2 - Time Sands Still (Chapter 1), Round 3 - A Vertigo of Samsara, Round 4 - How The World Burns, Round 5 - Kokoro No Naka, A Man In The Wind And The West Moon, Firework Romance, Mawari Kawari, Sors Immanis Et Inanis

Season 9: Round 1 - Quasi-Mode, Round 2 - Of All The Mirrors, Round 3 - White Light Out (never submitted)

Season 10: Round 1 - I Will Follow, Round 2 - Chance To Be, Round 3 - Great Divide, Round 4 - Ide-ality, Round 5 - Fly-Away Butterfly, Round 6 - I Was An Abyss Once, Round 7 - Fata Morgana, Round 8 - Direction: Disaster, Round 9 - Anthem For The Underdog, Round 10 - Across The Land, Round 11 (SF) - No Requiem For The Damned, Round 12 (F) - Of Monsters And Men

Season 9 3/4: Round 1 - Six Degrees Of Separation, Round 2 - Exit Lights (Chapter 1), Round 3 - May-Day, Round 4 - Exit Lights: Interlude (Chapter 2), Echo, Round 5 - Land Down Under, Mirrormere

Season 11: Round 1 - Soldier Down, Round 2 - If We Ever, Round 3 - To Hold That Which Is, Round 4 - Desert Sands, Round 5 - A City Of Dust, Round 6 - Fade Out, Fade Into, Round 7 (F) - Angel of Berlin

Season 12: Round 1 - Re:Bound, Round 2 - See, Round 3 - B., Round 4 - Conflagration (eliminated).