Author has written 4 stories for Romance.

Profile Updated 12.03.05: She lives!

After receiving a number of reviews with questions and/or comments about my stories - method, inspiration, etc. - and occasionally about me in general, I've decided a more static profile is in order. You'll have to forgive me for not doing so sooner. Having transitioned from the fanfiction community, I still take the more nomadic atmosphere of FP for granted. I'm used to having only a handful of people follow my all or most of my works (by fandom), creating a familiarity between my readers and myself. In fact most of my online friends started out as consistent fanfiction reader-reviewers, writers or both.

Of course it's a lot easier to create those types of relationships when the same ten or twelve people read everything you write; as time goes on, it seems almost by default. Such is not the case here. And although I miss the intimacy of the fanfiction community at times, I appreciate the challenge of a constantly changing audience as well. Keeps me on my toes. But as a reader I always like to know something about a person whose story I enjoyed, just as I peek at every profile of those who take the time to leave me a review. If you're like me, then read on and enjoy. If not, you can skip down to the story synopses, check out my LiveJournal, read a story, pat your head and rub your stomach simultaneously...you get the idea.

Anyway, here's more than you probably ever wanted to know about me:

Name: If we get to the one-on-one convo stage, I'll tell ya.
Age: 28
Hails From: Native of Memphis, Tennessee, USA; currently living in Hind End of Nowhere, Georgia
Family: Our motto is "Once family, always family," and the average # of marriages-per-person is 3. So yeah, it's huge and quite colorful to say the least. Personally, I'm happily divorced (only once) with two daughters whom I adore.
Work: I used to be an accountant, but thanks to a drunk driver, I've been a full-time mom for the past three-plus years.
Hobbies: Aside from the obvious, I read anything I can get my eyes on, collect as much anime and manga as I can afford, sing, play all saxophone and the bassoon, volunteer, make up games I can play with my girls, kick butt at Scrabble, reflect and observe people.
Interests: History, current events, music, politics, theology, organized religion, spirituality, mysticism, astrology, Feng Shui, philosophy, psychology, socio-economics and pretty much anything else related to people.
Fave Books: A Wrinkle in Time, The Legend of Drizzt series, Harry Potter series, Killing the Buddha, Life of Pi, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, America: The Book, Vagina Monologues, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Liner Notes, Lost Souls
-Movies: Hellraiser 1-2, Terms of Endearment, Amelie, American Beauty, The Myth of Fingerprints, Adaptation, Chicago, The Lion King, Big Fish
-Music: I'll limit this to ten albums every female should be issued on her sixteenth birthday: The Honesty Room and Mortal City - Dar Williams, Exile in Guyville - Liz Phair, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - Lauryn Hill, Places You Have Come to Fear the Most - Dashboard Confessional, Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell, The Immaculate Collection - Madonna, The Pretenders Greatest Hits (Euro-version; the US release sucks), World Without Tears - Lucinda Williams, Worldwide Underground - Erykah Badu. 12/3/05: I now have to add Natasha Beddingfield's Unwritten, Where You Live by Tracy Chapman,and Once by Nightwishto this list.
-TV Shows: On Cable: Anything on the C-spans or MSNBC, Queer as Folk, the original Whose Line Is It Anyway?, 80's SNL reruns. Anime: Bleach, Mahou Sensei Negima (these two are new ones for me), Hikaru no Go, Kyou Kara Maou, Fushigi Yugi, Yami no Matsuei and InuYasha
-Foods: Sushi, Dim Sum, Portobelo mushroom and Swiss burgers, any kind of fresh coffee.
Pet Peeves: Ignorance, bigotry, drunk drivers, mistreating children or animals, tipping less than 20 percent
Bad Habits: Procrastination (that's a shock, ne?) and biting my nails when I'm bored

Other random stuff:

Current Top Five in the Quote Collection:

"Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition." --Timothy Leary

"Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot." --D. H. Lawrence

"The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you." - Rita Mae Brown

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." --Albert Einstein

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti

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I can't imagine you guys wanting to slug through any more personal stuff. Onto my stories. I also started this thing after my first story where I burn my playlist for a story onto a disk, basically making a soundtrack for each story. So I'll list those too as each story is finished:

Completed:

The Reality of Fairy Tales - Among the students attending Emory University, an over-achieving scholarship student like Chastane "Chase" McAllen and billionaire brat Devon Dunn could not have appeared more different. But chemistry has nothing to do with reputations or economics, and the pair do have one thing in common: neither can escape that which haunts them. For Chase, it's a complicated past. For Devon, it's a prepackaged future. But the two had been paired off long before they ever met. Unfortunately, by the time Devon discovers the truth, he and Chase have made the biggest mistake of all by falling in love. Then again, that love may turn out to be their only salvation, a long chance at freedom from the powerful people who have tried to control both their lives from the shadows all along.*Soundtrack: Part One: Devon: Behind Blue Eyes - Limp Bizkit, Only Wanna Be With You - Hootie and the Blowfish, Walking Man - James Taylor, Always a Woman - Billie Joel, The One - Elton John, Bed of Roses - Bon Jovi, November Rain - Guns N' Roses, Crash into Me - Dave Mathews Band // Part Two: Chase: Evening Up the Odds - Lorrie Morgan, This Land is Mine - Dido, Live to Tell - Madonna, The Crying Game - Boy George, Supernova - Liz Phair, Listen to Your Heart - Roxette, Hands Clean - Alanis Morissette, Ordinary World - Duran Duran. (No joke, this CD spins more than just about any other in my house nowadays.)

**Even in its first-worst draft form, this is not only my most popular story to date, but my best story, period. Does it sound cliche? Yes. Then isn't it just one big cliche? No. I approached this story with one goal in mind. I was tired of reading stories where people either ran from the "modern-day fairy tale" angle or used the same formula over and over again. Fairy tales are wonderful, timeless stories. It was about time someone stopped running from or tripping over the cliche. I decided I wanted to transcend it for a change. I like to think I succeeded, and so far most of my reviewers seem to agree. :-)

Another note, I keep playing with the idea of doing a couple chapters for "Deleted Scenes." Yes, if you can believe it, there were scenes and even entire portions of chapters I wrote but edited out for *chokes* brevity's sake. (And no, I couldn't keep my face straight when I typed "brevity" either.) There was the actual fashion show, some coffee dates, a few other D&C pre and post-relationship rendezvouses, a flashback meant for the final chapter which got whittled down to a mere mention, just enough to get by in the final version to wrap things up (it unveils the mystery of Rose's intended role in the plot), and so on. I'd also written what I thought would be the ending about halfway through so I wouldn't forget, but I ended up going with something totally different in the final version. I may yet post at least a little of that since people still seem to be interested in the characters and the story as a whole. Any comment? Drop me a line!

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In Progress:

Forever '95:Brian and Celeste have sustained one of the most convoluted and tumultuous relationships imaginable since they met in high school. Even after more than a decade, they still can't quite classify what they were then or are to one another now. Naturally outside observers have no clue. Some people see them as friends; others believe they're lovers meant-to-be or used-to-be or maybe a little of both; still more think of them as a personified yin and yang, or parallel but opposing lines and never the twain shall truly meet. It's no secret they've both perpetrated a war of words for years and neither claim any love lost, yet they remain synonymous with one another among their mutual acquaintances. Stranger still, Brian and Celeste themselves, the only two who truly know what went right and what (and who) went painfully wrong between them, seem to know one another on a level others don't. But with all the back-and-forth miscommunications and misunderstandings which plagued them from day three, do either really know the other's side of their story? Not only that, times and people change, and thirteen years is a long time. Maybe just enough time for two people, even two as stubborn and cynical as Brian and Celeste, to find where, or if, they really belong in each other's lives.**This story started out as part NaNoWriMo 2004 attempt and part exercise in narcissism. Obviously NaNoWriMo's over, but the narcissism continues. But at least at this point (Chapter Nine) it's entirely fiction. I admit such was not the case when I began. Needless to say, I enjoy fiction more. It gives me more room to play. *snickers*

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On Hold:

Cupid in the Rain: The classic image of Cupid, an infant with rosy cheeks and a golden bow, can be found everywhere from books to cathedral ceilings. In reality, however, a cupid looks like anyone, anywhere, their ethereal eyes being the only distinguishing characteristic they possess while in the mortal realm. When they choose to be seen, that is, which is a rarity to put it mildly. Of course Roxy is anything but your average cupid. Then again Gavin Reynolds is far from an average assignment either. Roxy may be the best of the best despite her knack for getting into trouble, but Gavin Reynolds is a skeptic of legendary proportions among her rank-and-file comrades. In order to fulfill her duty and keep her near perfect success rate, she has to find a way to cleanse his heart and make it possible for him to believe in love, and to do that, she has no choice but to take him head-on. But to expose him to the best love has to offer, she will unintentionally expose herself to the worst love has to offer as well. Is opening his heart really worth the cost of tainting her own?**I've got big plans for this story. It's outside my norm, being more supernatural, but once I got the idea there was no turning back. If any story I am writing or will write have a real chance of meeting or surpassing the standard I set with Reality, this is likely to be it. I'm so excited about getting back to this one, slated ASAP after completion of Forever '95.

When to Hold On, When to Let Go: Becca and Matt have been best friends for fifteen years and roommates for the past two. They know each other inside and out, and over those years they've seen and been through just about everything together: rebellious streaks, dead-end relationships, annual karaoke night, etc. But even two people closer than siblings can keep a few secrets and harbor a few old scars from wounds neither knew they inflicted on the other. It's only when Doctor Paul enters the picture and threatens to separate the pair for the first time, ever, that Becca and Matt are forced to reevaluate their relationship. Were they meant to be together all along, or is it finally time to move on? One thing's sure though. When three's a crowd, someone's bound to get left behind.

**Despite the new chapter I posted recently, this story is still on hold and will remain so for the foreseeable future. I know how this story's going to end already, but hell if I know how I'm gonna get it there. When I figure it out, and after I finish the two before it, I'll wrap this one up.

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Planned/In Queue: (but listed in no particular order)

The Reality of Happily Ever After: Yep, the much-requested sequel to my first story here on FP. And as was the case with its predecessor, simply expect the unexpected. And to hate me as much as you may love me while I put our favorite power couple through twelve more rounds of hell, probably even worse than the first time. Come on, did you really think it was going to be that easy for them?

In Her Own Words: Casey Whatts, an otherwise normal young woman except that she never got the chance to know her mother, stumbles upon the woman's diary, hidden away under the floorboard in her aunt's house. With this discovery she'll not only have the chance to learn about her mother's life, but Casey will begin to unravel the terrible secrets behind her mother's death, as well as the remaining family Casey only thought she knew. **This is actually a completed manuscript I've had sitting in a box under my desk for a long, long time now. It's been written, rewritten, and butchered by an editor. It was a train wreck at the time, but I didn't like what the editor suggested either, so haven't touched it in ages. The story I wanted to tell is still there, so I'll be taking a new crack at rewriting it, using what I've learned over the past year to turn it into what I wanted it to be all along. Dunno when I'll actually work on it though. We'll see.

Blind Leading the Blind: All I have tacked down for sure in this one is the leading man's blind without any physiological explanation, the heroine's a single mom with a history of romantic ruin, and it's a love story. I'll figure the rest out when the time comes.

The Devil You Know: Think La Femme Nakita meets Grosse-Point Blank. But not. :-P Gonna have some fun with the booming civilian paramilitary industry basically.

The Orpheus Factor: I'm seeing this as a futuristic kinda-cop-themed drama and/or love story between a genetically engineered superhuman male prototype and a telepathically gifted but genetically unaltered human woman who get partnered together and end up getting a little too attached to one another for the liking of their superiors.

The Nafea Trilogy: And now we have the fantasy idea! Yes, I'm a well-rounded author wannabe, I admit it. I'll spare you detail though since I don't exactly have them all pinned down just yet. It's a cool idea though. Trust me.

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Okay, now that I've finished this book, I'll shut up now. If you want to know anything else, talk writing or just give me a shout out, feel free to visit my LJ or drop me a line via email or chat. If you pop up while I'm sitting at my desk - which is a 50-50 thing - I'll always respond. If I don't answer, it's because I was a dummy and didn't set my away message; I do that often. *sighs*

Anyway, until the next update - profile or story - keep reading, no matter what it is. - Pareathe