November 2009: Hello again! Still haven't made a go on the mailing list yet since I have not made those significant agent/editor strides. The book is about as completed as it's going to get without a second opinion, though it's still longer than I would like. I was a little too optimistic about my editing speed in my last post--I've only recently come to feel comfortable showing the final manuscript to ANYONE, much less possible literary agents. A few friends/family are presently looking over the book while I take a short break from the editing process. I've read it so many times at this point that I can no longer find new characters/storylines to cut. I've been slowly starting the second book, though not really in chronological order. I'm very excited about it. Thanks again to any of you guys who have reached out in the over a year since I took the book down. That anyone still even remembers my story, much less takes the time to drop me a line and let me know how much they liked it, is so incredibly awesome. Hopefully I'll have some bigger updates in the future!

July 2009: Hi guys. As you can see, the post is completely gone now :( I saved every last one of your reviews and I can't thank you enough for them. I never would have continued this story without everyone's amazing support. I will start sending out emails to everyone who asked once I have anything significant to report, like getting an agent and then hopefully an editor (I do not expect this to be a short or easy process). 'Unexpected Royalty' is completed (AAAAAAHHH!! ...Sorry) but I'm still rewriting/editing furiously. Kinda crazy how much a girl's writing style can change from ages fourteen to twenty-one :) I've changed quite a bit, but no worries, it's still the same general story. My friend who is a YA agent actually thinks the book is more adult than YA which surprised me a bit ... but I guess I don't use the cleanest language in my writing and I tackle some pretty dark themes. He liked the first few chapters a lot and, wonderful person that he is, will be a great help when I start sending out queries, which I hope to do towards the end of August or early September. The idea of actually trying to get my freshman-year-of-high-school-fantasy published is still crazy to me, but I've always wanted to be a writer and I should at least try, if only for all you wonderful reviewers out there. If anyone wants to be on the mailing list and didn't leave an email address, or just wants to say hi, send an email to jlk401@nyu.edu. Cheers!

June 2009: Hi everyone! This is my first post story-removal update. Let me just say I am once again in awe of all your wonderful praise and support. I am still not done with 'Unexpected Royalty' since life has been quite busy lately, but I am getting very close. I've recently figured out the 'Unexpected Royalty' will actually be the first book in a tetralogy. This is great, since I don't have to say goodbye to characters and a world I've come to love like my own children, but it's annoying because I have to go back and edit even more now. I gave the first two edited chapters to an agent friend of mine to get his thoughts, which I am eagerly awaiting. Both my jobs are in publishing so I am making some good connections that may be able to help me once I send this book out. I'm not quite done compiling all your email addresses yet, especially since some of them don't show up properly in your reviews! Some review just say 'My email is: ' and then it's blank. I think maybe you can't write the @ symbol in a review ... Fictionpress can be fussy about such things. Anyway, I've got lots of work to get back to, cheers.

October 2008: Hi everyone, I know it has been a long time. You all already know that I am terrible at updating, but for the first time, my laziness/writer's block/busy life has not been the reason behind the long amount of time between updates. I've been working on the story a lot lately, editing early chapters (since I wrote them six years ago) and writing new chapters. It's still not done yet, but it hopefully will be soon. Unfortunately, after heavy cautioning from friends and professors, I've decided to stop posting this story. This is something I intend to try and publish and I know it's a bad idea for the story to be out on the web while I take it around to publishers. I really don't want to take the story down--you guys have been awesome waiting for my updates and you deserve to know how the story ends. I unfortunately just think it's the best decision professionally. Hopefully I get published and you guys will all get to see how things play out. I just want you all to know that you are absolutely amazing and I never would have thought this story was worth continuing if it wasn't for your tremendous support. I love you guys. I'm going to leave the story up for a little longer if any of you want to reread or anything like that. Sorry again about this :(

Hello my children! The name's Jillian aka Belle. I just recently graduated from college and am trying to figure out my career, a career I very much hope will include becoming a published author. Anyway, I've loved writing for a very long time. I've loved reading for even longer.

~~~~Quotes~~~~

"Nothing's ever for sure, John. That's the only sure thing I do know."

-A Beautiful Mind.

"An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations."

-Charles de Montesquieu.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on."

-Sir Winston Churchill.

"Cowards die many times before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once."

-William Shakespeare

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..."

-William Shakespeare

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

-Mahatma Gandhi

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes."

-Mahatma Gandhi

"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality."

-Jules de Gaultier

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."

-Mark Twain

"Honesty is the best policy - when there is money in it."

-Mark Twain

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."

-Mark Twain

"It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

-J.K. Rowling

"Humans have a knack for choosing precisely the things that are worst for them."

-J.K. Rowling

"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."

-J.K. Rowling

"I am my only master."

-L.J. Smith

"There's nothing frightening in the dark if you just face it."

-L.J. Smith

"Nothing really dies as long as it's not forgotten."

-L.J. Smith

"Very touching. Shall I imitate a violin?"

-L.J. Smith

"Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends."

-J. R. R. Tolkien

"There are no happy endings ... because nothing ends."

-The Last Unicorn

"Don't try to fix me, I'm not broken."

-Evanescence

"Happy Christmas, give me present!"

-Muppet Family Christmas

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work ... I want to achieve it through not dying."

-Woody Allen

"I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me."

-Woody Allen

Neil: "I mean, if I was ever going to buy a desk set... twice! I would probably buy this one, both times! In fact, its shape is rather aerodynamic isn't it? You can feel it. This desk set wants to fly!"
Neil hands the desk set to Todd
Neil: "Todd? The world's first un-maned flying desk set!"
Todd throws it off the roof
Neil: "Oh my! Well, I wouldn't worry, you'll get another one next year."

-Dead Poets Society

"We're not laughing at you - we're laughing near you."

-Dead Poets Society

"I always just hoped that, that I'd meet some nice friendly girl, like the look of her, hope the look of me didn't make her physically sick, then pop the question and, um, settle down and be happy. It worked for my parents. Well, apart from the divorce and all that."

-Four Weddings and a Funeral

"Going after Iraq in response to September 11th is like Roosevelt going after Mexico in response to Pearl Harbor."

-John Kerry

"Why would God make us all so different if he wanted us to be the same?"

-Saved!

"My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now, and we don't know where the hell she is."

-Ellen DeGeneres

"Whoever said nothing is impossible never tried slamming a revolving door."

-Anonymous

Dante: "But you hate people!"
Randal: "Yes, but I love gatherings. Isn't it ironic?"

-Clerks

"Do you ever read the Sunday comics? ...Well, when I was a little kid, I used to put my nose right up to them. And I was just amazed because it looked like this mass of dots, and none of it made sense until I pulled back. Life looks like that: a mass of dots to me sometimes. None of it makes any sense, but I like to think that, from God's perspective, life, everything - even this - makes sense. It's not just dots. Instead we're all conncected, and it's beautiful, and funny, and good. This close we can't expect it to make sense, not right now."

-Latter Days