As of 12/4/2012, Because of You is available for purchase in print!!

Here is the link: http://www.lulu.com/shop/sam-mariano/because-of-you/paperback/product-20553008.html

Also, feel free to like my newly created author page on Facebook, sam.mariano.author :)

Old Man and the Sea Restaurant: http://www.travelchannel.com/Places_Trips/Destinations/Caribbean/Aruba/Aruba/Slideshow_Aruba_Slideshow?slidevalue=9

Because of You cover/banner/whatever: http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b390/writergirl_ny/Characters/BecauseofYou.jpg

*New Note*

Oct. 26, 2011: Hello all! Just jotting a note to let you know I am alive. I apologize for being a slacker in the update department--been busy with school and work, as usual, but I've added a couple of uncharacteristic extracurriculars this time; I recently got engaged (I know, what? Surprised me too) and very newly pregnant! So, that's been happening. Crazy season. ;) I am going to try to carve out some time to write very soon (could be doing it right now while the BF is playing Batman... but I'm writing this note, and it's also 1:40 am, and the little appleseed in my womb makes me tired like you wouldn't believe. At any rate, just letting you know I'm still here, I still get--and read, and appreciate-- your reviews everyday, and I thank you for your continued interest. :)

DUE TO THE WAVE IN PLAGIARISM ON THIS SITE LATELY: I am warning anyone who even THINKS momentarily about stealing my work, I will bring a lawsuit on your ass so fast your head will spin. Every work on this site is original and COPYRIGHTED. Don't be lazy, use your own ideas. We writers work long and hard to bring ours to fruition.

1-15-09 Special Note: If you read my stories, you will probably notice that in most--if not all--of my stories at least one of the main characters is an avid reader. I am aware of this, and it is intentional; in 2002 a mere 46.7 of the U.S. adult population read literature. The way things are going, reading as a leisure activity could completely disappear in half a century. I am not okay with this. I promote literacy--if you have children, read to them. If you know children and have the opportunity, read to them.

:) And that's all for today's PSA.

I am completely aware that my story summaries kind of suck, but I find it extremely challenging to sum up a whole story in a few letters more than a text message. Also, I do not write simple stereotypical stories. They're okay, but they're really not my style-- I like "real people" characters, so... (However, my oldest stories --Brothers and Best Friends and the early chapters of The Promotion-- are going to be less realistic, because they are the first things I've ever written outside of fanfiction and I didn't have the firm grasp of the personal writing style I have since developed.)

Love Triangle Warning: Occasionally, I like love triangles. As a result, they worked their way into a couple of my stories. In case you hate them--I've learned some people do--here's a warning. The Promotion and Unwanted both contain at least some small level of love triangularity. :) In Unwanted, I think it's a lot more fun, whereas The Promotion is--judging by responses--more frustrating. So if you hate love triangles, be prepared. :) Likewise, if you like them and find the friendly competition fun... that's where you're gonna want to look. Beautiful Mistakes... I guess you could actually say there's a little bit of love triangle-behavior there, too. Love triangles are part of life. At least they're more fun to read about than to experience first hand. :)

Because of You is nothing like Romeo & Juliet (and although I may be slightly biased, I think it's the best story I have on here, so if you don't mind drama, I HIGHLY recommend that story); Unwanted is not a sob story about a misunderstood youth and pampered princess, The Promotion is not going to be your typical employee-boss Two Weeks Notice kind of situation, and Beautiful Mistakes is nothing like The Nanny or The Nanny Diaries or any other nanny-oriented story I've ever read or watched--prepare to be surprised.

It's just that I have to sum up the hundreds of thousands of words that I'm going to be writing in less than 255 letters, and I'm not good at it. I vote to abolish the 255 letter count and at least give us 300. Come on now.

"You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you've got something to say." -F. Scott Fitzgerald

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,
-Shakespeare

"My good opinion once lost, is lost forever." -Mr. Darcy (If I have to explain who this is, smack yourself for me. Please and thank you.)

I believe that stories have this power--they enter us, transport us, they change things inside us, so invisibly, so minutely, that sometimes, we're not even aware that we come out of a great book as a different person from the person we were when we began reading it. - Julia Alvarez

LOGAN: Either we can take a tough but survivable amount of pain now, or stay together and deal with unbearable pain later. So I vote for the pain now.

“'I love you, fair maiden,'” said the prince. 'Will you marry me?'

’I love you, too,’ said the maiden, ‘and I will marry you—but not until after I finish law school.’"

“Is that what it really says?”

“That’s what it should say.”

-- Jersey Girl