June 2012: Oh, my dear poppets. I'm sorry I've been neglecting you. As usual, my absence has been due to an extreme case of busyness.

I promise I am so close to done with Chapter 4 of Unbidden. If I don't post by July, I give you full permission to print out my story and burn it in rage.

That would actually be sort of awesome.

September 2011: Just posted Chapter 1 of Unbidden Royalty. It is SO on!! ...I'm not even sure what "it" is, but you'd better bet it is on!

August 2011: Unexpected Royalty is completed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAHHH!!!!!!!!! Stay tuned for Book 2 of the State of Kings tetralogy, Unbidden Royalty, in either late September or early October.

June 2011: Hi guys! I’m optimistically hoping that if anyone is worried/annoyed/filled-with-wrath over the fact that Chapter 31 isn’t up on time, she or he (I doubt I have many male readers so she gets to go first) will stop by my profile to see what’s up. The chapter’s not technically late yet—if I put it up now it would be very early. But as I’m leaving on vacation soon, I wanted to warn you now that Chapter 31 will be at least a week late.

Sorry, everyone. I meant to warn you when I did my last update but it slipped my mind that I was LEAVING FOR PARIS in less than a week. I don’t know how I managed to do that, hence the extreme amount of emphasis. I am very, very excited to spend some time there with my lovely boyfriend and will tell you all about it if any of you happen to care :D

But I won’t be able to update while I’m over there and then a friend is visiting as soon as I get back. And I have a lot of work before I leave, so I can’t update now either. I didn’t want to leave you hanging, wondering why I have forsaken you all. It’s arrogant of me to think any of you will feel that strongly about a late update but I thought I’d let you know, just in case.

Have a good few weeks and a happy 4th of July!

November 2010: Hi everyone! So as I said in my last post: the way my career is going, I chose to shelve UNEXPECTED ROYALTY for a while.

But then … I really, really started to miss it. I've been working on this story for about eight years now. It's been extremely weird not working on it. A few months back, I put a new Chapter 1 on Fictionpress, to see what you all thought. And any of my awesome old readers who checked in unanimously thought the old Chapter 1 was better.

To satisfy my UNEXPECTED ROYALTY withdrawal, I'm putting this book back up. I'm putting up the latest draft I did PRIOR to changing the beginning. I know the book is way too long, but my readers helped me realize that the book just feels wrong if it doesn't start in New York. So as I post these chapters (I'm thinking I'll post one a week or so), please let me know if things ever seem to lag. I'm on the lookout for things to cut and if you spot anything, please, please let me know. Hopefully this book sees the bookshelves of bookstores someday. But since I don't intend to query with it for quite a while, I thought I should let my old readers (and any very welcome new ones!) know how it ends. Thanks so much, guys. I never would've thought I could pursue writing without your amazing support.

July 2010: Hi kids. So--there are some crazy, non-UNEXPECTED ROYALTY related things going on in my writing career at the moment. Can't go into too much detail, but due to certain circumstances, I am shelving the STATE OF KINGS tetralogy for the next year or so. This is definitely not giving up, I'm just working on another very exciting thing for a while. It's very very early so, as said, I can't say much, but thanks so much for dropping in to see the new first chapter and for all your support!

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. 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@. 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'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 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 eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

-Mahatma Gandhi

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

-Mark Twain

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

-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

"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

"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

"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

"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