Note: Hey guys, I know that being done with school was supposed to help me write more. And it did for a couple of weeks, even though I was struggling a bit with depression in the wake of suddenly needing to structure my own time. But, uh, I found out I was pregnant. Which is great! I was hoping to get pregnant quickly so that I could get this parenthood thing started before I hit 35. On the other hand, though, it turns out the actual pregnancy part sucks. I'm having all-day morning sickness and if I manage not to be exhausted for an hour together, that's a good day (and I take that time to do dishes and laundry). The nausea is especially bad for anything creative. Hard to feel anything other than dread when your stomach is threatening to rebel at any moment. The next couple of weeks should be the worst and then it should start getting better - crossing my fingers. I'll keep you posted.

Hi. Uh...I'm a person, and I write. Usually I write literature or I write about literature. Lately I've been pretty busy writing about literature, which it turns out I'm not terribly fond of, so I needed something to blow off steam. Something that wasn't serious, that I could take or leave, that didn't have to be perfect.

So...I started a fanfic. Sort of. The "fan" part is a bit of a misnomer.

Whatever.

Maybe someday more will come, maybe I'll finish this stupid degree and get on with what I actually want to do and never think of these things again. I've got another year in that degree, though, so the fic I've already started has a really good chance of getting finished. I've been writing it for less than six months and have more than 100 pages. So...yeah. The main problem might be stretching it out until I graduate.

Bleeding Slowly Toward Dusk updates Wednesday and Saturday*.

Most of the time. Exceptions will be communicated in author's notes.

As a side note, other than two years spent in Texas and one in good old Walla Walla, WA (before it was a wine destination, unfortunately - but, then, I was also only 18/19 at the time), I've lived my whole life in Portland, OR and my extended family has roots around the Seattle area. My paternal grandmother lived in Sequim, on the Olympic Peninsula, for decades. She went to church in Port Angeles, and so I went with her every weekend I ever stayed with her. I've been all through the Olympic National Forest, dug up (and then released) Dungeness crabs on the Dungeness Spit, and hiked through the temperate rain forest west of Port Angeles.

As if that's not enough, my mother's family is from the tragically misnamed town of Warm Beach (it isn't) just north of Everett (which is just north of Seattle). I spent less time there since my grandparents moved to Arizona when I was young for my grandfather's health, but I still had cousins living in the area. From the time I was about five until I was thirteen, we spent a week just about every summer camping out near Auburn, which is a little east of Seattle. The only place I don't have a ton of experience with is Seattle itself - we drove through it many times, but it was only when I reached adulthood that I explored it for myself and I've only gone on a handful of occasions.

Anyway, the point of all this is that I know the climate of this region and can describe some of the natural attractions, as well as name common plants and trees, when they bloom, etc. Those who write Twilight fanfics might find my experience useful. Feel free to ask. It makes me laugh when I read fics that have snow falling in March (it almost never snows in Portland and Seattle is even more temperate) or forget that most of the forests around here are 60-70% evergreen and portray it as dead and brown during the winter.