I ain't gonna bore you all with excuses. I'm afraid that life has finally caught up with me, however, and is swiftly pulling me under. Hence fanfiction has been forgotten for the moment, as I do all I can to keep on top of it all. I figured I should inform you all, as life doesn't look like letting up anywhere in the near future. You needn't lose hope altogether; my fanfiction is still my delight and the moment I catch a fair chunk of elusive spare time I'll be back with a vengeance.

Simply put, I am here to bid adieu to you all and put my account on hiatus. Yes, the dreaded words...

--waves forlornly--

A BIT ABOUT ME:

First and foremost I am a Christian - yes, one of those scary ranting Bible toting people. We tend to have a reputation for being stuffy, close-minded wackos, and while I cannot really blame anyone for thinking me wacko, I'd protest that I'm anything but stuffy.

I live in a small town in the heart of New Zealand. Yes, you may feel free to envy me - if you know where it is. Despite its being one of the most awesome places in the world, a whole lot of people don't know where it is, Americans being especially bad. When I was over there earlier this year several people thought it was somewhere near China, one woman thought in was in Africa, and another guy told me it was beside Greece. But the worst of the lot were those who thought it was a state in Australia. Can you imagine anything more insulting? If you think New Zealand is part of Australia, go away and look up a map. Then, and only then, will I speak to you.

I don't read Slash. Yes, I have a minor case of Homophobia, by the true definition of the word. Just the summaries are scary enough, let alone the pairings, which are often the stuff of nightmares these days. I am very, very afraid.

MY TAKE ON FLAMES, FLAME RISING AND THE FORUM WARS:

When I first got here and saw flames I thought What jerks! and felt righteously indignant that anyone would treat any author that way. Then I discovered the screeds of Mary-Sues and horrible writing littering this place and decided that Flamers might have a point, after all. Then I stumbled across The Fireplace and discovered Flame Rising.

Believe it or not, the Flamers are usually really, really nice people when you get to know them, and they flame for a good reason, and a completely understandable one. Most of them are very good writers themselves, and they are as fed up as I am over the garbage filling our fandoms. Through lurking in the Fireplace I've developed a lot of respect for Flame Rising and many of his lackeys, as well as many of his arch enemies.

Yet while I sympathise with their motivations, I will never be a flamer. The line between Flames and Harsh Constructive Criticism is a fine one, but I believe there is a definite one, and it lies in the subject of the criticism. Constructive criticism, however harsh, is criticising the story, while flames are criticising the author. I can see the value in harshly criticising a story; things here are published to the public and must have a decent amount of effort put into them, and the authors must be willing to receive criticism if they open their work to the public. On top of this this is a fanfiction website, one must respect the canon of the fandom one is writing for if one hopes to be taken seriously. We have the right to pull people up about these things. But I can not see any reason why the criticism should be directed at the author rather than the faults in the story.

As for the Forum wars, I explored the forums for about a month, just lurking and watching the various parties and people. A lot can happen in a month, and I think I've become well acquainted with the things going on around there. I've seen a whole lot of great friendships grow, I've seen people helping new writers and sharing tips things they've learned over the years here, I've seen a lot of laughter and fun and friendship. I've also seen people hurt and made fun of, friendships broken, and a whole lot of immaturity and snarkiness. And in the end, I spent hours and hours online and neglected my writing. I wouldn't call that time wasted - I've learned a lot! But in the end I decided that I came here to write, and the forums aren't going to help me do that. So I'm not going to get involved.

Snippity snip goes the rest - If you're part of the small minority who have time for reading random stuff, your time would be better spent reading my story, and if that doesn't appeal to you, one of the ones on my favourites list. They're all very good, and there are a whole lot of different genres there, from humour to romance to angst. There are some great stories here, however difficult to find they may be!