I have always enjoyed writing, but the need to earn a living led me into another career, teaching, which I truly love. This is my creative outlet, the thing I do just for ME. Everything I put up here is a work of love, so please, treat it kindly.

A public service announcement:

Shortly after midnight on December 1st, 2006, I was approached on IM by someone claiming to be a 26 year old guy wanting someone to write him an NC-17 fanfic about Smallville, Buffy, or 7th Heaven. He located me through a site where my profile gives only my Yahoo ID, so he didn't know I was a 35 year old school teacher. I told him his choice of fandoms made it seem like he was 'a freak trolling for children'.

He never denied it, but he did get mad that I wouldn't write the fic.

PLEASE be very careful what info you put online and who you exchange info with. REMEMBER your friends aren't the only ones reading your blog, your profile, your fanfiction.net profile, your web pages, your myspace stuff, AND EVERYTHING YOU PUT ONLINE. There was a time when I wouldn't even tell people I 'met' online what town I lived in because there were only about only about six people in the county who did my job, and if I happened to be corresponding with an axe murderer, it would be far too easy for him to find me.

If a thirty-five-year old school teacher can read your profile and wonder if a 13- or 14-year-old girl watches SVU, CSI, or NCIS with a parent so she can discuss things that are confusing or upsetting, there's no reason a twenty-six-year-old pervert or a fifty-three-year-old child molestor can't do the same, and chances are, the pervert or molester will pretend to be a 13- or 14-year-old girl when he or she approaches you online.

If you are a younger fan (I'll leave it to you to define younger) consider taking your age off all of your profiles. Consider changing your profiles so they don't reveal your online status or e-mail address. After all, you can add your friends (the ones you really know and have met face to face) to your address book and contact list and IM will tell you when they are online. If you are contacted through a fan group like I was, inform your parents and the moderator and send the moderator the text of any conversation that makes you uncomfortable. Type the words Internet Safety in your browser's search engine and read a couple of the hits that come up for more suggestions.

The internet is a fun place to chat about anything under the sun, and I don't want to spoil that for anyone, but as I teacher, I tend to worry about kids and just want to remind everyone to be safe.