03/04/2020* I apologize for the lack of updates. I have had chronic migraines since I was a teenager and the medications that kept them manageable for the past several years suddenly quit on me and it's been trial and error trying to find a new combination that takes away the headaches AND doesn't make me want to sleep all day. So sitting in front of a computer isn't the easiest thing at the moment. But I didn't want anyone thinking I have bailed on my stories. *03/04/2020*

Some of my readers may have noticed that updates have continued to be a bit sporadic. Work has been busy and my responsibilities have increased. I do my best to update once a week, with gaps no bigger than two weeks. I don't like to go any longer than two weeks without putting out something. But real life does have a way of interrupting the fun. And I will try to alternate story updates so one doesn't get ignored in favor of another. That my not always happen, especially if I hit an editing roll with one, but alternate updates is my goal.

There's nothing much to say about me, at least not much that will interest others probably. My real name is Samantha and I'm in my early 30s. (When the hell did that happen? lol) I love to write and have been for as long as I can remember. I've always found writing calming and a great way to decompress. I get a lot of it done commuting on public transit to/from work. Have spiral notebook, will travel. :-)

In the past I've written for General Hospital and Alias. My favorite shows include The Pretender, All in the Family, Alias, Boy Meets World, Living Single, Family Ties, Married...with Children, Will & Grace, Roseanne, Frasier, The Wonder Years, Mad About You, Castle, The Simpsons (the first 10 seasons at least), Scrubs, Lost and Gilmore Girls. I could go on with past favorites, I'm a rerun junkie.

The only current show I really like (well, LOVE) is The Good Place. I am half watching Nashville. I wanted to give them a shot on CMT, but am not that impressed. I sort of enjoy Fuller House in a lame, cheesy, "I'm 8 years old and it's TGIF again," way. But I have to be in the mood to watch it. I wanted to like the Gilmore Girls revival and, while it had its moments, it really fell flat for me. I'm thinking that revivals of my favorites shows just aren't for me.

I am also a lifelong WWE fan.

My favorite movies are Rocky, Ghostbusters, and Back to the Future. Rocky is #1 and the others are interchangeable. When I list these movies as my favorites, their sequels are included under the umbrella of the titles. I also love Dirty Dancing and Return to Me.

As for music, I love most genres and will listen to anything at least once. My taste can, at best, be described as eclectic. (If you saw the variety of my Pandora stations you'd probably scratch your head.) My favorite music to listen to, however, is 90's Hip Hop and R&B.

Now for things actually related to my writing...

I understand that not everyone will enjoy what I write. That doesn't bother me. My main goal is to write a clear, logical tale where you can understand the motivations of the characters involved. For me, storytelling 101 is writing the story to suit your characters, not twisting your characters into unrecognizable pretzels to fit the story you want to tell. So basically, even if you don't like where I take the characters, I at least hope you understand why/how I got there. If I fail at that, there's a problem on my end.

I get questions all the time asking whether or not I will ever finish my story, Stumbling into Fate, and right now the answer is I'm not sure. I hope so. I want to because I hate leaving things unfinished, but I lost all of my work that went into that story when my computer had a bad virus and crashed. In fact, it was when I was trying to piece this story back together that Where You Least Expect It came to me, and ever since then trying to write anything other than Angela with Eric causes my muse to go, 'WTF are you trying to pull, lady?' So I suppose, for now, Stumbling into Fate is on hiatus. Hopefully not indefinitely.

Another thing I am often asked about is my characterization of Eric and why is he so different and out of character. I don't think I'm writing him out of character. My favorite version of Eric Matthews was seasons 3-5, even the first half of season 6 wasn't that bad. So, I gear my version of Eric as closer to what seasons 3-5 would be like as an adult. Season 7 Eric, while funny, was a living, breathing cartoon character that you wondered how he was able to dress himself in the mornings. I do occasionally acknowledge the goofy moments and hope I keep his funny side, but you won't find idiot Eric here.

The Shawn/Angela relationship: I loved Shawn and Angela until mid season six. Beyond that I couldn't root for her to get back with him after all the games Shawn played with her heart (whether intentional or not). Angela's exclamation of, "I just can't sit around like a fool waiting for you to be ready!" really resonated with me. (I dated a Shawn minus the parental issues and wanted better for Angela. It hit too close to home.) Not to mention it drives me crazy how they constantly rewrote things to retroactively make stuff Angela's fault, like the season 6 break up. That was clearly on Shawn, yet they came back in season 7 and suddenly it was Angela's fault because of never before mentioned mommy issues? No, writers, you don't do that. But they did it again to her on Girl Meets World so why should I be surprised.

So, for me, Shawn and Angela are too similar to each other to last romantically, but could be good friends who can help talk each other through big life situations because they have the same baggage. But the way I see it, at least romantically, they both need someone more lighthearted, someone to take them away from the drama.

My main epic-length story, Where You Least Expect It, predates Girl Meets World. I began posting it in August 2012 (Wow.) and completed it in January 2016. Cory and Topanga are married and living in New York- Shawn's still based in NYC as well. She's a lawyer and he does work in education...I made a lucky guess there, lol, (Though in my world he's a high school guidance counselor.) but that is where the similarities to GMW end. That's another FAQ, I suppose. People wonder where Riley and Auggie are and they don't exist in this story. I did do flashback to a pregnancy scare for C/T that would've been roughly the same time Riley...happened, but that's as close as I will ever get to her.

If any fan of Girl Meets World reads my work, I will just say I was not a fan of the show to put it mildly. It was a pale imitation of BMW. It had potential and some of the basic ideas were there, but to say it fell short would be a severe understatement. If I use any elements of GMW in my stories, it is done in an attempt to fix or improve what was done to BMW characters at the expense of the newer GMW universe.

Most of my stories will probably center around Angela/Eric, if not romantically then as friends. People have asked if I'm obsessed, lol, no...they're just fun to write and I will keep writing them until the ideas run dry. But I completely understand that they're more of a niche pairing that a majority of people will find weird and aren't going to be into reading. It just makes me appreciate the readers I do have all the more.

Angela/Eric...how this pairing came to me, I have no idea, but now I absolutely LOVE writing them together. It's almost like there are no rules and anything can happen because they never really interacted much. Seriously, I think you can count on one hand the number of scenes they shared and times they talked directly to each other. I almost didn't write Where You Least Expect It, because they are such an out there, unexpected pairing that I thought I was crazy and honestly didn't believe anyone would be interested in reading about them together. I was so happy to discover I was wrong. People have joined me in embracing this crazy, lovable pair and I appreciate it.

If it will help, here is the order of the stories in this universe where Angela and Eric are together- not the order I necessarily wrote them, but the order in which the events occur thus far:

1. Where You Least Expect It
2. Good Things Come
3. Spontaneity is Our Strong Suit
4. Little Girls, Christmas Trees, and Anniversaries
5. Scattered Petals (Mr. Feeny focused, but Eric shows up at the end.)
6. Doesn't Fall Far

I am always happy to answer any questions or comments you may have. If you are too shy to leave a review where everyone can see it, please feel free to send a private message my way.