*Update: 11/5/2017

Hey everyone. I know I said that I would finish all sorts of plans for Sweet Metamorphosis. In theory, I'd still like to. I had an unfair amount of fun writing it :) and I do still think about it from time to time. The truth is that, as I'm sure everyone here knows, life can be tricky. Things happen, and you end up where you didn't expect to find yourself. Tale as old as time, and all that jazz, if perhaps a little less romantic.

When I first decided to write Sweet Metamorphosis... I believe it was the end of the summer before I started work on my doctorate. For the first time in quite a while, I didn't have much going on as far as responsibilities. I had been killing time while I had this last bit of freedom reading through LoTR fanfictions and didn't really find what I wanted in an Aragorn/OC fic. So I thought... 'why not take a stab at this?' Honestly, I didn't really anticipate I would get so into it. I started out mostly wanting to 'skip ahead to the good stuff,' as perhaps you might be able to tell. I never was as happy with the earlier chapters. I did find that the more I wrote, the more I got invested in the story. I put more and more time into developing character arcs, polishing my writing, etc.

Eventually, I reached the point where it was hard to maintain. Academia is... challenging. In many ways, I love it. I truly do. All the same, I could go on about how I think it is unhealthy and unsustainable in its current state. Needless to say, I will not be pursuing traditional academia careers once I finish up. My program largely killed my creativity. I was always exhausted, and had no mental reserves left to put toward other things I enjoyed. This reached a peak not long after I posted my last chapter--when I reached a stage of my program that is notoriously taxing, which happened to coincide with some major life events.

I had hoped that once I finished this milestone I'd be able to jump back into the things I had been missing--this story, among other things. Instead, by the time it was over, I was left floundering. I barely felt like a functional human.

In time, I got back to feeling a bit more like my normal self, if a little bit jaded against academia. However, once my spark for creativity began to return, it did not cooperate and go where I expected it.

In a perfect world, I would go back to the start of Sweet Metamorphosis to flesh out some of the initial scenes and add a few extras to make it flow better and make character motivations make a bit more sense. I would post the final chapter (which I've got in some stage of editing, but have never really been satisfied with). I would post a few chapters from Aragorn's point of view, for which I have extensive notes. When I go over them, I do want to write it. I just had a huge wave of nostalgia and inspiration for it last night when I read though my unfinished plans. It was an amazing feeling to rediscover some of the excitement I'd once felt for it. I haven't fully given up hope that I will do these things.

I did continue writing. I feel like writing is one of the big loves in my life, and I'm certain I will always find my way back to it. I am currently elbows-deep in an original fantasy novel that I sincerely hope I can one day share with the world. It's got necromancers and fun magical technology and romantic interests who start out ardently wishing they could kill each other. They're going to have such a slow burn that I can't wait to explore it more fully :) There are so many shades of grey and questions of morality and did I mention animated corpses?

If it ever reaches a point that I feel good enough about it to publish in some form or another, I'll put something about it here.

However, I have always been able to tinker around in several projects at a time, and it really does bother me that I didn't do everything I'd intended with Sweet Metamorphosis. I don't want to promise anything at this point, but it isn't inconceivable that I might find some time over the winter holidays to return a bit to Aragorn and Danielle. I'm not fully ready to let go of them.

No matter what, thank you to everyone who has read my story. I don't have the proper words to tell you how much your words and enthusiasm have meant to me, but they really have inspired me and given me confidence as a writer. It is because of you that I feel like I can write an original novel.

I have always loved to read and write. I am trying to write a book of my own, but sometimes something bubbles up inside you and you can't rest until you get it out. Fanfiction.net has been an amazing outlet for that.

I'm currently in grad school, so any story I start to post has already been nearly completed ahead of time. I would hate to start a new story that fizzles out, so writing the bulk of it ahead of time helps. From the day of my first post of Sweet Metamorphosis, I'd written 65,000 words of it. More will come. I expect to reach 130,000.

I am currently working on a Lord of the Rings piece. It is a fairly common concept, but I'm trying to do it my way. A woman suddenly finds herself in Middle Earth and becomes the tenth member of the fellowship. We've all seen plenty of these, but I hope you will find that mine is a little different.

I am always looking for a good Aragorn/OC pairing, which is part of the reason I'm writing this. There aren't nearly as many of them as Legolas/OC pairings. If you want to read something you can't find, you've got to write it yourself, right? I know why there aren't many. Aragorn loves Arwen. Well, in my story, Arwen did agree to sail to the west. I try to make Aragorn's grief realistic, which is why I don't jump right into the relationship in my story. I'm really showing how Aragorn and Danielle's relationship slowly buds. You have to be patient, but I promise it will be worth it ;) I've put all of my heart and hours of daydreaming into this fic.

It can be challenging to write a female character in this situation, because making her too strong can lead to Mary Sue accusations, while it is also very easy for her to be a helpless burden. It can be hard to find a healthy balance. I like to think I've made my character realistic in this sense. Danielle is no expert at anything in Middle Earth and she knows it. But she works hard, and I show these struggles as well.

Even though I've already written a fair amount, I can't post it all at once. Reading through the portions at the beginning in particular, I've found that I need to make a few changes to make it better. I'm fleshing things out a little more, now, and changing the point of view from first person to third. I'm trying to keep an eye out for those "I" suckers, but one may slip my notice, so forgive me if you spot one.

As someone who loves to write and will always continue to do so, I welcome advice and suggestions.

Writer's log

08.13.2015- I think I got it to work!

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08.06.2015- We're in the final stretch! I'm hoping to keep things posting regularly until the main story is done. That might be made more challenging due to a due date I have coming up... but I think I can continue my one-a-week schedule for a little longer. After that, I plan to take some time to edit some of my earlier chapters, and to add some bonus material from Aragorn's perspective.

Also, I know some people have asked questions about what Danielle looks like. It never came up naturally in the story, so I never put it in. *Shrug* I did, however, take a shot at drawing how I imagine her. I can draw, but I have trouble including the smaller details and imperfections that make people look more realistic and unique. Still, it's not bad. I've got a link to it here:

Her nose is supposed to look a little less squashed. I'm not great with noses :)

She is around 29 years old, and just over average female height (maybe around 5 foot 6 inches). Her hair is medium brown and wavy, going just a couple inches past her shoulders. Her eyes are green. The picture I posted is more what she looks like before coming to Middle Earth. Her makeup style was fairly natural, so she wasn't too bothered by leaving behind makeup. She was, however, saddened to no longer be able to pluck her brows :)