All avatars are pictures taken by yours truly. See my mad photography skills!

People (especially those in my family) continuously tell me that I am strange, freaky, or just plain downright weird. To which I respond, "What was your first clue?"

I am an eccentric eclectic. (Try saying that one 10 times fast.) And damn proud of it too.

I believe in innovation, renewable energy sources, sustainable living, alternative theories to just about anything, constant learning, farming, 4-H, helping others, making the world and our planet a better place, the occult, the paranormal, MSL (Music as a Second Language), openmindedness, thinking outside the box, simple elegance, antiquity, embracing new ideas and theories, tradition, old-fashionedness, making up new words, the power of communication other than oration, and uniqueness.

In other words, I am one of a kind. A nice smooth blend of creativity and reality, quirky and traditional. You'll never meet another person like me again. Ever. :)

Names: ForgottenEllipses, FlammableInk - aka Forell, MJ, Forell Flammink

Location: Land of the Cornfields, USA (those of you who live here with me, you know what I mean)

Age: College student

Major: English Writing, Psychology/Biology minor (Yes, I know it's weird, but that's me for ya)

Fandoms: Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, Artemis Fowl, Unwind, occasional random others that catch my fancy

Genres of Forte: I live for angst! But of course, I also must love others, including drama, hurt/comfort, tragedy, fantasy, adventure, good romance, and humor.

Story Type Fortes: My favorite types of stories by far are crossovers, tied with Snape/Harry Genfics (no slash!). I love Potions & Snitches for this. BL slash - when written well and correctly - is also a love of mine.

Favorite Character: Luna - this was my pet name before HP even came out, and she and I are EXTREMELY alike. Beware... :D

MY FICTIONS!

In The Dreaming (Trilogy)
Part I: Thus Saith The Lord (12-18 chapters)
Part II: World On Fire (~20 chapters)
Part III: Then You Stand OR Not Afraid OR Hurry Down Sundown (TBA)

ITD is my fist endeavor at a full-length novel story. Spurned from an idea I had when reading a challenge for the P&S ChallengeFest, this story took on massive proportions when I began writing it. It now will consist of three parts, and deal with very dark issues and extremely deep psychological turmoil. Be warned - this is not a happy story!! I am not nice to Harry. At all. Yet also be warned that if you stick it out through the end, you will be surprised. It's got a kick-butt ending. ;)

Updates will be (hopefully) on a 1-2 month basis, due to my Real Life (RL) at the moment. However, chapters will not be released until they have reached a sufficient length - one of my biggest pet peeves is short chapters. This does not mean that quality will give way to quantity. Which leaves me in a bit of a conundrum - often there in a great breadth of time between updates. True quality requires much time and effort.

NEWS! Chapter 2 is now up!

Outcast's Alley (Series) - adopted from RhiannanT

CURRENTLY ON HIATUS WHILE STRUCTURAL CHANGES ARE BEING DISCUSSED WITH RHIA.
Book 1: Outcast's Alley by RhiannanT
Book 2: Bastard Prince by Forell, Chapter 1 by Rhia
Book 3: ?

At the end of 2010, I was selected as the lucky new author of the OA series by RhiannanT! I hope that I can wield the pen in her Harry's wonderful new with the same dexterity as she herself. To all of her current readers and fans of Book 1, I hope that can fulfill your expectations as well as Rhia. The response from you guys already is overwhelming!

To assuage all your fears, I'm laying this all out right here. Incest is wrong. Not going to happen. This Harry is definitely not gay. Now, I'm not against homosexuals - I have gay friends, my best friend is bi, and I love slash stories, particularly HP ones. But not in this story. NO slash relationships featuring Harry will happen. In fact, I'm really thinking that Harry will not be shipped at all. IF and that's a BIG "if"! - he is ever shipped, he will be placed with an Unseelie/Sidhe OC. I'm not really big on focusing on the romantic aspect of things right now, so don't hold your breath. There's enough other things to focus on in the story, and he's certainly got enough to deal with as it is, without worrying about romance and girls. There will however be important women his age in his life, particularly once we move to the Sidhe Court.

WIP - unnamed HP/DM slash story (Oneshot)
Idea spawned from vigorous one-track listening of Kenny Chesney's hit "Somewhere With You". Post-Hogwarts, non-cannon compliant. Harry and Draco have broken up from what was a tumultuous yet loving relationship. Harry is struggling with the loss, keenly feeling the estrangement from not only his family and friends but now his ex-lover as well. Meanwhile Draco appears to have moved on, which Harry cannot understand.

NEWS FLASH

1/11/12

New year, no New Year's resolution. As my parents' priest said in homily New Year's Eve, "Many of you are going to do something very stupid tonight. And it's not drinking. You are all going to make a New Year's resolution. One you will not possibly keep over the coming year." Did you know 75% of New Year's resolutions are about weight or health? Not really surprising, when you really think about it. Well, I made no New Year's resolution. All my resolutions have come in the past month and a half, and they all have been resolutions that I have made because I feel that they are the right thing to do. I won't make a promise simply based on a silly day or celebration. Why make it for the year? What has the year done for me? What importance does this year have? (Other than the fact that half the population believes steadfastly that we're all going to die at the end of it.) Nothing. It has no importance to me. Not anything that would hold me to that promise, anyway. It's the things and people around me that I hold dear that carry that importance, and that's what I should make my promises to. My friends, my family, my doctors, my spirituality, and most of all, myself.

So this turnover for me, it didn't happen in the new year. It's been happening since November, really. Looking back at my past New Flash posts, you'll find the very first is from November of 2010, when my grandfather died and my life went to hell. Well, the same thing happened this year. This time, it was my aunt who died; and while I was never very close to her, it still marks a turning point after which the entire month of November was just really shitty. Basically I've come to the conclusion that November simply isn't a good month for me. This year I'll be prepared - third time's the charm, right?

Since the turn from November to December, a lot of things have changed in my life. I've started working out regularly. I bought my first "going out" outfit, the bottom half of which consists of a SKIRT. (Only the second I've ever owned or worn in my life, and I don't count the first as it makes me shudder to remember. Jocelyn can concur.) I picked out my Christmas Eve present, my Christmas dress - yes, a dress *shock and surprise* - that not only is above the knee, but also strapless. I've taken better care of my skin, and my face. I've officially dropped my second major and picked up a second minor. In Art. Studio Art, ceramics to be exact. I've discovered that I am a natural on the throwing wheel, and will be taking my second ceramics course in just that, starting in a week; along with two other art courses. I'm starting back up in squash this semester. I dropped choir in November due to time constraints...and I'm not picking it back up this semester. There. I just said it. Just decided that, right now. History in the making guys, and you witnessed it! Rather than doing Women's Choir here, I'll be heading across the road to look for the mixed choirs with MEN in them. I'm taking notice of guys. I'm starting up Magick again. I cleaned my room. I wrote an entire short story that might be continued into a novella. I have a new partner in rabbits. I got my wisdom teeth extracted. I'm writing again. I've finally gotten my college paid, and was able to see my final grades from last semester two days ago, and it is the best semester I've ever had - and this next will be even better, I can feel it.

In short, I feel like everything's turned around. I feel like a friend, writer, artist, healthful, intelligent, proactive, confident, woman. Not like a new person, because I'm definitely the same as who I always was. This is pulling back the film of dirt and grime that's settled over me. Washing it away. I'm getting back to the content person I was over a year ago, when I first started ITD-

Actually, no. It goes back even farther than that. I'm going back to the way I was when I was happy. That was in senior year. Of high school. I loved high school, all of it, but sr year was the best. Man, I was HAPPY. Just happy. Wow. I feel like I could cry - I just realized that I've never actually, truly, been simply happy or content, for nearly three years. That's a long time. A long time. But I'm finally getting back to that place. Things are settling into place, they're turning around and just going right for once. I really think this is what I'm supposed to be doing, where I'm supposed to be, and the future looks brighter than it ever has. It's taken me months of hard revelations, tough lessons, tears amongst friends, fights with my family, and some really dark times with myself; but I've made it. At least to this point. And you know what? I truly feel I can make it forward to catch that light. It won't forever be above me in the sky, beyond my reach. I'm going to run, and jump, and leap up and fly. And when I fly, I'll catch the light, and I'll be there. Where I'm supposed to be.

It's amazing what a solid day of listening to Coldplay's Paradise on repeat can do for you.

For tomorrow (well, today really), 1/11/12: I'm buckling down and writing three chapters of ITD before I go back to school this weekend, and I'm getting a new cat (!) on Thursday, so any free time I have will be devoted to those two things, rather than other things. Except for undecorating the tree, as that's the - only - task my mother has set me. At least *you* should be happy though, because that means you'll get to read not one, not two, but THREE new chapters of my story! I made a pact with Brit, in order to help me get over my hump, and her to finish her Sr comp short stories, which she was already given an extension for. Three chapters from me = two short stories from her, and four chapters from me if I can manage it.

Righto, heading to bed now, as I'm getting up early to get two whole chapters done and off to my beta tomorroooooooow! :D Wish me luck!

9/20/11

While BP is under re-structuration, I am working on Chapter 3 of ITD along with the backstory of an original novel and the Prologue of a second original novel. Due to a new pledge I and my best friend, also a writer, have taken on between ourselves, I will have the next chapter written by the end of the months. Or I have to pay her $25 - which I don't have. I would hope to also have it at least sent off if not back from my beta by this time, but no promises there. Knowing me, ultimate procrastinator, I'll be up the night before scrambling to pull it out. Hah...

But yeah. It will get moving. *thumbs up*

09/13/11

Some big things going on in the works with BP, long chats between me and Rhia. I'll let you all know when it's ironed out, but until that point, BP is on hold.

06/12/11

Life is effing hard, you know? I really and truly hate making excuses, but life as an adult is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Guess it's one of those things you have to experience for yourself before you it really sinks in. Suffice to say that there is a sh*t-ton of problems in my family - more so than the normal baggage everyone comes along with - and things are going downhill. Past that, I'm currently college-less, as I've withdrawn from my old college and still have no idea where I'll be this fall. Come hell or high water I will be in some sort of school but in the meantime it's a frustrating and anxious time. Finances are crumbling, my GPA sucks, my writing mentor and prof decided to give his best shot at making me miserable while writing and kill my creative juices, and I may have to get rid of all my rabbits for several different reasons at the peak of my career. At times the only thing that kept me sane these last three months were my two best friends and reading Fanfiction. There were a couple of weeks where I called my best friend from home every single night and talked to her for two or three straight hours. I just hope I can make it out on the other side of this summer with all my limbs and sanity intact.

Part of the reason BP has been so hard to write (past not being in the mood to do even my class writing, much less anything extra) is that I realized I Rhia left me with 24 new characters to create. Yes, that's right. TWENTY-FOUR. So yeah, been doing a lot of character sketching and developing in my mind. One of my readers, bless her heart, has given me a huge boost in that area, and I'll be finishing up all the introductions within the second half of Chapter 2 within the next couple of weeks. The goal is to have it written, betaed, and out to you all by the end of the month. Hopefully after this huge hurdle things will get easier. I know I have big plans for a couple of the new characters, and I'm excited to see what they'll have me do. ;)

03/09/11

Slight change of plans - teachers' fault, not completely my own! I didn't tell them to assign more essays over Spring Break! Ugh. Well, I am taking my laptop and there will be free WiFi in all but one night's hotels, so guess what? I have a 14-hour plane ride within which to do nothing but write! And a 2 1/2 bus ride to the airport. Although there's a good chance I'll be asleep for that. So, it's looking like that's what I'll do, in which case the chapter might be out two days later than March 11, when I leave. Especially since I've got to get it my beta before posting. So never fear, it'll get out, but the schedule's changed minutely. Wish me luck and good cheer on my trip! Parents: "Watch the scenery." Me: "I'm going to be over the ocean for most of the time. There's nothing to watch. It gets real boring after about 10 minutes." Parents: "Well...watch it anyway." Yeah. Please think better advice-thoughts than my parents!

03/03/11

Oh my god, I can't believe it's already March! The snow is melting, I hope to finally be gone (I'm ready for Spring!) and I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that in just over one week I will be traveling half-way around the world for my first abroad experience!!!! I get shivers and every time I think about it!

In honor of this trip, there will be a new chapter up by the time I leave.

There. Happy? ;)

It WILL be out my March 11. Why? Well, normally I would tell you all that I'll be doing a lot of writing over Spring Break. And normally I would. Except that this Spring Break I will be in China, on tour with my choir. I don't expect to be doing a lot of writing while I'm there. (Duh!) Since I feel bad about not doing anything towards my stories over Break, I'll get you guys a chapter before I leave. I leave on March 11, so that gives me - and you - a solid deadline. And then I can open my inbox when I come home and be astounded by the greeting flood of reviews. Right? Hint hint! It just so happens that this weekend I also have a 12-hour fundraising function that I have to be there for the entirety of, and I'm hoping I can use some of that time for hw and writing. One way or another, it will get done! Keep in mind that Chapter 2 is party Rhia's writing and partly mine. It'll be about half and half I think.

02/06/11

Hmm. Well. That deal didn't go as promised. I worked on it, but it's not quite finished. Rabbits being born, rabbits dying, rabbits getting conjunctivitis...I was called home to deal with them and then go to a last-minute show as well. Not to mention the EIGHTEEN INCHES of snow we had plopped on us last week, plus another two last night! It was so bad that security dispatchers and desk workers were staying overnight in the dorms, the college closed for the day - which happens once every 10 years - and the Governor even called a freaking state of emergency for a good 3/4 of the state! Pretty to look at. Not so fun to deal with.

Word to the wise, never go to a winter rabbit show more than an hour away. We ended up getting back at 10:30 at night, after having been up since 4am, and we still had to put rabbits away and feed. Unknown to us, the State Road we had been traveling on was actually closed for the 40 mile stretch we were on, and resulted in us driving 25 miles an hour in 2-wheel drive for nearly an hour and a half.

The bright side - and a VERY BRIGHT side it is!!! - is that I won Best 6 Class and Reserve In Show! With my RARE BREED!!! Most of you don't have a clue about rabbit breeds, but there are literally 12 breeders nationwide of my breed, and it is listed as the #3 most endangered breed in America. Best 6 Class wins never happen. Never. But I did it! Ah, I'm so happy!!!! *hugs and dances with herself in glee* To top it all off, this rabbit has just turned 4 months old. I can't wait to see how she does as she grows older. :D

Things to do for Monday:
1) Close-reading paper for VicLit.
2) 3 blogs for Admissions Office website
3) Chapter Two Bastard Prince!

01/24/11

All right, so I've made a promise and deal with one of my reviewers who actually took the time not only to review, but to send me a personal message reminding me that the readers that count really do still love me and to not give up on BP just because of a few flames. Not that I was planning on it in any case, but they certainly boosted my spirits! And, best for you all, they inspired me to make them a deal concerning BP.

My birthday's in a few days (good God, I can say I've lived two decades - put that way I feel OLD) and I will have the next chapter of Bastard Prince out to my beta by then. This will allow her time to beta it and get it back to me, and for me to post it by the end of the month. Now in exchange for this, I expect a deluge - give me a Noah's Ark Flood here, people! - of reviews and messages as a most excellent birthday present. How's that for a deal, eh? *wiggles eyebrows*

In case anyone's wondering, I'm now back at school, and I'm loving my classes. I'm in a Vic Lit class with 7 papers over the term including a honkin' huge term paper, and both a Creative Writing Fiction and a Screenwriting class, so I'll be doing a lot of original fiction writing in a short time span, which is a new land for me. My first Creative scene gets judged, er, I mean reviewed, tomorrow. Wish me luck!

01/11/11

Tomorrow is a big day! After 5 years years of pleading, begging, prodding, and dealing with stupid insurance policies, I am finally getting braces! Yes, I'm in college and will have braces, but hey. I really want them, I hate my teeth as they are, and at least I'm not like both my parents who had braces as adults when they were in their late 30's. I've heard all their horror stories and have no desire to add my own - hence getting them now. :)

I expect that I will be in somewhat of a world of pain come tomorrow about 11am, which will translate one of two ways: a) I will be in pure agony and go die on my bed, or b) be in such discomfort that I can't do anything and so am bored out of my mind and will do "relaxing activities". I can all see which you all would prefer I be doing.

Then the next week starts Spring semester of college again, and I expect I'll be swamped with figuring out how to live my life again, as we all do at the start of each new term. I'm taking 17 credit hours, getting ready to go abroad over Spring Break on tour with my choir, on the Varsity Squash Team, and an officer of Pre-Vet and CEO. Not to mention that at the end of it all I'm supposed to be transferring to a new college...which means I have to get everything academia-wise rounded up and applications sent out, within a timely deadline.

Let us pray that I get something done during the end of this week while recuperating and write a ton of Fanfiction! Because after that point I can assure you that I will be extremely busy for the next 2-3 weeks in school.

Thanks and a shout-out to all those people who have stood up for me against my lovely flaming reviewers and told them to shut up and back off, particularly "snapeswidow"! I'm going to print out and hang your review on my bedroom door, right next to my "Famous Quotes From Sarah Palin" calendar, so I can wake up every morning and laugh and smile. You guys are what make me want to keep writing and assure me that you're still out there supporting me from afar. My true fans. Thank you.

01/01/11

It's a new year! Happy New Year to all! And you know what that means? A new chapter of Thus Saith the Lord! Yes, that's right kiddos, I'm not dead nor leaving you hanging forever - Chapter 2 is sent to my new beta, and she's going to try and have it back to me within the day. That way it can truly be a New Year's present for you all! Final word count: 3,111

For all those who have left reviews crying out about no updates in so long, but NOT SIGNED IT therefore not allowing me to answer them personally, in particular "Kat":

Yes. I am working on Bastard Prince. I am contact with Rhia - just talked with her a week ago, in fact - and I have no intention whatsoever of leaving the story unfinished. For heaven's sake, it's only been two months - and a lot has happened in those two months, which you would realize and I would hope understand if you actually deigned to READ MY PROFILE and see the News Update, and therefore know what is going on in my personal life. Something I don't have to do. I do it out of the goodness of my heart, and I really do not appreciate you yelling at me when you don't even take the time to put in a little effort and see that I have put in effort here. I could just leave my profile blank and not let anybody know what's going on. You really have no right to see what's going on in my life, or tell me that I should "give back the story to Rhia and apologize to everyone" when you have absolutely no idea what is going on all of my life. And yes - I do have a life, outside of FanFiction. Shocking, no? And Rhia herself pointed out to me that I am doing you all FAVOR by even choosing to post this story so you all can see it. There is no law that says I have to. You want to see it come up faster and think you can do better? Go right ahead and try. Title it something else, take it your own direction, make up your own plots for the future, whatever. Then come back when you're done, take a look at the quality and timeline of my work vs. yours and tell me that I'm not writing fast enough. Only then will you have the right to even think about bringing up such accusations.

As my published Ph.D Writing professor told us all last month,"You may only write two words one day. But as long as those two words are right - and only you will know if they are right - that's a good day. A very good day."

Off my soapbox now. I've just gotten several reviews within the last 2 weeks that were unsigned and really rather nasty and pissed me off, and I really wanted some way to respond to them. Not that they'll look here, since they didn't in the first place to see this News Flash section. But at least it makes me feel better.

12/06/10

One word.

FINALS.

For those of you college attendees or graduates, you know what I'm talking about. For those of you who aren't or haven't, take your high school finals and multiply them by 10. Then add in a 2-ton tsunami of aggravation and hair-pulling, subtract 10 days worth of time and sleep each, swirl in some personal drama and then dangle the temptation to escape it all by reading more FF or playing Howrse or your favorite game in front of your nose. That's what college finals are like. And they're not even fully here yet. I've still got 8 more days left of this to sludge through yet, before I'm home free.

So yes, I am alive. I may be drowning in about 100 pages of paperwork that needs to be done within the next 48 hours, but I've got my straw down here at the bottom. Every now and then I just poke another air hole through.
No, BP is not ready to be posted yet.
No, it will not get posted before New Year's, I can guarantee you. My loyal ITD readers have been waiting much longer than you, and their chapter is nearly done. Quality before quantity, remember?
No, NaNoWriMo did not work out. It failed for me, with all that happened last month. November was a shitty month for a lot of people, me included.
Yes, this is part of the reason that BP is farther behind than I had originally anticipated when I took it on.
No, I am not giving up on BP! It's just slow coming. Give me a break guys, I do have a life outside of FF!
Yes, ITD will get a chapter by Christmas - hopefully a lot sooner - or bust!
Yes, no matter how much I moan about all your complaints, I do love you all and cry a tear of happiness at every review sitting in my inbox.

11/13/10

Convention went wonderfully, I swept my breed's table! I now am known as the top adult breeder in the nation for my breed (a great feat for my first time competing in Open).

Today was Granpa's memorial service and it was lovely, and the ending of this topsy-turvy week. Now things will hopefully settle down and I'll be able to give you all a definite working schedule for updates again. Thank you all for your support in this troubled time for my family, and the continuing emails about alert additions. The "Fav Author" ones really make me smile. I particularly appreciate all your encouragement on the behalf of BP and the OA Series. It's continued to come in daily with new alerts and favorites in a steady stream.

I have made a considerable dent in ITD, and you should all expect an update by the end of the week, assuming that my beta gets it back to me by then. I will begin serious work on BP after I send that chapter off to her, in hopes that I can have at least a few chapters ready by the end of the month.

11/05/10

My grandfather just died this evening. Things are very much in limbo with my family at the moment; I have no idea if I'm attending Convention now, or when services will be held or anything. While it was somewhat precipitated, it was still very sudden. He did go peacefully and pain-free, and it really was his time. He is free of the worsening life he's lead over the last year. I'm doing okay at the moment - best friends are a wonderful thing.

As you can imagine, this upheaval really has thrown a wrench into any and all plans I've made concerning real life and timing for updates is now thrown out the window. My NaNoWriMo will be affected, my promise for the update to ITD may be affected, other things...everything's in the air now.

Please bear with me, and know that while things will be tumultuous for a while here, eventually it will all calm down and I will be able to give you more info. But for now, the answer to all questions about when the next update will appear is: I DON'T KNOW.

Thank you everyone, especially those that keep my family and I in their prayers.
MJ