Though I have a boy's name, I am in fact a girl. Johnny is a pen name that I chose when I was in High School, and I've stuck with it ever since. When I was a teen I met a little girl who had been named after her grandfather, and at the time, I thought Johnny was the coolest name for a girl EVER! And Devlyn just seemed to have a good sound, I have no idea where it came from.

I'm old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway. How's that for ambiguous?? But if it helps, I'm in my eighth year of college or thereabouts... Hey, I worked two jobs while I went to community college, and I'm FINALLY a senior. I'll be student teaching in September of this year though!! I'm excited for that!

Disclaimers on a FAN fiction website are redundant... which is why I pretty much never post disclaimers... If I were making ANY money from ANYTHING I was writing, it probably wouldn't be posted on a FREE website like this one... And I mean that in the most loving way possible ;-D Did you know that writers who work on TV shows are not even ALLOWED to READ fanfiction?? I'm betting that means they cannot write it either...

I don't like giving out too much personal information about myself online, though if you talk to me personally, I usually end up giving out way too much information. Probably comes from being an introvert; I tend to overdo it when I finally do talk to real live people...

Hmm... I have a blog where I post other stories I've written, not based on TV shows. My own creations, mostly. I don't update very often though. http:///

Unfortunately, most of my writing depends upon inspiration and lately I have not been very inspired. I truly WANT to finish the stories I have posted here- ALL of them!- but I have not been very confident in my writing lately, and therefore pretty apathetic toward the whole process. If it counts at all, the stories are mostly completed in my head... it's figuring them out then putting them on paper that is not happening for me right now... I'm working on it though. Just gotta keep writing, though, Right?

SO, my FAVORITE AUTHOR OF ALL TIME recently posted this on facebook and I thought it was awesome that I am not the only one who feels this way- one other person being an author I GREATLY admire. So, I thought I would share her opinion of "constructive criticism":

15 Aug 2012 I think I should write about this concept of “constructive criticism.” Some people got angry at me for not liking being told that a woman wasn’t going to buy a book that hadn’t even been written yet. I was reminded that it is just someone’s opinion. YES IT IS!!
With the Internet I get bashed all the time. My books are taken apart. The most common cut is people writing, “I have loved all your books but I didn’t like the scene on page 277 of this one so I’m giving it the lowest possible rating.” I have read that a thousand times. I used to look back and see if the person wrote a good review for the books she liked, but no she didn’t. I get my entire book trashed for the stupidest reasons in the world. She doesn’t like the heroine’s name, then writes several paragraphs about how I should have named her something more ordinary. In another review someone will complain because I’ve used the same hero name twice, never mind that the books were set 120 years apart. People seem to only write when they dislike some small thing.
No one seems to realize that there is nothing “constructive” about these cuts. They are just a person’s opinion. But I am supposed to be “big enough” or secure enough to take it and be pleased to have my whole book marked down because of one tiny thing the reader personally didn’t like. I don’t know how it came about that we writers are supposed to be saints. People kick us and we are to smile and think their nasty, illogical, unfair comments are “constructive.” We aren’t supposed to fight back, to make no comeback, not to defend ourselves. No, we’re supposed to think it’s “constructive” and to appreciate it.
I get genuine, honest “constructive criticism” constantly. I think I’ve shown what an editor does to my books. And Linda is a very, very GOOD editor. You can’t imagine what the bad ones have done to me!
Thanks to the Internet, I have to put up with these slashes and hits all the time and they hurt! I work 7 days a week. A light day for me is 8 hours. When some woman says that I’m a “lazy writer” am I supposed to smile and think she was just being “constructive?” Or am I to be a human and want to rip her head off her body?
My point is that I want one place on the Internet where I am SAFE. Just plain, old fashioned safe. I don’t want any so-called “constructive criticism” aimed at me here. I want to tell people about my books, ask questions, laugh at the answers, and not worry that someone is going to blast me by saying she doesn’t want to read what I haven’t even written. As for the idea of “You are Jude Deveraux” so that should insulate me, the day I feel that I’m bigger or better or more special than anyone else is the day I’ll stop writing. That kind of arrogance makes me sick!
So now you are seeing the real me. I’m not a saint, I have a temper, and I fantasize about what I’d like to do to the people who trash my books, then the other people who tell me I should look on them fondly and from some lofty I-am-better-than-you position.
I’ve only memorized one poem in my life.
I am now sitting in the smallest room in my house.
Your review is now before me.
Soon it will be behind me.
Thanks so much to all of you who think it’s okay for me to be human. John and I talk about what a wonderful bunch of people you are and you have renewed my love of writing, which had almost been killed by the slashers on the Internet. Thank you! Jude