As of Jan., 2010 (date of bio, not birthdate): I'm a 56-yr-old wife and mother of three grown daughters and three grown foster daughters. I've been a Zorro fan...make that fanatic...since age four, when I was first introduced to Zorro via the Disney series. I collect Zorro stories, videos, etc. My girls grew up through their early years with almost daily exposure to Zorro from videos of both the Disney series, and of the Family channel episodes I'd taped off TV. At one time, we had every episode of the Family channel series, although we've worn out at least one volume over the years...unfortunately, that was the last volume, with the conclusion of Conspiracy of Blood on it. AAGH!

I enjoy both the Family channel and the Disney Zorro series. I quit trying to compare them long ago. They have totally different approaches to the subject matter. I just concentrate on enjoying each series for its own unique characteristics. Gene Sheldon and Henry Calvin were such fantastic character actors in the Disney series, and I've always loved Sgt. Garcia's singing. On the other hand, Zorro's continuing relationship with Victoria, and the more serious approach of the Family channel series has made it my favorite for storylines and realism. I think it's the EASIER series to write about, too, because the character development is so much more detailed than in the Disney series.

I also enjoy other superhero stories, esp. Green Hornet, Daredevil, the original Batman, and the Shadow (I collect tapes of the old radio shows).

A Father's Love was my first attempt at writing fan fiction, although I will admit to having about 49 years of experience at daydreaming up Zorro storylines, alternate endings, episode continuations, etc. I can remember putting myself to sleep at night as a child, by doing this in bed after lights out. Now I'm finding out it still works pretty well, AND it's still a good way to figure out a storyline.

My second story, Love's Triumph, was on an obnoxiously long hiatus for over two years. We moved, and that interrupted for a while. Then I got a HUGE writer's block. Then I went back to college full-time after 32 years OUT of college, and then I was working full-time with a really weird schedule that left me little time for ANYTHING.

Starting with ch 16 of Love's Triumph, "smithcrafter" actually refers to TWO people (for this story). georgiamomma123@ has adopted the story and given me the boot in the rear to get it going again. The next 5-6 chapters were basically her plot, but I did much of the final version. After ch 21 or 22, this turned around. The rest of the story is HERS, and all I've done is beta, do a little editing here and there, and occasionally stick in a comment or idea for a sentence or two. Thank you, georgiamomma, for finishing the story for me!

As of Aug., 2009, we moved AGAIN and I'm now working a much more regular schedule. We're getting near the end of Love's Triumph (47 chs total plus epilogue), and yes, we are tossing around the possibility of working on another story together in the future. For now, though, I've started a different project. I'm branching out into another old favorite genre: Hogan's Heroes. I'm going to attempt to write some short episode tags/ missing scenes for various episodes in the order the episodes were first shown. I'll post each one separately, because I've no idea how frequently I'll get them done, or how many I'll actually get finished. Wish me luck.

My other interests include church, reading, pottery, clay sculpture, counted cross-stitch, needlepoint, scrapbooking, classical and Southern gospel piano playing, flute, and Native American flute.