Hmm... personal notes... Well, my name is Sharon and my fondest love is writing. I have a severe disease that all writers get. You know, that disease where you have to write something or else you lose what's left of your already tattered mind?

My strongest creed is that fictional books should -never- be banned for any reason. They are meant to entertain and to educate, never to incriminate as some people seem to believe. In my place of residence, the US, we may have it better than a lot of countries; in fact, I know we do; but the issue still remains that Americans in general see far too many issues as taboo.

Which brings me to my second point of interest. Anime. I love anime and manga. I love the stories, the characters, the playfulness of the whole genre, shoujo being my favorite. (shows like Fushigi Yuugi, Rurouni Kenshin, Card Captor Sakura, Slayers) But something I've come to realize recently is that I also love anime and manga because of its freedom of expression. The Japanese culture is far more liberal in terms of issues that are taboo in the US. I have to admit, I have yet to write a shounen-ai or shoujo-ai story, but anime has certainly changed my views on what American society had cultured me to believe was only to be talked about in hushed voices.

While I could ramble for hours, you, the reader, have probably taken the time to read this personal notes section because you want to know if my writing is worth your time. Or perhaps you're just bored. Nevertheless, my fan fiction is always humorous or fluffy, with angst thrown in. And yes, there is always angst. I've been good about not putting all the weight on the males' shoulders lately, though, but angst, to me, expresses internal dialogue through characters, giving them that slightly 'larger than life' quality fiction characters need.

I have written for Pokémon under the alias of Sharon "Mondo" Rocket, and Slayers and Rurouni Kenshin under the alias of TMX. While I do have a Slayers fic in mind, I will not be using my former alias. Instead, FyreScribe is the name I hope to entrust completed fiction to.

As for my favorite authors... when I was younger, my favorite author, by far, was Lois Duncan. To this day I still have all of her books, worn from the many times I've opened and closed them. Paul Zindel, with heart-warming stories such as The Pigman, was another one of my favorites. Ray Bradbury, as well. I loved his short stories and novels when I was younger and I still love them today. As I moved into the sappy point of no return, I discovered Jude Deveraux's novels, which is actually a sort of family tradition, but I won't get into that now. It's strong heroines that female writers such as her have created that provide the heart that flows into the writers of new generations and makes us see, if just for a fleeting moment, that we really can make a difference in someone's life through the power of the written word. Why do you think books are banned in the first place?

And, on that note, I leave you. Bet you're breathing a sigh of relief. If you ever have the terror of meeting me in real life, yes, I really am like this, and I really will ramble on for hours and hours if I'm not stopped. ^_^