I'm trying to come back from the brink of idleness. Recently, I've felt no desire to write, and little desire to read. I've only now started to feel the itch in my fingers and the whir in my mind that indicates I want to write again. I have several ideas tossing around for original fiction and I need to decide which one to latch on to. Because I've been unable to decide that, I'm doing a lot of research on several topics. I have this amazing book of symbols, which is helping immensely with the fantasy piece I want to do, and I'm trying to delve through the multitude of sites online about World War I. Specifically, I'm looking for home life, life on the front, and the life in estates, but those are very specific topics, and difficult to find online. Drop me a line if anyone has any awesome WWI sites.

I'm doing a lot of reviewing in the meantime. Although I haven't written for many fandoms, I do read and watch a lot of things. I try to keep up with what's new in the community, so I've been reading a lot of those "just in" stories of fandoms I am familiar with. There's a lot of things I'm reading that I would never find otherwise, and I'm grateful for them opening up my mind and creativity.

Juggling work, painting, reading, and writing is difficult.

Fandoms that I read and write for:

Downton Abbey

Harry Potter

Supernatural

Fushigi Yuugi

Community

Final Fantasy

Mortal Instruments

Infernal Devices

Of course, this list is always subject to change, and I dabble in far more fandoms than I can list here.

Genres that I read and write:

Fantasy

Romance / Family

Adventure

Angst / Healing

Suspense / Mystery

I read a lot of fiction. I tend to stick with Young Adult fiction, as I'm hoping to be published and work in that vein. Deb Caletti is a wonderful author for realistic teen fiction; my favorites are The Nature of Jade and The Queen of Everything. I love writers and novels that mesh fantasy and reality in to novels that I'll call fantastic-realism. Three of these writers are Scott Westerfeld (Leviathan series), Cassandra Clare (Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices series, even if I am sad about the plagiarism allegations), and as seen above, J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter). I am also a lover of old classics and their authors, and I wish I had more time to read Jane Austen and the Brontes.

Naturally, reading and watching films and T.V. shows have introduced me to characters and pairings that I adore:

Tasuki, Nuriko, and Chichiri, from the first anime and manga that I ever delved in to, and subsequently connected me with dozens more

Cloud, Tidus, Auron, Ingus, Balthier, Basch and countless others from the Final Fantasy franchise

Ed and Al from Fullmetal Alchemist

Will and Jem. Their friendship breaks my heart in the most lovely ways. Will and Tessa. I truly believe Will will never love anyone the way he loves her. Sophie and Gideon. These characters live in the Infernal Devices world.

Jace and Clary, Magnus and Alec, Izzy and Simon. I really am happy with the canon pairings in the Mortal Instruments.

Mary and Matthew, from Downton Abbey: the source of my love and pain.

All of these characters and these worlds inspire me to write more: both my own fiction and to develop their own worlds further. They will push me to become a better writer.

I am on fictionpress as Kyouen as well, but I review far more than I post my own fiction.

Art, both horrible and what I find lovely, is here: