Ok...well, I'm back from my...*checks* about three-month break now. I'm really sorry about that, especially to GodricsRanger, AmyOfRedmont, RoMythe, Dodo.123, spookisapuppy, and BeastBoy'sGirlFriend. Er, I don't suppose a simple apology in words will make up for my huge delay, so I will give you all (and every single one of my reviewers who have been waiting for updates for months now) a huge personal project/gift as my apology.

THE 100-THEMES CHALLENGE FOR WRITING!!!

Yeah, I'm finally going to do it. Using the ones on spookisapuppy's profile page, of course.

Title: Off the Beaten Path

Summary: 100 Themes. 100 Days. No excuses. No exceptions. Are you ready to rumble? Because I will be updating EVERY SINGLE DAY, except for the several days I'm gone at camps. Let's go. Begin...now!

Who am I, you ask?

Well, first things first--I am a Christian. Don't like it? Too bad. That's the way I am, that's the way I'll stay. I love the LORD and His Son, Jesus Christ, and I'm not afraid to proclaim it on the rooftops.

And I'm an HS girl. Gee, I'll bet it was hard to figure that one out.

Yeah, I'm pretty sarcastic.

Oh, and by the way, I don't alert stories or authors or such like. It fills up my inbox way too quickly. I'll favorite authors and stories, but not alert them. Sorry if I sound harsh, but that's the way I am, and that's the way I'll stay.

Anyway. Next--what I don't like, or you could say my pet peeves. Here goes.

1.) Slash. Oh my gosh. This is disgusting. It's one of the worst things that has ever polluted the world. I have nothing against homosexuals, it's just against the stories that have it. Disgusting. Don't care for it and, quite frankly, would rip it to shreds if I could. It's blunt, but it's the truth.

2.) Flamers and flames. There isn't much to talk about on this. Who wants the story they've worked so hard on torn apart and hurled on the ground, stomped and spit on, by some loser that doesn't write a proper story themself? Not me.

3.) When someone adds me or one of my stories to their favorites and/or alerts, and doesn't bother to review. Even a smilie face works for me. I'm fine with those. But, seriously, I accept anonymous reviews. And think about it--how much effort does it really take to type one sentence?

4.) Mary Sues and Gary Stus. I have been guilty of writing these in the past! I think everyone has, though. But if you have one, I'll try to let you know. I haven't seen any lately, and I hopefully won't ever have to, but the whole "perfect, invincible" warrior-thing gets on my nerves and annoys me. Do it enough and I get seriously ticked off.

5.) GRAMMAR mistakes. I can understand it if you're, like, 9 years old. I can understand the occasional typo/misspelling. But what I can not understand are repeated mistakes of the same kind and all different types of careless mistakes in one chapter or less. EURGH! There's a reason why we go to school, people!

6.) Excessive cussing and that 'other' romance stuff. Yeah, the occasional d-word and 'crap' are okay. Hell I'm fine with. It's not really a cuss word, if you think about it. It's a PLACE, that hot place down there where no one really wants to go. But once you have the a-word, f-word, and/or the s-word, among others, in your story repeated times, that's where I stop reading. You realize that there are young readers on this site? And that I'm a Christian?

Whoo! Well, thank goodness that's over with now.

I suppose you guys want to know a little more about me. All right then, let's start with some of my favorites.

Favorite Books: The Minstrel's Tale; the Bible (say what you like, I don't care); A Year Down Yonder; Through the Looking-Glass; The Secret School; The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle; Classic Whodunits; Chasing Vermeer and The Wright 3; My Wartime Summers; The City of Ember; Benjamin West and his cat Grimalkin; and a whole lot more. XD

Favorite Series: Nancy Drew; Royal Diaries; Chronicles of Narnia; Land of Elyon; Percy Jackson; Inkspell; Harry Potter; Fruits Basket; La Corda D'Oro; Sherlock Holmes; and the best young adult series of all time ever: Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan.

Favorite Foods: dinner rolls, King Sooper's bread, properly-cooked bamboo, shrimp, spaghetti, lasagna, breadsticks, Little Ceasar's pizza, noodles, hot soup, rice, tofu, animal crackers, Gogurt, yogurt, fruit snacks, grapes, apples, pears, oranges, carrots (and I think that's it. xD)

Favorite Songs: All of these are for orchestra or band. Barber of Seville by Rossini, La Folia by Corelli, The Magic Flute by Mozart, Dance of the Thunderbolts by Larry Clark, Monmouth Overture by Michael Sweeney, Moscow, 1941 by Brian Balmages, and Lost in Mammoth Cave by Robert Sheldon.

Favorite Activities: swimming, volleyball, archery (even though I have to practice at school), drawing, reading, writing, violin, clarinet, orchestra (outside of school)

Favorite Movies: Untouchables, Avatar (minus the cursing and 'other' stuff...), Toy Story 3 (it was amazing, OK? ^_^), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Titanic, and some other movie I can't remember the name of right now...it involves a determined girl raising a flock of geese... .

Favorite Subjects: Unfortunately, we don't have orchestra at my school. So my fav subjects are band, science, and language arts. :)

Favorite Videogames (all on Wii): Yeah, I only have a Wii. Anyway, I like New Super Mario Bros., Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Mariokart. 8D

Favorite Color: forest-green. Maybe this is related to RA, maybe not. ;D

Wow, that was a lot too. Just to let you know, I will be adding on to this in the near future as well. Thanks for stopping by! :)

A. Current Stories (Working On):

Random Flashfics--random, short oneshots about the characters in RA. :) 500 words or less.

Land of Mytycaea*--an adventure story where Will Treaty and his friends are sent to explore a distant land...

Loss of a Dear Friend--Will's stuck on a cliff with a broken bowstring and an angry axman coming at him!

Ranger Sword-Bearer (working title)--Can Gilan finally escape from the strict Battleschool procedures dominating his life by becoming a Ranger?

Blackest Night--What if, at the Battle of Hackham Heath, Morgarath had won? Fifteen years have now passed, but the Wards don't know who they can turn to for help. They need to find out quick, because their dreaded Choosing Day is fast approaching...

New Year's Resolutions--Includes Halt, Pauline, Gilan, Will, and Alyss. Needless to say, they are coming up with their resolutions, pretty randomly and on-the-spot. In the second chapter will come a description of who actually succeeded with their resolutions.

Off the Beaten Path--My version of the 100 Themes.

Ok. So, really, I'm just going to rewrite it (see asterisk above) from scratch. I was reading it again and was just like, 'EUGH! This is what I wrote?' So I've decided to mainly keep the plot the same, but just rewrite the whole story.

B. Story Ideas (Coming Soon, or not so soon):

Making of a Legend--Everyone knows how Will Treaty rose through the ranks of legend, starting from his very first year as an apprentice Ranger. But much of his former mentor Halt's past is shrouded in mystery...including how he became a hero in the Kingdom of Araluen.

Captured!--Someone has kidnapped Pauline and is heading towards the Black Lord's domain. Will Halt and Will be able to rescue her before it's too late? (Alternate events in book 1.)

Surprise, Surprise--a series of oneshots about many of the RA characters' birthdays. :)

Apprentice to a Legend--(hm, maybe I should change that. Just look at the first title on this list XP) Over the years, the reknowned Will Treaty has exchanged his cheerful manner for one even grimmer than his former mentor Halt's. Will it take a young man from the Ward to change his heart?

Between the Lines--yet more oneshots; these are my own theories about events that have happened based on what is said in the books.

A Rose For You--even more oneshots. These depict how the RA characters come together in heartwarming scenes. All sorts of pairings, but not ridiculous ones.

C. Completed Stories:

A Ranger's Hallow's Eve--Will's out trick-or-treating while Halt stays at their cabin. Will the grizzled Ranger find a way to make sure the brave souls that come up to his cabin for candy take only their fair share?

10 Songs and 10 Drabbles--Elpen's own posting of this gave me the idea. And they suck horribly, but I somehow managed to get through them. XD I doubt anyone will be able to read through them, though.

Christmastime at Will's Cabin--I hope you guys can tell what this story is about. ;)

Is This a Meeting or an Exam?--For Rowana Renee's holiday challenge. Tells about when Crowley and Halt first met.

Wow, that is a lot. Maybe I should try to tone down that list. I mean, there's only thirteen stories up there that aren't complete. Geez, I come up with new ideas way too fast. T_T

Happy Fourth of July!