I started up a new website, Unique Stories Only, dedicated to the writer in us all. It is still in the beginning stages, but there are some useful links up. It has links to sites like fanfiction.net, sites where you can download free applications (under the "Free Products" tab), as well as links to products for purchase.

A little about me:

I am a single California girl living in New York. I still have much of my laid back CA attitude even though I’ve lived in New York for nearly twenty years. The summer I turned fifteen, I made the decision to move to New York. Having each parent in a separate state growing up (CA/TX and then CA/NY) fostered a love of traveling. One of the strangest days of my life was back in June 1989, when my mother and I flew to NY for my brother’s HS graduation. My parents were in the same state! Until that day, I had only seen my parents together in pictures.

I have traveled to and through several states in the US. I have been to Spain twice and Scotland once. If it weren’t for such dark winters, I’d love to stay in Scotland. I like the sun. I have been to Canada a few times but not since I graduated from the college that was near the border. I’ve made plans to go to Mexico a couple of times but neither panned out. When I was working on my undergraduate degree, I had arranged for a semester in Puebla. Instead of going, I ended up having surgery. The next time I planned to go was going to be for vacation. A hurricane wiped out the area and destroyed part of the hotel a couple of weeks before we were supposed to go. It was declared a disaster area and we would not have been able to leave the airport. Eventually I will get there. There are several archeological sites that I am dying to see.

My ancestry is varied. In short; I am a mutt. My ancestors come from many European countries. That I know of, Spain is not one of them. Sniff. I love it there.

1/29/'11 -I have been dealing with some major back issues; I am a better weather predictor that the meteorologists on television. It sucks big time and I'm trying to find a way to deal with it so that I can resume my regular job.

When I can concentrate on something and work on a computer (luckily a laptop does not have to be at a desk, since sitting is not comfortable), I work on one of a few stories. Aside from the fanfics posted here, I'm trying my hand at writing some original pieces. The first one has (currently) two chapters posted at .

Webook is a really cool website for people who like to read a lot and for people that want to try their hand at writing original work. Becoming a member so that you can read and rate submissions is free, it's also free to join in a project. You only have to pay if you enter your written work in the "page to fame" submission. If you submit work on "page to fame," some information surrounding your piece will be hidden to help prevent friends and family from going online and give it a ratings boost; the people that rate the work do not know who you are even if they've read your work before. It is anonymous.

The project submission area allows for me to make changes and respond to you during the process. Right now I only have one story started on the site. It can be found by my username: TMSescritura or by title.

One piece is currently titled, A Second Chance. Tragedy tears apart two newlyweds. Two hundred and fifty years later fate brings them back together, but the past is a strong adversary that must be overcome.

Knowing is a story about a modern day oracle trying to deal with her curse and stumbling upon a Secret community nestled in the highlands of Scotland which houses and protects Bonnie Prince Charlie's heir.

Yet another story with a name that I will not share (because it has to change since it gives away the ending, but it's my own personal working title until I can think of something) is about two people from very different worlds coming together and solving a murder mystery in the process. She is a college student studying forensics, he is the mysterious do-gooder that defies explanation; both are interested in the deaths that mimic a Satanic ritual.

Added 4/21 Same Sex Marriage (US):

Why not? The most common argument is that marriage between a man and a woman is past practice; a practice born out of the Holy Bible. There is some truth to that, but the argument still does not hold water. What about Separation of Church and State?

The United States claims that there is a separation between government affairs and religion. If this is true then a religious text (which has seen countless interpretations and continues to be a major source of arguments) should not be the bases for a law in the United States. Banning same sex marriage on religious grounds is acceptable if the ban is issued from church officials. As no religious organization holds dominion over the United States, such bans should be local to the church and not national or statewide.

Until such time as the United States declares to have a national religion, it should pull up the big boy britches and practices what it preaches. If so many people are dead set against same sex marriage, then to keep the country from being hypocritical all marriages should be religious in nature thereby allowing each faith to deny marriage based on religious beliefs. If however, the US does wish to continue allowing secular marriages then it needs to allow everyone to get married without banning marriages based on a religion in a supposedly secular country.

5/4/10 Something else to think on; is this fair?

Sam is in a loving relationship with John. They cannot get married because they are both men. BUT

Samuel undergoes a sex change operation and becomes Samantha. Sam marries John and becomes his wife. AND

Samantha undergoes a sex change operation to become Sam (Samuel). Sam has been married to John for many years and remains married because the marriage was legal when he was still a she.

Changing your outside parts might please you; make you feel better about yourself and more comfortable. But, no amount of plastic surgery and hormone treatments can change your chromosomes. So in this country, same sex marriages are allowed so long as someone can fork over the money to pay the surgeon. If you ask me that’s just effed up.

My brother and his man have been together for many years now; years longer than our parents were married. I cannot answer what will happen when they die or if their lifestyle is sinful, that is not for me to decide. They have a loving relationship and I love them both. That is all that matters.

My thoughts on supplying reader feedback:

I have read a good number of fan fics on this site. That there are so many imaginative people out there is fantastic. Not every piece is fantastic, many have errors, and some are so riddled with problems that they are difficult to follow. The only way for a writer to improve is to push on, make corrections and write some more.

In the last few fan fics that I have read the author has written a note to the reader that others are complaining. If there is an issue, it should be addressed but a suggestion should also be made. Telling someone that their spelling is poor will not help the person to make it better, help a person out. I am writing this blurb because I know what it is like to be frustrated with reading and writing.

A good part of my life passed without the joy of reading. I am dyslexic which basically means that my brain does not always process the written word as it should (there is a little more to it than that, but you get the idea). I spent much time in remedial reading classes when I was younger and hated it; reading always gave me a headache. But those classes also gave me coping techniques. I even had to take a remedial English class during my first semester of college. It wasn’t until after I had earned the first of my college degrees that I realized that I have become a reader.

When I read a fan fic, I respond to what I like. If there is a glaring issue I send a PM rather than making it public and I try to think of what might help. If someone brought up such an issue to me, I would want to know what she thought I could do to improve. People will stop writing and not learn and grow if all we do is complain.

If you are uncertain how to write a constructive criticism, take a look at the note below. It is a copy of a PM that I sent out a while ago. Is it the best model? Certainly not, but maybe it can give you a jumping off point.

I just finished reading _. It is very imaginative and I am enjoying the story. I must admit though that I almost quit reading in the middle of the first chapter. The grammatical errors were driving me bonkers. Of the problems that bothered me, the abrupt change of POV was at the top. Some paragraphs have three!
My grammar is not the best and I am dyslexic so spelling can be a challenge. One of the things that helps me is Text to Speech. The program reads the words and I can hear if I typed “through” when I meant to write “thought.” Sometimes listening to the story also helps with other issues, like continuity. The other thing I use is Word. It underlines my spelling and grammatical errors. I tend to write run-on sentences. Sometimes I’m not sure how to reword a sentence to make it grammatically correct so I just do the best that I can. Other times, I want it to be incorrect (usually for dialogue). Mostly though, it allows me to make many corrections.
That you have a Beta to help you is great. Your story is interesting and I look forward to more. I just thought I might share with you some of the things I do to help me write. Maybe your Beta can help you with earlier chapters? If others are too put off with the errors, they will miss a great story.
I look forward to reading more.

changed 5/21/10 The Avatar photo It is the lower part of a picture of a statue of Philip II of Spain. The image size is too big to see it in its entirety but you may find it here on . The woman on the sheild is Philip's wife Anne of Austria. This statue is in the Sabatini Gardens, in Madrid Spain. I have been here before, and have my own pictures of the area. But I have no close ups of this statue.

So why is it my avatar? Because I'm currently obsessed with SVM. I blame Charlaine Harris. Let me explain:

Around 1750 a Spanish sculptor named Felipe de Castro made that statue of King Philip. Is he who Mrs. Harris had in mind when she wrote the character? Maybe. -I wonder if anyone has asked her.

Favorite online game: Uru. There are books to read in this game.

This game is awesome and it is a multi-player game. People from all over the world play. There are neighborhoods (Bevins) and a virtual city. You can meet people in those places and you can even invite them to your cabin which is on your own island (Relto). You can take pictures, write in a journal, join a story telling group, play games... yeah, there are games that you can play while you're in the game!

If you're not into puzzles, it might not be for you as playing the game requires a lot of problem solving. It is part of the MYST series, so you know the puzzles aren't going to be easy (okay, maybe one or two... LOL). The nice thing with this incarnation is that for most of the ages (parts or sections of the game to be solved) you can get help and even bring someone with you.

The game is awesome! If you go, find your way to the Guild of Greeters (GoG) Bevin, there's almost always someone there and there is often something going on. This game is Free, though donations are welcome.

Favorite Foods/Places to eat:

Chicken Mahkni, any Indian vegetable dish that does not have mushrooms, Southern fried chicken, balsamic grilled vegetables, homemade applesauce, enchiladas, arroz con gandules.

Fish and Chips- in Scotland. Can't get it as good in the states. The fish is often too greasy here, it's hard to find malt vinegar, and good luck getting fresh (English?) peas. If you are like me and think that you do not like cooked peas, try them when they come with your fish and chips while you're in Scotland. They're actually tasty.

Place that I avoid like the plague:

Wendy's. I have not eaten one of their burgers since about 1989. The last burger I started to eat was bought in Encinitas, California. My mother and I bought dinner and then drove to the beach to watch the sunset. We bit into frozen burgers. That did it for me.

I did go to the restaurant a few times after that, but ordered something other than a burger. The order was always messed up, no matter which location. Once, I ordered a new chicken sandwich. What I got was fried grizzle and cartilage; there was no edible meat. The meal was replaced and the manager gave me a free softee. I used to love those frozen drinks. For years it was the only thing that I would buy at a Wendy's. Until I bought one and it had black pieces of plastic in it. A washer broke off of the machine and into my cup.

-Those are just the more memorable incidents!

Some of my favorite books/series:

Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon. -Awesome series. Not a quick read. This is historical fiction. If you like history and romance this is for you. If you want to be able to read a book in one weekend forget about it unless you're a speed reader.

Harry Potter, by JK Rowling. What can I say? The woman weaves a great story. These books don't require as much attention to detail as Gabaldon's books, but they do have a lot of detail to offer and she created her world rather than re-creating the past. Rowling does this very well I think.

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. Vampire light. This series is a light read and is enjoyable even if the vampires are not so terribly menacing.

Sookie Stackhouse Novels, by Charlaine Harris. Awesome series that includes many supernatural beings. These vampires are real bad ass, especially the Viking. Yum. The werewolves are pretty intense too, don't think they'll roll over anytime soon.

Nephilim Trilogy, by L.A. Marzulli. You've heard of UFO's? In this series, the aliens are not what you think and our government is hiding the truth from us. Very well done even if I do believe that the author had an agenda while writing the book (yeah, I think the author believes the stuff is really happening).

I used to hate reading. Back when I was a kid, I'd get a headache after reading just one page in a book. Now I enjoy reading, I've come a long way baby.

Stories written for this site

Underlings - In this story, we follow Tony Herveaux. Tony is a member of the Shreveport pack of wolves. When Sookie is in danger again, he becomes her daytime guard. As a result of this, he meets a woman like no other; Pam the vampire. This Sookie Stackhouse spin-off takes place after book nine.

There are Eric/Sookie scenes in the story, as seen in third person. We see what Tony sees, so the nasty behind-closed-doors stuff is between him and Pam. Some scenes are much more explicit than others.

Surprise! - When I first started writing this story, I thought it'd be very short. At this point the first chapter is longer than I thought the short story would be... but anyway... Sookie has survived the events of book nine and a treat is on the way.

As of this update (should have typed the date), no one has mentioned it but Ginger shouldn't be waitressing at Fangtasia in this story. It was shortly after publishing chapter 2 that I recalled her fate.

Here's where some ideas have come from while writing Surprise!

Most of my news stories, that do not involve the supernatural are taken from my local news. Most of that comes from WPIX News at ten. Sometimes I pick up something from . And once in a while I check KSLA to find out what is going on down south (the story does take place down there after all.)

Superior's Steakhouse does exist. I found it while doing in Internet search of the Shreveport area. It seemed like an Eric place to go. I have never been so if you go there and don't like it don't blame me. :)

The Strand Theater is another real place. I wanted to find out where someone could really go in Shreveport if they wanted entertainment. It looks beautiful in the pictures and really is registered as an historical site.

Jack-in-the-Box - I did check and they are in Louisiana. They are not in New York (phoey). It's a fast food chain based out of my home state, California.

Chapter 9 -The Bon Temps cafe. When I wrote about it I was picturing the Shelby cafe in Shelby, N.C. That is were my mother grew up and I went there several times with my grandmother. It wasn't much to look at but the food was good and the prices were ridiculously cheap (compared to where I live, anyway).

Kitchen A Bistro - Does not exist down south, but I wanted to send her to a place like it. There is such a joint on Long Island on North Country Road in St. James. It has moved to a new location since I've been there and it is not on the water, but does have awesome food. According to their website they now take reservations. Lunch is 25 a person and includes an appetizer, entree and dessert. Your choices were listed on a chalk board in the old location, I don't know about now. If you want alcohol, you no longer have to bring it as that has changed too.