Photos for "Gone Native," "Rayne," "Shiver," "Sunshine on a Cloudy Day," "Burning Up," and "I Thought Gingers Didn't Have Souls?" Can be found at /GoneNative

PhoenixPixie23 was the name the Beta stages of Pottermore gave me. I suck at coming up with names so when I got that one back during the beta stages of Pottermore, the logical conclusion was to use it here too, along with everywhere else I feel like hiding behind a non de plume. Its anonymity has served its purpose, so I'm reasonably happy with it. My writing is very private for me, and no one that I know in "real life" knows about it or has read any part of it. I'd like to keep it that way.

Everyone loves reviews, and I am no exception. My reviewers have become my cheerleaders. My friends. My reason to continue. Grateful doesn't fully express how I feel to those people. If I am a mouthpiece, then you are the very air I breathe. I couldn't speak without you. Even though I don't know you, I love you.

FanFiction is a funny thing. It gives us an outlet to fill in the blanks. To continue to live in a world we love. To explore alternate endings and pairings and surroundings. For me, it also allows me to practice my writing without bothering with world building. That's the hardest part for me. Provide me with Hogwarts and I can provide backgrounds for all the students. Propose an alien invasion and I know exactly how I'd (try to) survive. Map out the Four Corners and give me a troupe of Ruh and I see adventures come alive before my eyes. My biggest weakness (as far as I can tell) is the idea. The prompt. The writing is as natural to me as breathing, but being able to write does no one any good if they don't have a story to tell. If you're the opposite--my counterpart, the creative half of the writing process--then I commend you. Not everyone can just come up with a good idea. Anyone, if provided with a story, however, can put it into words. I wish I was better at it. Or, alternatively, I wish I had a partner who took that half of the task for me.

One of the most astonishing things I've noticed in FanFiction is the number of stories that are alternate universe AND out of character. I mean, you have a brilliant original idea, beautiful original writing, compelling original characters... why in the world are you disguising it as FanFiction!? I've seen stories on here worth publishing and the only thing that connects them to whatever fandom they're posted in is the character names. And possibly the location if it's put in the "real world." If I could say one thing to those people, it would be: Give yourself some credit. Screw the stupid fandom and go enter that original story in some contests. How in the world do you even explain the connection to the fandom? Seriously. I want to know. If I've commented on your story with something along the lines of "you could change the names in here and publish this!" then PM me with an explanation so I can understand this tragedy. If a push is all you need, I'll give it. If some confidence boosting will help, I'll do that. I've started to read (and thrown aside in disgust) a dozen books in the last few months whose writing is a thousand percent worse than what you wrote. If they can get published, so can you. You don't have my handicap. You're a world builder AND a writer. You've got what it takes. Now go conquer the world. And tell me so I can buy your book.

Like everyone else on here, I have a life outside of FanFiction. There are family, money, health, and relationship issues. Gone Native was on the back burner for years because of various reasons, but I have resurrected it and hope that people are happy with it. As always, reviews are most welcome.

Anyway, to all the readers and writers out there, I hope that you all have wonderful days filled with good stories and great reviews.

Happy Writing.