10/18/13 update:

Okay, about time to overhaul this thing.

Chapter 30 of FDEWB is in the works but going a bit slower than I expected. At this point I can only scratch my head why I have such trouble focusing on writing. Probably just need more beer. At any rate, hoping I can sort it out. Been looking forward to writing this chapter.

Nothing new on Road to Recovery. Just a few little fun ideas on stuff to do. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to PM me.

ME1 prequel to FDEWB is also still in the works, albeit slowly.

Likewise the AU story starting with Shepard after Mindoir.

Welcome, and thanks for reading!

I'd like to thank everyone who's been following, favoriting, and reviewing. I tend to express myself better through my writing than in PMs or replies to reviews, and I apologize for that, but I am grateful and I smile every time my phone beeps at me from a new email alert, especially when it's a review. Keep the feedback coming. I can look back on the beginnings of FDEWB and see how my writing's evolved, but some constructive criticism would help as well.

For well over a decade, I hadn't really written anything except in live-action text roleplay, so I was stunned when I filled 160 pages of college-ruled notebook only a week or so after finishing Mass Effect 3 for the first time. You'd figure such a dismal, uninspiring ending wouldn't have been a catalyst (haha) for me to start writing again, but it was. Spending a few days reading hundreds of thousands of words of the some very fine work on this site was what motivated me to create an account and publish. I'll admit, it's still a bit daunting to think about writing... well, at this point... 600,000 words? But it's been fun and a good learning experience so far. Though I don't have the same razor focus I did when I started and have been taking a more leisurely pace, there are no plans to become one of those authors who disappears into the Lost Woods. Speaking of that, I have a few stories in the works in that universe, though if they ever get published it'll be under another name.

About my writing:

Obviously, I spend a lot of time on character interaction. It's the main motivation for my writing, really. As much as I enjoy a good plot with twists and turns, I don't find it interesting if little time is spent on the characters. Unfortunately, said plots are difficult things for me to come up with. I may have gotten lazy years ago by having writing partners who were much better at the original ideas than I was. It's on the list of improvements needed.

I'd have to say that I'm a pragmatist with something of a romantic streak when it comes to writing. While I may often feel like I'm not putting enough complexity into a character, you won't find a PTSD'ing drunk or a naive goody two-shoes as a hero, a doe-eyed helpless damsel, or a cackling villain in my stories. Or things like a budding relationship that drags on for a dozen chapters because the adult characters have the emotional maturity of a five-year-old. I usually abhor cliches like that unless they're very well written. I do enjoy happy endings, as I primarily read to enjoy myself. I usually save the depressing stuff for my own writing as an outlet. I don't feel like I'm terribly good at writing it, but I'll sometimes find myself shivering if I'm reading a very tense story, and then I'll grin like an idiot when the heroes are on a rampage. Action, drama, romance, comedy, fluff... I enjoy it all. It's just difficult for me to find a balance.

I struggle with weaving different plots together and other long-term elements like that. No doubt it's a side effect to my long-term attention span issues and erratic, elusive inspiration. My mind wanders quite easily when things aren't flowing, which is why I sometimes take forever to update FDEWB. Perhaps I should try adderall...

Like I wrote above, the vast majority of my writing background is text roleplaying, so I spend a lot of time on what characters are doing and how they're interacting with their environment and others. Maybe too much time, not sure. I'd enjoy feedback regarding that. But it's hard for me to get engrossed in a story that's lacking those kinds of details. And speaking of details, I recently realized that I don't put enough of that in my writing. Location descriptions, clothing, things like that. It's on the list to be improved.

More to come later.