I discovered Sime~Gen in junior high school. I was captivated. Not so much by the stories, as by the concept. At the time, I was writing fan fiction in another universe (which shall remain nameless as the author has *not* invited people to write in her universe). When I grew a little older, I discovered that writing fan fiction wasn't "the thing to do" and set the idea aside. But I remained fascinated by the concept of humanity divided into givers/takers, and realized that the concept wasn't as simple as I had thought. Simes and Gens are reciprocally interdependent. That idea resonated for me. In college, I discovered there were folks writing fan fiction in the S~G universe. But it was clear that the stories I wanted to tell wouldn't pass muster, since every story had to be cleared by the original authors.

There things stood until I began accessing the internet in graduate school. I discovered the 'canonical' website, and found that I still wanted to tell S~G stories. But not the stories that would ever be posted on that website. I didn't know what stories I wanted to tell, but I knew they wouldn't be posted. Then I ran across the Secret Pens and realized that my stories would see the light of day here, and that if they were good enough, someone might enjoy them. I'm serializing a story now, and am working on the backgrounding for another S~G culture separated from the 'mainstream' culture that is the focus of the 'canonical' website. And I'm having a wonderful time. I'm writing fiction. Me. I never thought this would happen, and now it is.