Diamonds and Dust update

I took Diamonds and Dust down from FictionPress today. It is a decision that, while the most recent surge of plagiarism on the site has certainly influenced it, has been a long time in coming. I know I'm repeating myself when I say that D&D is my most prized story and it is the one that I am seriously pursuing in terms of professional revision and publication. To leave it on FictionPress is to invite people to take, copy, and distribute it elsewhere. Despite FP's strict rules to the contrary in their Terms of Service, recent events have clearly demonstrated the total lack of respect that certain people can have for creative ownership and authority. Frankly it's not something I want to mess with, and because I am so focused on finishing D&D and positioning it so that it may one day be of a publishable quality, I just cut to the chase. I have left the first chapter up so that, if need be, I have proof of a posting date prior to anyone else's, and can refer back to that if - god forbid - some legality issue might arise in the future.

The act of plagiarism didn't happen to me, but despite that I'm still very upset by what's happened. It's something I'm going to be looking into in the next week, in terms of FP users' legal rights, copyright infringement/plagiarism issues, and so forth; hopefully you'll be able to see the fruits of that effort in the next issue of Tough and Dirty. Until then, check out the thread on the SKoW forum and definitely add your two cents to the conversation. As users of FP, it's something that really concerns us all.

With all of that said, I do want to take a moment to apologize to all of those who regularly read and reviewed Diamonds and Dust, and who, even after a four month lack, still tuned in faithfully to the last couple chapters and have supported the story generally. You will never know how much that support means to me, and you have my eternal thanks. If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please let me hear them. I am going to send out PMs in the next couple of days to all those who have put the story on favorites/alerts, but for those who are genuinely interested in the fate of Virginia and company, let me know. I won't promise that I'll send out the story on the sly or anything like that, but I certainly will keep you updated on its progress in terms of completion, revision, and publication, and will undoubtedly continue to ask for advice.

Those of you who are concerned about my other stories, don't worry. I don't think I'll be taking anything else down from my profile. There are a few works that I considered posting that will now never be posted, but that's only because these are future stories that I will also pursue publication with and I don't want to hurt my chances at getting them out to an even wider audience.

Hopefully most of you understand where I'm coming from and will continue to support my writing. Again, it's not a decision I came to easily, that I made spur of the moment, but rather one that has been slowly building for some time. For those of you who would like to throw tantrums and feel victimized by my decision, I rescind my apology and would further like to add: grow up.

Nuthin' but love,
Megs