[My sincere apologies for the delay on this - I had ONE JOB and I botched it. SG]

A reminder - the Member of the Month (MOTM) award has been completely restructured, with the winner selected randomly from a list of members who have either published or updated a story or contributed at least five reviews in the past 60 days. The questions have been revised, too!

So to kick off the new Member of the Month program - put your hands together for dixonvixen!

1.) Who are your favorite Caryl authors?

I'm afraid I can't answer that fairly since I've only read one story so far. I just wrapped up working on my own fic, and typically I do not read while working on something of my own since that in itself consumes most of my free time. I did read my first story on here just recently which was chosen because it happened to be the current FSOTW, and a baby fic which I am a sucker for. Many kudos to the author lilabut for sucking me into her wonderful fic Illuminate The Heart from the very first paragraph. I was totally in awe of how well she translated our Caryl to the page, and particularly impressed by her writing for Daryl. Everything from the dialog to the descriptions of his mannerisms was spot-on.

I am very anxious to start reading more fics which is on my day-off agenda for today! I do review so look for a shout-out from me!

2.) Favorite Caryl fics of last 12 mos?

TBD per my above response

3.) Favorite Fic trope

It's gotta be a good baby fic, especially one involving a high-risk pregnancy/conception struggles. It has been the trope of every fic I have written so far, but Caryl has been such a thrill to write for that I am branching out with my next fic and shifting my focus to developing Caryl as Alexandria's new power-couple.

4.) What would you like to see more of, or what haven’t you seen in a fic that you would like to see?

This is another one that is difficult to answer considering I've barely read any so far, but I can say that I am definitely interested in reading more AU fics. I've always steered clear of them with the assumption that I wouldn't be able to get into it, but considering how much I enjoyed my first introduction, I will most definitely be checking out more of them moving forward.

5.) What made you start shipping Caryl?

Wow, how much space do you have for my answer? Simply stated, Caryl checks every box that describes what I look for when choosing my ship. As individuals, I feel a strong connection to female characters that are survivors of abuse and have evolved into incredibly strong and inspiring women as a result. With male characters, I am a sucker for the misunderstood type. The dude that everyone has written off as a loser, and made totally inaccurate assumptions about. Over time, we get these little glimpses into his soul and discover that there is one fine piece of man candy hidden beneath the rough exterior.

I hated Daryl when he first came on the screen. I had never seen an episode of TWD before this past summer, and really didn't know a thing about the show at all. A guy I was dating at the time had an interesting connection to the show, got me to watch it because I was intrigued by his involvement with it. He was very curious about what I thought of Daryl after seeing him for the first time and my response was something along the lines of, He's an ass! I chuckle at this now because only a mere few days later when I watched the Cherokee Rose episode, I began singing a different tune. Not only did I receive my first hint that Daryl was gonna supercede Rick in being my TWD crush, I also began to realize that Caryl just might become my new ship.

Watching so much so quickly though proved to be a bit of an overload, and it really wasn't until I began my second round of binging the series, seasons 1-6 that is since seven hadn't yet come to Netflix, that I really began to fall in love with Caryl. I would rewind every scene they were in together several times, and by the time season seven finally came to Netflix, I was hardcore shipping Caryl. With each passing episode, I found myself whining when would they ever see each other again? When I finally stumbled across "New Best Friends," there was no going back from there. I must have watched their scenes, and the scene where Daryl threatens Richard that he will kill him should anything happen to Carol (swoon!) a dozen times that day alone, and it still remains my favorite Caryl moment. I honestly hope season eight will eventually offer something that can top it!

Thank you so much for selecting me to be Member of the Month! I am so happy to be a part of this home for lovers of all things Caryl, and grateful for those who made it happen!