Age: 17

Gender: Female

Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

Political Affiliation: Democrat. Very liberal. I'm very interested in politics and world affairs, and I follow them closely. All the same, I often feel like I don't know enough . . . oh well. I'd like to study political science in college. So in other words, I know what my party means and I'll defend my positions. I find people who say "I don't really know" "I don't care" or "it doesn't matter" appalling.

Location: The U.S. -- near Canada. So I can step over the border if they (the government officials) ever institute a womens' draft. Ha. Ha. I hope that's a joke.

About Me: I have always loved talking. That naturally led to reading (i.e. listening to other, more interesting people talk). And that lead to writing. I have been an involved reader since I was introduced to the amazing imagination of Brian Jacques and his Redwall series. I have been an avid and thoroughly delighted reader since my entrance into the wonderful worlds of Tortall through Tamora Pierce (who is one of my writing heroes) and Hogwarts through JKR. I love fantasy especially.

I'm a rather slow writer - in that I have a hard time finishing stories - so if I post anything, it'll be a miracle.

I love music (I play violin, piano, and sing), so that will probably show up in any stories I post. Scratch that. Not probably. Inevitably. Not that all of my main characters are brilliant musicians. I just find a way to work it in.

I'm a bit - more than a bit - OCD, and thus quite the English freak. Punctuation, spelling, grammar . . . all are deeply important to me. So I apologize in advance for any detailed criticism on how exactly one should punctuate dialogue or something similar.

Influences: My favorite authors run a gamut so wide that it would be impossible to list them all. So, the short version of the Truly Luminary, in no particular order: Brian Jacques, Tamora Pierce, JKR, Eoin Colfer, Neil Gaiman, Rick Riordan, Paula Volsky, Robin McKinley, Megan Whalen Turner, Jacqueline Carey, Alison Croggon, Herbie Brennan, Sherwood Smith, Hilari Bell, Laurel K. Hamilton, J.R.R. Tolkien, Tanith Lee, and Jonathan Stroud. If I think of the others (and there are others), I'll add them. Oh, wait. SHAKESPEARE!!

As far as music goes, I love everything from classical to musicals (especially musicals. They're my favorite) to rock to some country, some pop . . . anything decent, really.

Movies and T.V. - I love romance, so that's always good. Old-fashioned knight in shining armor stuff. And I also love good humor. But I'll watch anything so long as the writing and acting is good. And recently my guy friends have gotten me into superhero movies. THE DARK KNIGHT WAS THE BEST MOVIE EVER!! Mostly because it was so philosophical and deep.

Politics really interests me. West Wing was just about the best show to ever run on T.V.

Ideology: Romantic idealist. Optimist. I like happy endings a LOT. But at the same time, I try to be realistic. I'm a policy debater, so I care about what's feasible in the world as we know it.

Also, in advance, thank you for reading any scribblings I manage to post!

If you want to read other works by me, I have an account under the same name at fictionpress.com for my original stories and poems (i.e. not based on what others have written).