After obsessively reading fanfiction for the last half year or so, I have now progressed to the second stage of trying to write my own. Please make allowances for the fact that I am not a native speaker of English, and that it has been a while since I learned the language, too. Which unfortunately means that my grammar has become shakier than I would prefer, but I try my best not to murder it too much. Then again, my approach to punctuation has always been a tad ... ballistic. I think I hit more than I miss, but meh ... clearly correct punctuation is overrated.

Edit: Now the kind words of a reviewer managed to rather embarrass me with undeserved praise. Therefore I have to come clean and admit that I actually studied English Language and Literature for years at the university, with a special focus on Linguistics and Language Analysis. Alas, a really bad case of writer's block while working on my final papers ended my aspirations to a University degree.

However, this was nearly two decades ago, and these days I have the most horrible memory imaginable. Seriously, its like a sieve. With rust holes. So by my standards I'm definitely slipping. Then again, those standards were probably a tad higher than those of many actual native speakers to begin with.

Oh, and there was a year at Edinburgh University. And about 800 English Fantasy books. Many of which have been read multiple times. My extensive Terry Pratchett collection for one is looking awfully tattered. I also do not owe the Harry Potter books. I borrowed them from a friend. I know shame on me and so on. But I must admit that I like reading fanfiction about it better than the originals. Sorry. Oh and it's totally true about the punctuation!

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Update August 2015: Still alive, still (far to rarely) updating. Unfortunately, my muse seems to have taken this summer's extended heatwaves as an excuse to migrate somewhere else where it is cooler, and has not quite come back yet.

Off muse-hunting. Sightings of Crumple-Horned Snorkackas as yet unconfirmed.