Writer's Block: Birthday Shout-out

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I don't know... Hmm. I'd say Prisoner of Azkaban. Still, I can never forget the magical feeling of sitting down and reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone for the first time. *happy sigh*

She isn't the best author of all time - I prefer J.R.R. Tolkien, and possibly Neil Gaiman - but she is certainly extremely talented. She's a wonderful author, who reintroduced millions of children to the magic of the written word. I was already a bookworm, but her books... before I discovered Tolkien, Gaiman and Pratchett, before I discovered Narnia and Artemis Fowl, she made me really fall in love with magic. She was the best author ever, in my mind, for a while.

It was the sheer magic of her characters, her created world, that made me start writing fanfiction back in 2005. That practice in trying different characters, styles and genres, the constructive crticism I got from reviewers, and the amount of fanfiction I read, both good and bad, really helped me become what I am today.

Today, I can't imagine not writing; it's a part of who I am, now. I've branched out in Good Omens fanfiction, which I love, and to a lesser extent Narnia and I've started writing for Sandman, and I did one for Twilight. (I'm not a Twilight fangirl, and I was only one very briefly last year; I know now that it's a HORRIBLE piece of work, and the oneshot I wrote has a Twilight fangirl wishing to meet Edward Cullen. She ends up meeting a real vampire, and the story ends with her dying xP)  I've written original essays in school that were photocopied and used as model essays by teachers. But without the Harry Potter fandom, I doubt I would have discovered that writing can be just as magical as reading. I'm not that talented, I think, but I know I'm fairly good, at least, and this wouldn't be the case if Harry Potter hadn't gotten me to start writing.

And the people I met at a Harry Potter forum have changed my life. They helped me deal with problems, literally saving my life and being there for me when I felt noone was. The trials fictional characters go through gave me strength to face my own problems, on a smaller scale, of course. And my love for that fandom helped me discover other fandoms like the Good Omens one, now such a major part of my life that I can't imagine not having it around. Harry Potter, and reading and writing, gave me a 'safe' obsession so that my parents never needed to worry about me going broke on shopping, or doing drugs, or anything of the sort. I know people who struggle with such problems, and it makes me feel so sad for them. :S I draw strength from fictional characters, which isn't very healthy either - it's escapism - but it's definitely better than what I witness my peers doing.

Mainly, the Harry Potter books are always there for me, a constant companion, a place I can escape to when real life becomes too much. I can sit in a comfortable chair with a mug of hot chocolate, and fight dragons and fly over continents and sit in magic lessons with friends and face Voldemort, all from the safety of my home.

Thank you, J.K. Rowling.

Edit: After editing my profile (to add 'knitting' to my Interests) and looking it over, I realised that this is my hundredth personal LiveJournal entry! :DDD *opens champagne bottle*