Welcome to my author page!
I am a teacher, musician, reader, and avid Harry Potter fan. I am originally from the Midwest and now live a bit farther south. I am thrilled to be a proud member of RAVENCLAW House and enjoyed being a site moderator for a time as well.
I hope you enjoy the many stories and poems I have written. I am proud of them all and appreciate any feedback you might care to leave (in other words, reviews are love!) I've listed them below with a short description since I know trolling through summaries can be tedious. Thanks for reading!
EDIT: Someday I will categorize my stories by genre. Today is not that day. ;)
Nice job! Ron and Hermione are a perfect choice for a story like this, and the gifts they gave each other were lovely. I really like how you set up the story with Ron working extra hard for Hermione to go to school; that seems very in character and highly probable! Tying the last line to the title was also very nicely done. Good luck in the challenge!! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: Thanks a lot, Gina! I\'m glad you thought Ron working for Hermione to go back to school was likely; I wasn\'t sure how readers would feel about that. Thanks for your lovely review! ~JBV
That was so fun! Great job with the triple rhyming lines, that must have taken some thought! The pranks were hilarious - I can totally 'see' Peeves singing this in the corridors! Great job - good luck in the challenge!! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: Thanks, it was a blast to write. I cheated with some of the ryhmes, you see when I get stuck there is website you can go to that gives you ryhmes of words. It is really useful. Oh, I agree that Peeves would sing this, which is why I picked him, instead of the other naughty characters we are aware of. Thanks for reviewing!
Lovely job! This totally could have happened in OotP. You did a great job with Molly and Sirius and especially with Snape. I love the idea of a simple ginger cookie cheering up our dark potions master. Thanks much for the holiday cheer! ~Gina, Little Old Eagle Princess :)
Author's Response: Cheering -- at least momentarily. There\'s a lot to be said for a fresh ginger cookie. Er, biscuit. Er, whatever. Thanks! I\'m glad you enjoyed it!
Hi there! Nice job with your challenge story! You really make the reader feel sorry for Pansy, and then draw out the suspense until the end. It was heartwarming to see her reunited with the one she loved; it almost seems like there is another story there about Draco and his whereabouts for the past ten years!
I'm not sure if there was a formatting glitch once you submitted - that's happened to me as well - or if you wanted to read as a single inner monologue, but you might want to think about breaking it up into paragraphs for the readers. :)
Lovely job and good luck on the challenge! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: Ah, yes, thank you for bringing the formatting glitch to my attention. I fixed it and hopefully next time (you were right about there being a story behind Draco\'s whereabouts for those ten years!) I will remember to use the tags instead of just relying on the return button.
Have a wonderful holiday and thank you very much for taking an interest in my story.
Hi there! Lovely job, this was a really sweet and heartwarming story. It was sad to learn that George, Percy, and Charlie did not survive the war, but it could very well happen that way, and it was nice to see the family reflecting on them fondly. I thought this line was great:
It was just hard to live their dream when one of the dreamers was gone.
I really liked the small Weasley sweaters, and the ornament Harry brought out at the end of an early Order photo was wonderful. As usual, your poem/carol was a well done and very fun! Great job with the story prompt - good luck in the challenge!!
~The Order of Ravenclaw House Elves
Author's Response: I\'m very glad that you enjoyed this story! I had a great time writing it. It is actually a prelogue to my Hermione/Ron wedding story. :) Thank you so much for reviewing. Cyns
Nice job! This was a very original and interesting way for James and Lily to have their first kiss. I never thought about how Lily found about Remus, or about James being an Animagi. I really liked the part where he showed her his Animagus form. Good luck with your future writing! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: See? My sister\'s brilliant, because no one ever thinks about it... but they should, shouldn\'t they? I keep hugging her when I think about it. =D
Nice job, this made me smile. It's kind of like Sirius thumbing his nose at his family in song. ;) Great job with the rhymes, and the end wrapped it up nicely! Good luck in the challenge!! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: Thank you! As soon as I read the lyrics to the original sound I immediatly thought, \'Oh this is screaming the Marauders.\' Lol.
I love it! Thanks so much to everyone who participated, I think the first issue turned out really well! The entries are so creative and fun to read. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to try something a bit different. I hope you enjoyed it- look for another in the new year! Thanks again and great job!! ~Gina :)
Nice job! I am not familiar with this song (although I'm sure I'd recognize it if I heard it!) so I must say that I thought this worked really well as its own piece! The rhyme and rhythm was well done and the sentiment very touching. Great job - good luck on the challenge! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: Heh...you probably WOULD recognise it if you heard it! :p I\'m glad that you liked it, and good luck to you too. ~Suzie
Very cute - I was singing it in my head as I read it! I liked the added bits especially - "like a ferret"! Funny! Nice job - good luck on the challenge! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: The added bits were my favorite part, I think, besides when Dumbledore comes in. Thanks for the review and the luck!
Another fantastic poem! I think the first stanza is great, and connects it nicely to the title. I really like the questions, however - they are spot on and really explore the character of Tom Riddle and how he became Voldemort. I particularly like: "Did we seal his fate?" I'm curious how you might answer these questions. ;) Wonderful job! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: Hee hee... I might have to answer these questions in a little ficlet I think. Thanks for the review. Your words are always heartening.
Jan, that was really lovely. It was so touching and sad. You have a wonderful way with words and with expressing strong emotions through them. Beautiful job! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: Thank you, Gina. This was a little like torture to write, but I think it\'s my favourite.
That is so cute! I could totally "hear" this in my head as I read it. Good work with the rhyme and rhythm, and it told a story as well! Great job, and good luck in the challenge! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: Thanks! I was so happy to see I had a review for this. Thanks for taking the time to leave one. :]
Well done! I'm vaguely familiar with the carol, and I think you picked the right song for this topic. It is rather dark and sad, as carols go, but so is what happened to the Potters. You did well following the form of the original - good luck in the challenge! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: Thanks! I\'m glad you liked it. I had fun writing it.
Lovely job! This totally made me smile, you did a great job with Dobby. I thought for sure he was going to give Snape new underwear as well, but the new pajamas were cute. Nice job with Snape's reactions to it all. Thanks so much for writing this story, I really enjoyed reading it! *turnip hug* Happy Holidays! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: Yay! I was hoping to make some readers smile! I love thinking of Snape in a situation like that. Aww... poor Snape!
That was fantastic! You really do a great job with Bellatrix. I can't believe she accidentally killed her own sister, that is so tragic. The haunting was well done, very scary. And the end was powerful. Another great entry for the challenge - good luck! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: Thanks so much, Gina. I adore Bellatrix. I write her way more often than anyone else. I just love her. I love to hear that I write her well. :D
This actually isn\'t the first time I have had Bellatrix accidently kill her own sister. She accidently killed Andromeda in one of my other fics.
Thank you for the all the compliments. I\'m really glad you liked it. :D
Very nice! What a great carol to pair with this subject, it works really well. Your rhymes are great, as usual. I really like it, it's sweet. Good luck in the challenge! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: Thanks Gina! I wasn\'t sure if I\'d get something writen for this challenge, but I\'m very happy with the one I ended up with! :) I\'m really glad that you enjoyed it! Cyns
That was great! Wonderful job - it's all so ironic, isn't it? Here is Sirius, poking fun at the terrible things that might happen in the future, and then they do, in the most tragic way. What a good idea for a story. I agree with some of your other reviews that a sequel would be lovely. Great job and good luck with your writing! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: I know, I love irony (is that weird?) so I thought, oh, let\'s write a story with irony as the PLOT! Thanks you for the read and review, but for Godric\'s sake, people, if you want a sequel, hand over the plot bunnies. I\'m clueless as to what it would be about.
Oh my gosh, I am blown away by your talent at poetry! This is just amazing! You didn't just parallel the poem, you used an incredibly complex rhyme scheme and wrote something totally original and amazing. Wow. The rhythm is fantastic, the rhymes perfect. But even more amazing is the content, the story this piece tells. What a great metaphor, The Heads-in-Sand Parade! How did you ever create such a concept? I love how you started all the way back with Grindelwald, and worked your way up through modern times. I thought the parts about Harry were great. (pest? ankle biter? ha!) The conclusion was fabulous. I see Fudge written all over this, I think I shall have to drop by your Dueling Thread this weekend and poke you about it a bit more. Excellent job, it's such a strong entry for the challenge. Good luck!! ~Gina :)
Author's Response:
Oh, gosh! I remember reading this when you had just reviewed and going, \'Well, how will I reply to that amazing review?\' Then I thought about it, and though about it, and then somehow was under the impression that I\'d already replied.
But here I am, actually replying, and I suppose that\'s all that matters, huh?
I am blown away by this review! And I\'m really, fantastically glad that what I planned to do actually came through. I wanted it to be strong, but kind of subtle at the same time?
Originally, the idea was about protests at Hogwarts amongst the students, but I realised I wanted it at a greater scale than that. The Head-in-Sand Parade is really a pattern, which spans over time. It\'s human nature, and I think that\'s something J.K. Rowling wanted to show when /she/ wrote about Fudge and the Ministry.
Thank you! And cyber-poking is a good thing ;)
That was so unique! Writing in first person from the ghost's viewpoint worked well, giving us the other perspective on the haunting. Nice job - it was sad and spooky and then hopeful all at once. Good luck in the challenge! ~Gina :)
Author's Response: Thank you for the review! It was pretty fun writing Burke.