Hello!

Just a little bit about me: my name is Jess and I hold an Honours degree in English literature. Christ's love is what compels me to read and write, because I believe that literature is what helps us to understand the human condition, in all its beauty and failure, and it helps me understand more and more the love Jesus bears for us.

With regards to literature, my favourite writers tend to be women: Marilynne Robinson, Virginia Woolf, Margaret Atwood, L. M. Montgomery, Jane Austen. Dickens, Tolkien, George MacDonald and C. S. Lewis are also sneak onto my 'favourites' list, though all have their literary missteps at times and the latter two let their religious statements overly seep into their works. My favourite poets are T. S. Eliot and Christina Rossetti :)

Since the age of 8, I have been addicted to fanfiction, and this is an addiction that will probably last my entire lifetime. (After all, even the Literary Greats were fanfic writers. Milton = Bible fic writer, Shakespeare = real person fic writer, etc). In this love, I am supported by an amazing group known as the Gwethil (http:///), all of whom are excellent writers and even better friends.

I am fascinated by female characters and family relationships, as even the briefest perusal of my fics will reveal. Strained sister relationships, distanced mothers and sons, problematic mother-daughter relationships: around these relationships I build my excuses of fanfics hehe.

I also have a weakness for flawed women. My 'baby' is probably Alberta Scrubb, the much maligned and little mentioned mother of Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and she's been on my mind since 2006, when I first wrote "A Mothers' Musings" (winner of the 2006 Lion Award for Best Development of a Minor Character). That version has been deleted, and the new "A Mother's Musings" is rather more complex, thematically and narrative-wise. It also won the 2012 Digory Award for the Best Development of a Minor Character. Apparently nobody else is in love with Alberta Scrubb.

Currently, I have Mother Gothel on the mind, from Disney's Tangled. I have recently begun babysitting, and am aware of how much effort is required in caring for an infant/toddler. No matter how vain a person is, raising a child for the sole purpose of remaining beautiful is something that requires a heck of a lot of dedication.

With regards to my "favourites"; there is no crossover between my favourite authors/favourite fics (which just goes to show how much fanfic I read, hehe). An author reaches my "favourites" list if I like the majority of their fics, and I am fearful of inundating my "favourite fics" list by adding all their stories I love :)

God bless! :)