About Me

^ My Yahoo avatar, which may or may not look like me.

Basics

I dunno about you, but I usually find it kind of interesting to read the “About Me” sections of my favorite writers’ sites. I used to just have a survey up here that I filled out a long time ago and only remembered to update sporadically, but I decided it was time to put something a little more meaningful here, ‘cause really, I know you’re not here to find out what my favorite color is or whether or not I have ticklish feet. (For the record, it’s purple, and yes.)

So for starters, I’m Julie. I live in Illinois, in the USA, where I was born and raised. I’m the oldest in my family and have one younger sister. My family, I might add, are the only ones in my “real life” who even know this site exists (as far as I know anyway.) Over the years, I’ve managed to keep my friends, including my college roommate, blissfully unaware of my fanfic hobby. It’s a private part of my life that I like to share only with a select group of people – namely, YOU. :)

I started this site as a 15-year-old high school freshman. I’m now out of college and teaching elementary school. I’ve wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. If I weren’t doing that, I would probably be going to medical school or working in the medical field somehow. I’ve been weirdly fascinated by all things medical ever since I was a little kid, reading “Curious George Goes to the Hospital” and watching “Rescue 911” on TV. If you’ve read one or two of my stories, you may have already realized this; it tends to show up a lot in my writing.

Writing

I guess technically I’ve enjoyed writing fiction since I was 7 years old. In grade school, I wrote a short story every year for my school’s Young Author’s contest, and every year from fourth grade through eighth, my story won for my classroom. My eighth grade story actually won first place for the entire school, and I was so proud. My family, of course, always told me I was a good writer, and at the awards banquets they would hold for these things, people would ask me if I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. I never, ever said yes. Back then, writing “for fun” was something I really only did once a year, solely for that contest. I enjoyed doing it, but I also think part of the reason I enjoyed it was just because I was competitive and had realized it was something I could do well.

I write for fun all the time now, and although I’m still not looking to make a living out of writing, I would love to write a “real” novel someday and get it published, and I have the Backstreet Boys to thank for that. I’ve been a fan since I was 12 (prime teenybopper age LOL), late 1997/early 1998. You can read about how exactly I discovered Bsb fanfic and started writing it on the Site History page, so I won’t go into that here, but as the title of that page attests, I did, and the rest is history. Writing is a huge part of me now, and I honestly can’t imagine my life without it. I’m pretty much a fanfic-only author for right now, mostly just because I love writing about the Boys and purposely try to think up ideas that I can fit them into, but even when I stop writing fanfiction (which I can’t see happening anytime soon because I love it too much), I hope I’ll still write and branch out into the world of regular fiction.

Other Interests

Writing has been my biggest hobby for the last few years, and going along with it, I’m obsessed with the internet and have had a lot of fun learning about web design. I’m not the best, but I’ve taught myself a lot since I first started this site. I also love to read – both fanfics and non-fanfics. My favorite fanfics are linked here, on my Favorite Fanfics page. As far as “real books” go, I love anything that can make me cry, so I read a lot of angsty/tragic romance. When I was in middle school, my absolute favorite author was Lurlene McDaniel. I’ve read almost all of her books, except for the newer ones, and I have most of them. I’ve pretty much outgrown her by now, but I still have a lot of respect for her because she’s influenced my writing more than any other author. My favorite of her books has always been Don’t Die, My Love; I’ve read it so many times I can quote parts of it, and it would still make me cry if I sat down and read it tonight. I also like Elizabeth Chandler, another young adult author; my favorite of hers is the Kissed By an Angel trilogy. It’s technically a young adult series, but I still re-read it now and enjoy it just as much as I did the first time I read it, when I was 13. Lately I’ve been reading a lot of Nicholas Sparks books; my favorite of his so far is The Guardian. I’ve also always been a fan of horror; when I was younger, I devoured R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps and Fear Street books, and now I like Stephen King. I haven’t read too many of his books, but my favorites so far are Misery and Cujo (always makes me cry!). I’m generally not a big fan of fantasy, but I do like some of the Redwall books by Brian Jacques (I’ve only read three of them, but they were really good), and I’m a HUGE Harry Potter fan. If I had to pick an absolute favorite author nowadays, it would have to be J.K. Rowling. That woman is a genius. My favorite HP book is the fourth one, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

I’ve also always been into music. I play the piano, and I used to play clarinet. I also used to sing in choir and still love to sing when I’m alone, just not in front of anyone LOL. And of course, I love to listen to music. I like a wide variety of music, a little bit of everything; my WMP playlist is HUGE and incredibly random LOL. My favorite genres of music are rock and pop though. Besides Bsb, my latest favorite artists/groups are Linkin Park, BBMak, Evanescence, Eminem, and James Blunt. I could list a whole bunch more that I like, but it would be a huge list. I like most of the stuff on the rock/alternative stations these days and not so much of the Top 40 pop stuff… I like the good old 90s pop better. Lately I’ve been into a lot of 80s stuff and classical music too. I’ve always loved listening to movie scores, and now I use that kind of music as “writing music.” My favorite composers are James Horner, John Williams, and James Newton Howard, and my absolute favorite soundtracks are Titanic and Braveheart.

I love movies too, not just their soundtracks. I love scary movies and anything that can make me laugh hysterically or cry. I generally hate romantic comedies; the only one I really like is “My Best Friend’s Wedding.” I do love romance, but only the tragic kind LOL – Titanic is my all-time favorite movie, and I also love The Notebook, Pearl Harbor, Romeo & Juliet, Moulin Rouge, and Cruel Intentions. My favorite comedies are Team America: World Police, South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut (BIG SP fan), Dumb & Dumber, and Revenge of the Nerds. Some of my other favorite movies are Armageddon, Braveheart, Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Butterfly Effect, Signs, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jurassic Park, Finding Nemo, and pretty much all of the animated Disney movies made before 1996.

My favorite actor is Leonardo DiCaprio. I also like Joaquin Phoenix, Shia LeBeouf, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Will Smith, Johnny Depp, Shawn Ashmore, and Sean Biggerstaff. I’ve never really had a favorite actress, but I like Reese Witherspoon and Rachel McAdams.

My favorite TV shows are ER, South Park, Survivor, The OC, Desperate Housewives, Heroes, and Chuck. Days of Our Lives was a guilty pleasure of mine in college; it’s soooo ridiculously funny to watch.

Meet my alter ego, Gin-Gami! (This means “Tin foil” in Japanese! =D) Thanks to my friend Hayley for the awesome drawing!

I guess that about does it for the basic “Bio” type information. If you wanna know more, email me! I always reply to emails/feedback, and I’m a nice person, so don’t hesitate. :) Thanks for coming to my site!