I'm Sherry, aka Sherylyn on the boards and author's names. I'm a wife, mom, college teacher, and Ph.D student from Texas. My eldest daughter got me hooked on Harry Potter around the time the first movie was released. After seeing it with her for the second time, I finally gave in and read the books (didn't have time for them before, in spite of friends and family recommending them!)' I read the first three in less than two days, bought GoF, and finished it within a day.

That was all it took. I was hooked. Within a week or so, I'd searched out 'Harry Potter' on the Internet, and was lucky enough to find SugarQuill.net and GryffindorTower.net fairly quickly. I found a gold mine! I was quickly spoiled by the quality of stories archived at both sites (and some others) and was a H/G and R/Hr 'shipper' within a story or two.

I've made a lot of friends through online groups through the years, both in relation to HP and otherwise, and they have become exceptionally precious to me. Through those friendships, the decision came about to try to do our part to continue the legacy of the great stories and great friends in which we have delighted. We hope you enjoy our PhoenixSong.

I stumbled upon HP about six months before the first movie came out (I loooove Alan Rickman, so when I heard he had a new movie coming out I was all over that). I picked up the copy of SS that had been moldering on our bookshelf for a bit of bus-commute reading. By the time I had arrived at work thirty minutes later, I didn't want to stop reading. After work, I read all the way home (walking from the bus stop must have looked hilarious) and finished the book around midnight that night. I promptly went to B&N the next day, bought the rest of the series and had them read in about a week.

How many times have I read through the series? About four times (although I've only gotten through OotP twice, three times if you count the audio version). How many times have I seen the movies? I will NEVER tell.

We're really glad you've joined us here and look forward to getting to know you and share our love of HP and the brilliance of JKR! Cheers!

 I'm Aibhinn (which is pronounced EEF-vynn... It's twelfth-century Scottish Gaelic). I, too, live on the Wet Coast of the USA (no, that's not a typo).

I discovered Harry Potter in 2000, a few months after the release of GoF.

The first two books sucked my face off, and I ended up buying Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire on the same day; I read PoA in about three hours, and GoF in about five. (I won't say how long it took me to read OotP the first time.) I fell in love, but I had *no* clue about fan-fiction; I didn't know it existed until February 2003, when a friend of mine sent me a link to Anya's "Naked Quidditch" story.

Needless to say, I was hooked again.

It didn't take me long to decide I wanted to write a fic of my own. I've been writing on and off for nearly twenty years, and my bachelor's degree was in English with a focus on Creative Writing; it was nice to have a place where I could not only write, but get feedback from other authors.

Shortly after I joined the ranks of fan-fic authors, I also joined the ranks of betas, and have had a marvelous time working with other writers. I've met some of my best friends that way, either as their beta or through their betaing or pre-betaing me.

It's a joy to host such wonderful authors and artists here at Phoenix Song. The Harry Potter world is so rich and diverse that it spawns many different, wonderful visions of its characters. I feel so blessed to be part of it.

I'm the "baby" of the Founders, so to speak, being the chronologically youngest by three years, but chronological age is something that belongs to the "linear time" category, something that I'm not a firm believer in (which can make life...interesting for those around me). I've danced around this orbit in this body 27 times, most of those with mild physical disabilities. I've been married for four years to my college sweetheart.

I have a BA in Psychology and Sociology and hope to go on to earn a PhD in Social Psychology someday. I've been writing poetry and short(ish) stories since I was about 12 years old and a photographer since I could stand upright. I own my own digital photography business (tho I've put it on hold for the time being until life with the baby gets sorted out) and will photograph anything that will allow it (or make an interesting blur on the image as it runs away).

When I'm not reading one of the HP canon books or HP fanfic, I belly dance (mostly seated), crochet madly, write on my Palm Pilot and dream up new ways of doing things more efficiently.