I was born in Wolverhampton, England, in 1979, and have lived here since then. Growing up, my life was centred on literature and my enjoyment of the subject. From a very early age, I was creative and full of love for English and all of its sub components. My active involvement in drama began at the age of three when I began ballet and tap dancing, and I gave my first performance on stage at the Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton City Centre at the age of 5. I was a bunny rabbit being chased by a farmer!!!! My involvement in stage work continued throughout life in junior school, from the ages of 7-11 I was a member of a local theatre company, and performed stage productions including Annie, Pinocchio and Grease.
But it was when I started senior school that my true love of English came to me. My English teacher at the time, showed a passion for literature, so much so that it appealed to me. I wanted to read, I wanted to create, and once I started, I revelled in it. It is because of that teacher that I am writing this today. He gave me the ability to believe in myself and my aptitude for all aspects of English, and he helped me learn that I had true potential. For that, I am truly grateful.
Time at school went quickly, as it mostly does, though it may not seem so at the time, and soon I was working and living my own life. Plans to attain a career in English were halted when I went through a trying period of my life at 18 and left college, ultimately entering a working environment which I did not leave until 2000.
2000 greeted yet another change in my life, when I married on a beautiful Saturday morning. The ceremony was wonderful, and it was an extremely happy day for myself and my family.
February 2001 saw a new arrival. The birth of my first daughter, Caitlin- Jayne... An unforgettable, scary, yet truly exhilarating experience! My entire life was thrown into disarray, though I took to being a mum like a duck to water, being a mother and wife became who I was, and I felt that I had lost who I was once becoming.
In May 2001, I fell pregnant, and discovered the internet, and a wonderful thing called 'fan fiction' while searching for sites to do with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series, two shows that I had become a fan of. In November of the year, I wrote my first fiction; a slash fic based on the characters Spike and Xander. Swiftly I became a S/X shipper and I wrote more fiction based on them as a couple.
My second daughter, Bronwen, was born in February 2002, and again, though exhausting, it was a beautiful experience. I found myself coping well with the two girls, and life in general, and once we had all settled into our new routine, determined not to give up on my writing, I rejoined fandom, and began creating again, net life expanded when I built an archive to host my favourite fan fiction that swiftly developed into a very large, very extensively ranged BtVS/AtS fiction archive.
Shadows & Dust expanded further still when I created a fan fiction awards site, and my own personal sites for fiction and fan art. Having lost my flair for creativity by writing, I concentrated on creating art, and reading fiction nominated at the awards site. It was there that I found the Babyverse fiction.
Babyverse is an alternative fiction universe based on events of BtVS and AtS. It was created by Ebony Silvers, a very wonderful and talented woman, and then expanded on by fans of the stories by them writing their own fiction based in the Babyverse. I created title illustrations for the pieces that I read, and swiftly became interested in writing Babyverse. I wrote my first piece of fiction for the BV (Brotherly Love) in September 2002, while still pursuing my interests in website building and writing my new favourite BtVS/AtS pairing - Spike/Fred. By December 2002, Babyverse - The Official Online Fiction Archive was launched, and became part of the Shadows & Dust Collective. My skill as a writer improved, and my enjoyment in fan fiction grew as I was encouraged by friends from and outside of the Babyverse writers. As did my creativity in the graphics department!
As I learned and mastered Adobe Photoshop, all of the Shadows & Dust sites underwent changes frequently, sometimes drastically! Most recently, my designing includes the latest layouts on the Shadows & Dust sites, title graphics, wallpapers, zine artwork, and the layout and graphics for Secrets & Sins.
So now, I return to writing, involving myself with fiction past, present and future. Having finished a college course in Maths, and returning to college to pursue A Level English Language and Literature, with hopes of entering University to take English and Drama at degree level, and, ultimately, achieve my goal of becoming an English teacher, thanks to the inspiration and hope I was given all those years ago by the teacher that originally started me along the path I have now redirected myself to.
My priority to my family remains the same - above any other, but I pursue my other ventures with determination and certainty of result.
Secrets & Sins was built for me to have a place of my own, for everything I do, and I hope that you will enjoy watching the journey I take.
As a final note, I would like to say thank you to all of you. Not only those that have played a major part in my life over the past years on the internet (you know who you are), but to those of you who have supported me silently, and to those of you who may become my new friends in days to come.
Thank you
E