I'll dive in...
I think most people know, but I am Leslie and I live just outside Portland, ME (I say Portland for convenience, because that is where my office is). I am happily married with two children, whose pictures have appeared on this thread. My son is 18, just graduated from HS and will be attending Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY, in the fall. My daughter turns 15 tomorrow (Jul 19) and will be a freshmen in HS. I am a nurse but my career has been mostly in research and academia. I keep up on clinical matters by working per diem at a free clinic and reading alot. My husband owns a woodturning and manufacturing company in Saco, ME.
I first heard of Brokeback Mountain at Thanksgiving. I read the story online and became hooked, reading anything I could find about the movie. I saw the movie the first time on Dec 27 and saw it 5 more times in the theater after that, the last being Mar 10 (the day of the Variety ad). I got a bootleg copy of the DVD on Mar 21, have a copy of the original Variety (with the ad) and the Oscar promo book, plus a bunch of other neat stuff, all stored in my reliquary. I started posting on IMDb in early January and was a "regular" in no time at all.
The first fanfic I read (in Jan) was Ennis: The Sequel, which was a movingon!Ennis story. It was good, but didn't hook me. I started my own writing about that time, with Clinical Fever. I discovered Human Interest (from a posting here at Bettermost, announcing that the last chapter was up) and read that in one sitting. While I liked that story, there were things about it that didn't sit quite right with me and that became the inspiration to write my own story, "A Love Born From Steel."
Being a fanfic author puts you in the community of other fanfic authors (and readers) and I started a busy correspondence with a number of people. One woman wrote me about her story and it was from her that I found out about Louise and Taking Chances. Interestingly, the woman was not commenting on the story, but rather, on its length and the speed with which Louise was writing it. I actually dug up her email:
I was feeling pretty proud of myself, wow, 14 chapters, what a body of work. Then I saw Taking Chances by Louisev and she has 74 chapters and maybe more. Good grief! I've only tested 6 and feel that I will have a nice long story for summer reading. You probably know all about it, but I didn't so here's the link.
http://louisev.livejournal.com/2743.htmlI didn't know "all about it" and that message is what got me hooked. That message was sent on May 20th, btw.
As an author, a lot of readers write and ask for suggestions as to what to read next. I began recommending Taking Chances, citing it as a great story with lots of action and a very sympathetic treatment of Ennis, post-Jack, and Jack, in death. I have found that it takes a bit of persuading but I have converted quite a few, including David, Scudder, DeeDee, and, I think Fred. (Fred, correct me if I am wrong on that).
I had started corresponding with Louise, chatting about the story (I found my first email message to her, written on May 24, so I obviously got hooked pretty quickly!). Meanwhile, a bunch of us were chatting here. That was the inspiration for the E&E thread. I started the thread on Jun 23, Louise joined us on Jun 24 and the rest, as they say, is history.
BTW, Louise and I are getting together in London (England) on Aug 5-6. Anyone who would like to join us is welcome.
Leslie
MaineWriter
Topic: Taking Chances, by E. L. Van Hine and L.H. Nicoll (Read 3185613 times)