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Hi there everyone! I am new, not to Harry Potter Fandom, but to your community :)

I was hoping perhaps that some of you wouldn't mind taking a look at a non-fiction story that I am working on that indirectly pertains to HP?

That may not sound clear enough, so let me rephrase.

I do not know how many of you know the MsScribe story, although i do highly suggest that you read it. Since I remember the majority of the stuff going on there, it got me to thinking about why i bounced out of active fandom for a good two years and the decisions that made me come to that. Essentially, it is an essay about one fandom writer's awkward rise and very hard fall out of fandom - and why she is coming back and wishes to celebrate the last book in style :).

I have the first chapter started and would appreciate feedback - whether or not I should continue, if you would read it if you came across it, whether or not you newbies find it fascinating etc. Eventually I hope to post it on Fiction Alley's ink pot and perhaps other places to. In the meantime, any feed back would be appreciated :)

below I have posted a few paragraphs from the first chapter:

The summer of 2001 held a lot of promise for me, not simply because of basketball or because of school being out, but simply the fact that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was in stores, and I now had an abundance of time to read it. Naturally, I took hold of this opportunity and I was not disheartened by the sheer size or volume of the book. I was ecstatic that I now had a world to escape into that was in many ways an extension of my own – evil teachers, boring classes, exhilarating sports matches and childish squabbles with sworn enemies. Yes, Harry Potter was my kind of story.

However, Harry Potter was also the beginning of the Dark Ages in my history, and I do not say this lightly or jokingly. In fact, I say it as a matter of extreme bravery on my part to be able to confess that a book which others deem to be a ‘children’s book’ led me down a path that was not the road many wanted to see me take.

I would like to call into account a quote from Philosopher’s Stone, in which Harry – eleven years old – falls upon the mirror of erised. Dumbledore, in his infinite wisdom, catches on to Harry’s nightly quests over Christmas Break to be enamored with the mirror and eventually sprouts out words of wisdom that I have never truly forgotten and doubt that I ever will: “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, Harry.”

Making reference to this quote means that I have recognized something of myself that I did not realize during my four years in high school – I did not have a true social life. I did not attend the prom, or any dances that took place, let alone weekend activities that occurred outside of basketball or what my own family participated in. Essentially, I was a recluse that found solace in a fantasy Britain that contained a whole nother race of magic and creatures the likes of which I had never seen before in my life. My mother knew about it, of course. She encouraged my reading in the beginning and said that it was good to see me reading something that is not about school or was not absolutely required. Essentially, she was glad that I was reading for pleasure. In a month alone I had read Prisoner of Azkaban eight times – almost seven years later, the book is barely holding itself together – and had resigned myself to the long wait for books five, six and seven. But then something else happened.

Mods, if this isn't okay, please let me know and I will remove it post haste :)

Thanks you guys!