(no subject)
April 1999: Put my back out running down a cliff on a geography field trip in Devon. Back home am given CoS to read while I lie on the floor in agony and am told, 'you'll get through this in an hour, it's quite fun.' I do. And in the subsequent hour I get through it again.
July 8th 1999: Remembering that my Mum recommended CoS to me, I buy a first edition hardback PoA for her birthday. Unable to resist, I read it under the bedclothes at 2am and am promptly hooked by it.
July 16th 1999: As soon as my Mum gets done with it, I swipe PoA back and read it again.
Late July 1999: I go on the waiting list at our local library to borrow PS and CoS.
Late August 1999: After a family holiday in New England, I finally get my hands on the first two books, and read them again and again.
September 1999: I reread PoA instead of doing my Oxbridge Entry coursework. Thankfully 6th Formers can't get detentions. Haha!
October 1999 through June 2000: I forget about Harry.
(Addendum - December 1999: Fail Oxford entry interview)
Late June 2000: Noticing the hype and the special Newsround reports on BBC1, I swear I won't get involved and won't read GoF.
Early July 2000: On holiday in Toronto, staying with family friends, I read the article about the little girl who got her hands on a copy ahead of time. I won't read GoF. Harry Potter is for kids. I won't!
Mid-July 2000: I won't read it. I won't
July 16th 2000: Damn.
July 17th 2000: Reread GoF.
July 20th 2000: Reread it again.
July 22nd 2000: And again ...
July 25th 2000: Finally give it to my Mum to read.
July 28th 2000: Bored. Perhaps will go on Internet. Find this site and from there follow a link to this site.
August 2000: I read every fanfic I can get my hands on. Am 8th ever reviewer on a nice story called Draco Dormiens. Also find slash. Decide I hate slash.
September 15th 2000: I post the first chapter of Redemption to FFN. It is the night of the final of Big Brother 1, and after the show, I check back to find I have about ten reviews already. One of them from epicyclical. Hurrah!
Late September 2000: I post the rest of Redemption at FFN, swearing I will quit the fandom when university starts.
October 2000: I don't quit.
October through December 2000: I post most of Dracaena Draco, taking on my first betas, Karin and viola_dreamwalk. Encounter, amongst others, heidi8, twelveeyes and sjbranford. I research slash for my CCS Fandom course and find I don't find it as objectionable as I thought. In the library one day, someone comes up behind me whilst I'm photocopying a page that, quite by chance, has a picture of Captain Kirk and Spock snogging on it. Much embarrassment.
December 13th 2000: Sanna invites me to archive Dracaena Draco at a new Yahoo Group called hp4ever. I agree, and get myself a Yahoo ID.
December 15th 2000: Watching the chatting on the Group, I make the leap over onto hp_fanfiction and join in the fun.
Christmas 2000: Blocked on Dracaena Draco, I begin writing Time of Trial. Argue over slash at hp_fanfiction and beta a chunk of TiP for Eb.
Early January 2001: Join POU and download the story, but not before Cassie blows the ending in an email.
Mid-January 2001: Have an idea for a fic where Harry and Draco are gangsters. I think I must have been drunk.
Late January 2001: iscaris agrees to beta the new fic for me. It goes to FFN tentatively titled Snitch, and with loads of health warnings all over it.
Spring 2001: Join HPfGU and go to my first Sunday chat. Become a featured writer at HP_Paradise. Snitch advances apace, and Rhysenn's edits on Chapter 3 cause me to rethink the direction of the story. Perhaps it is slash, after all. mon_starling draws me my first bit of fanart. Hurrah!
May 2001: Time of Trial and Snitch being posted in conjunction now, I step back from fandom for a couple of weeks whilst I hide, wibble and generally come out to myself. My first fandom meet in Greenwich is a bit slow in terms of enjoyment.
June 2001: Come back after a weekend away to find the fandom in total turmoil. Tentatively agree to help form part of a new archive to be set up at the Schnoogle.com domain someone bought ages ago for their shipper buttons.
July 2001: I cave in and get Yahoo Messenger and MSN. On holiday in Eire, miss the final preparations for FictionAlley, but keep in touch through an Internet cafe near my youth hostel. Meet angiej in Oxford, and again at Catherine's barbecue.
Late July 2001: FictionAlley goes to beta. I start a new minific called Syzygy to unblock myself on Snitch. FictionAlley's launch party in the HPfGU Sunday chat is a great deal of fun.
August 2001: I read Barb's Psychic Serpent and rediscover the fun of the fandom after a period of disillusionment. Agree to collaborate with Mon on a new fic to be called The Orpheus Imperative.
Early September 2001: Mon has to drop out of the collaboration, but stays on board as a beta. The Prologue goes to FictionAlley. I spend a lot of time with pinguthegreek, pengolodh_sc, phatgirlfics and sheryll in chatrooms.
Autumn 2001: Happy to be able to get on the Internet in my new house in Brighton, I spend ages chatting to loads of people, and start to get uber-annoyed by fangirls.
November 2001: I bunk off rehearsals and a seminar, and go to London for the movie preview. The next Saturday, release day, I see it twice with Michelle, Catherine & Mickey, Neil, Simon, Dai, Dave and Mike.
December 1st 2001: I get a Livejournal.
Christmas 2001: Post Fairytale of New York as part of the FA Holiday Fic Season. LOTR temporarily blinds my HP obsession.
January 2001: Meet in London with Dai and Sinead, who seemed so nice at the time ... treacherous little bastards ...
February 2001: johnwalton comes down south to t00b about with me in Brighton. We have some nice Chinese food in Soho.
Spring 2002: Witness the birthing of the Guns & Handcuffs on SCUSA, meeting such t00bs as frances_potter, vanityfair, nmalfoy, constantine1453, adi_das, aome (whom I loff) and nmalfoy.
Easter 2002: Plot a new fic with Frances, but sadly it has still not come to anything. Suffering increasing disillusionment with the fandom.
May 5th 2002: Have a bloody brilliant birthday, courtesy of most of the fandom, or so it seems. The Guns & Handcuffs Official Website is launched.
Which just about brings us up to now ...