"The imagination itself was a source of secrets: once she had begun a story, no one could be told. Pretending in words was too tentative, too vulnerable to let anyone know. Even writing out the she saids, the and thens, made her wince and she felt foolish, appearing to know about the emotions of an imaginary being. Self-exposure was inevitable the moment she described a character's weakness; the reader was bound to speculate that she was describing herself. What other authority could she have? Only when a story was finished, all fates resolved and the matter sealed off at both ends so it resembled, at least in this one respect, every other finished story in the world, could she feel immune." Atonement, Ian McEwen

My name is Ellie. I’m 17. I live on a small island off the West coast of Europe because I’m English not American which explains why I sometimes use words like shopping centre instead of mall, fringe instead of bangs and term instead of semester. It also somtimes looks like I am bad at spelling...for example nite - night, lighted - lit, learned - learnt, color - colour, catalog - catalogue, center - centre, hemoglobin - haemoglobin. Sorry if you find that confusing but you’ll just have to deal with it. I don’t mean that in an offensive way; I like America and I have been there once but it’s hard to really experience the culture when you are confined to the Disneyland complex which is just like the one in Paris only less French. Plus, it was our language first, so there:-D

I love drawing, going out with friends, listening to music, trampolining, fizzy fish and semicolons – they’re a punctuation mark which looks like this ; and make frequent appearances in my writing.

Feel free to visit MySpace via the link above.

A Helpful Dictionary of Random Americanisms I can think of with their British Equivalents: (If you have any other suggestions they are most welcome :-)

- Janitor – Caretaker

- Semester – Term

- Vacation – Holidays

- Candy – Sweets

- Popsicle – Lollypop

- Garbage can – Dustbin

- Bangs – Fringe

- Sidewalk – Pavement

- Stroller - Buggy

- Diaper – Nappy

- Pacifier - Dummy

- Bassinet - Moses Basket

- Pants – Trousers

- Pantyhose - Tights

- Zucchini – Courgette

- Eggplant - Aubergine

- Mail - Post

- S&H (Shipping and Handling) - P&P (Postage and Packaging)

- Elevator - Lift

- Cell Phone - Mobile Phone

- Cookie - Biscuit

- Biscuit - Scone

- Backpack - Rucksack

- Jelly - Jam

- Jello - Jelly

- Gas - Petrol

- Airplane - Aerolane

- Carpool - To catch a lift

- Gumboots - Wellington Boots/Wellies

- Sweater - Jumper

- Period - Full stop

- Sneakers - Trainers/plimsolls

- Soccer - Football

- American Football - Rugby (just about)

- Resume - Curriculum Vitae (CV)

- Panties - Knickers

- Movie - Film

- Plaid - Tartan

- Soda - Fizzy/Pop

- Epinephrine - Adrenaline

- Suspenders - Braces

- Dill Pickle - Gerkin

- Hood - Bonnet (as in the part of a car)

- Trunk - Boot (ditto)

- Braid - Plait

- Bullhorn - Megaphone

- Closet - Wardrobe

- Wrench - Spanner

- Frosting - Icing

- Freeway/Highway - Motorway

- Rutabaga - Swede

- Cilantro - Coriander

- Value - Tone (art)

- Buckeyes - Conkers

- Movie Theater - Cinema