Blog Hop: Re-Introduction!

Through my friend Rachel, (whom I know better as "Smiley" and it's SO TRUE, she is a smiley personified), I got alerted to this blog hop: "Please Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself." Since I am aiming to make 2013 "The year in which Jess actually blogs," this couldn't come at a better time So, to my cohort of people who follow—bless you all!—here's some things about me, old and new!

My full name is Jessica; I often go by Jess.
I used to work in publishing, now I work in bookselling, but mostly I'm a grad student.
I have a cat named Pacey, although this is only tangentially related to the character on Dawson's Creek.
I've been writing YA my whole life, but only realized that in the last two years when I actually looked at my accumulated portfolio of unpublished shorts and trunk novels.
I live in Washington, D.C. And yes, I actually have met the President.
The best book I read in 2012 was probably the fifth Gallagher Girls book.
So far, the best book I've read in 2013 was a book I beta read. It had better sell so you all can read it, too.
My favorite book is an obscure little literary book called The Soloist by Mark Salzman.
I take photos for fun and am starting to learn more about it. 
I drink 40 ounces of coffee a day. Every day.
In 2013 I'm going to try to revise a novel, write a new one, and produce a dissertation from start to finish. I recognize this may make me insane.
I own all 7 Harry Potter books in hardcover in both the US and UK editions. I also own two copies of book 4--a first printing one where Lily and James Potter come out of Harry's wand in the wrong order, and a second printing one where they come out in the right order.  

And with that said...

Here's a poorly-cropped photo of me at Wizarding World. By sheer accident, I wound up in Orlando visiting family and was there on opening weekend. It was an awesome, awesome day and I left in tears that I couldn't come back the next day.

It's nice to meet you! Thank you for reading my blog.