If I could, I’d design my own deck of Tarot cards. I’d make several decks, in fact. I’d do one more in line with the traditional Rider-Waite deck. Another deck would be for writing. And another would be for women I admire. Hermione is a favorite heroine of mine. She’s smart and brave and loyal. If I’d read her when I was a kid, I would have aspired to be her.

Now, in the real world, I have to worry about things like copyright and permissions. Also, I can’t draw people well enough to capture likenesses of J.K. Rowling or Adda Lovelace or Billie Holiday. But what I can do is write a blog post about interesting women and what I learned from them or found inspiring about them. I have a very long list.

Chances are you know the basics about Rowling’s life, and if you don’t, you probably aren’t a Harry Potter fan and don’t much care.

But you don’t have to love someone’s work to find something compelling about them, and I’m not here to rehash what is already all over the world wide web.

I’ve written about Rowling before, but since a character from her imagination is the inspiration for this project, I see no harm in writing about her again. And as I go through the year, this project may change shape. I have to figure out what works.

But for as long as I’m inspired to do so, I’ll write about a Hermione. What is a Hermione? Someone smart. A Hermione doesn’t have to know all the answers, but a Hermione knows to look for answers. A Hermione loves to learn and to share what she knows. A Hermione remains loyal to her friends or to her cause. A broken heart does not pull her from her course. A Hermione cares about others, the unlucky, the troubled, the harmed. A Hermione does the right thing even when the right thing is terrifying.

Is anyone really a Hermione? No one is perfect. The best among us, fail, fear, and flail. But we can all be a Hermione a little bit, for a little while.

Why is Rowling a Hermione? Aside from the fact that she created the brilliant Hermione Granger? Because Rowling created Bellatrix Lestrange, and while she may have her dark side like anyone else, murderous obsessive lunatic she is not.

She’s a Hermione for sticking to her dream. She kept writing and sending out her story. Even now when she could quit writing and quit putting herself out there for criticism, she keeps writing. She’s supportive and gives loads of money away. She’s aware of the world around her and does what she can to make the world better for her having been in it. She’s brave and determined. That’s a Hermione if there ever was one.

If you have a Hermione in mind, leave a comment. And thank you for reading.