ARTIST
UNICORN WRANGLER
AUTHOR
Work in Progress
Cozy Tales of Larune
The
Shielded Realms
Trilogy
YA Fantasy
HELLO
This photo pretty much sums me up.
A little messy mud sprite. I was either running around in the woods on our two acres, riding our horse, or reading and being creative in my room. Art was my first passion and I was often doodling in my notebook instead of taking notes in class.
Therefore, I graduated in 2007 from Cal State Long Beach with a BFA in drawing and painting. Right after graduating, I landed full time at an outdoor science school. For two years I taught 5th graders about science and nature, went on hikes, sang songs around the campfire, and generally had a blast.
Then the recession hit in 2009 and they shut down the school. I hustled doing murals, illustrations, odd jobs, and wondered how the heck I was going to build that elusive "career."
One day, unemployed once again, broke, sitting in my room and feeling rather despondent, I began imagining...
Wouldn't it be nice if a black unicorn came and took me away to a magical land full of adventure and wonder? My first novel was born.
It was total escapism, but I began writing the story I wanted to read, and four years, several jobs, moves, and coffees later I'd thrown my first book up on Amazon kindle.
And watched it vanish because I had no idea what I was doing. The writing leach, however, had latched on. I kept writing and learning. I was hired for writing gigs, including a script for the exercise app Zombies Run: Dragon Flight *Not under my pen name* I faced my fear and applied to writing contests, and—to my shock—won money and awards.
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Cue next major world event: the pandemic.
I nearly gave up on trying to be an author at all. Instead, I played Witcher for weeks straight until my husband bravely dragged me out of the PS4 bed-cave. Pretending to be a sword-wielding monster slayer and drawing cartoons had actually done wonders for my mental health. I got back to writing.
By now, my husband and I were traveling in our van, expenses were low, and I was nearing forty. Cue midlife crises. Was I ever going to make this passion and goal happen? Hiding in the shadows is a safe place to be until you fade away. After nearly fifteen years of working on the craft in-between jobs, it was time to turn an obsessive hobby into a career.
I decided to give indie publishing another try. Unlike a decade ago, there was now a plethora of information and YouTube videos from successful indie writers. I was out of excuses.
So—pending another once-in-a-lifetime world event or artificial intelligence taking over—here I am. Though I'm still terrified, still battling perfectionism and imposter syndrome (like every writer ever), it's write or die. Well, die is a given I guess, which is exactly why I choose to write.
If my stories can help someone through a rough day, or find a community, or maybe they're inspired to throw pragmatism to the winds of madness and become a writer too... then I will die happy.
Okay, maybe not happy exactly, doesn't sound fun. But I'll die without regrets, the truly elusive goal in our short, mortal lives.
