I’ve been telling stories and writing short tales since I was a kid, maybe four or five years old. My first real accomplishment establishing me as a writer was when I was 15 and won a local poetry contest. That poem was put into a book and then picked out of thousands to be one of 200 to put on an audio CD for that month. I followed that path for a while, publishing poems and gaining “Editor’s Pick of the Month” awards up into my 20’s.

I would have to say the very first key event that set me on this path was the fact that my mom was a teenage mom, she was 15 when she had me, so I’d spend her school days with my grandmother, who was an avid reader. And, I mean avid. After I won the first award for poetry, she bought the book and gifted it to me for Christmas, telling me how proud she was. I seriously began writing poetry for about ten years after that. In high school, my English College Prep teacher opened a Poetry Club for after school, and I learned a lot in that class. Mr. Dunn was phenomenal as a teacher. The one thing I remember him teaching was to not be so superficial. It’s okay to write about things that matter to you, even if the subject matter isn’t popular or tasteful to other people. Someone, somewhere is going to connect with your writing.

My Uncle Sonny passed away, and I wrote a poem about him being the last true gentleman in the world, and my Aunt framed it. She still has it, to this day.

My first story came about around this time, too. I wrote a poem about a sailor who goes out to sea, leaving behind his loving wife, only to be lost. It was coated in teenage angst but it was the beginning of storytelling for me. I loved it, and it was something I was so proud of. It took me a week to write.

Later in high school, I wrote smutty stories for the amusement of my classmates, things that everyone could giggle over during lunch or whatever. I learned quickly that I was pretty decent at that genre and got a bit of a rush when my friends would ask me to write more.

When I got out of high school, I got into an abusive relationship. I was faced with a really hard life for a while, and writing became an escape for me, in every sense of the word. Some of my best poetry work came out of that time, but some of my darkest stories came from there too. After surviving that horror, I ended up being sucked into another, as sometimes happens. I stopped writing for a while after that. It wasn’t until I was away from that one that I picked up the pen and paper and began writing stories again.

The last key event in my writing journey was being picked up by Spellbound. It was a long shot, I had just finished a story from the heart and sent in 10 pages, not expecting it to come to anything. To my very great surprise, I was accepted. It wasn’t only an ego-boost but it also fed validity to the fact that everything I’ve done in my life led to this point, and I grabbed the opportunity and have run with it ever since. It’s been such a journey and I’m sure I left a whole bunch out, but that’s the long and short of it.

Everything I write has an element of romance, but I don't just stick with one or two tropes. I try not to limit myself as an author.

I wish I could say I have a ritual. Unfortunately, I’m a chaotic writer, working mostly on how I feel on any particular day. On the days that I do write, I get my kids ready for their school day and set up on the computer. I read what I wrote the time before and I focus, zeroing in back into the world I’ve created and continue on. If I truly believe in the work I’m doing, it’s easy work and I can go two or three thousand words at a time without a break. The most I’ve done is six thousand, but when I write for that length of time, I go until dinner without looking up from my screen and realize I’ve missed meals and everything else going on around me.

So, advice.

I guess the most important advice as a writer that I have is to write what you would want to read. If you are truly invested in the work you’re creating, it’ll show throughout your work. I know it sounds like a soundbite, but it’s a mantra on my wall that I repeat when going into a new story.

Success rarely comes the very first time you get your work out into the world. Normally, you don’t write one thing and coast on it for the rest of your life, there’s work that’s involved and a lot of it.

Set your ego aside when dealing with editors. Your creation is your world, but if the right editor gets their hands on your work, they’re going to have many things to say about it, and will treat your work as a diamond in the rough; they’ll help you chip away at your art until it becomes as perfect as it was meant to be. Your first draft will NOT be the best one, no matter how hard you worked on it.

Read. To write, you need to read. I’m sure there are people out there who don’t read and are pretty successful writers, but I think it’s so important to read and keep reading, even as you write.

Also, be brave. If you want to write something that may make others uncomfortable but it’s something that feels right, do it. Trust me, there’s an audience for everything. Writing is about breaking boundaries and pushing the limits to what’s acceptable in the reading world, whether it be something like “A Handmaid’s Tale” or “Haunting Adeline,” there is someone, somewhere that will consume the story and possibly change a mind, perspective, or a life.

The last piece of advice I’d have for anyone who wants to be a writer is the same as Stephen King's advice: to be a writer, one must write. Don’t stop. Don’t give up. Through the failures and embarrassments, through the hard times, and even through the good times, keep writing. You don’t have to do six pages a day for the rest of your life. But when the mood strikes or inspiration comes, write.