Origins of a Writer (This One, Specifically)

Middle-of-Nowhere, Ohio

Most of the people reading this first post will probably know all about my origins in the middle-of-nowhere, Ohio. Especially considering that just about everybody who knew me knew about my passion for writing.

In the middle-of-nowhere, there is lots of thinking to do. Thinking about all the things could be, thinking about what it would be like living in the city, about not having to drive 30 minutes just to go to a nice restaurant, about the fact that you are juuust far enough away from town that emergency services might take a tad bit too long to arrive.

All the what ifs are what got me started. What if the CIA just swung by the house and picked me up for junior agent training? I actually packed for this...just in case. What if aliens crashed in the pasture behind the house? What if there was a whole other universe just waiting to be discovered by a farm girl in the middle-of-nowhere?

Like I said...a lot of thinking.

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I Love Validation...

The first time I put pen to paper, it was a story about my Build-a-Bear bunny and her girl scout troop. The second time was in third grade, when my teacher let me sit at the computer for hours writing my silly bird adventure story when I had the rest of my work done. I think every teacher I had somehow saw the passion for writing in me and nurtured it their own way. Sure, I wrote on my own just fine, but the compliments? Yeah. Those helped.

The book I'm releasing soon started allll the way back in 5th grade. And it was very different at the time. The original concept had something to do with a wall separating one half of the earth from the other. I recommend you don't think about the logistics of this because it really does not make sense at all.

In upper-middle school, I refined the idea a bit more, spurred on by the positive reinforcement my teachers were giving me about my writing. The spiral went on and on.

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I Achieve, and it Makes my Ego Worse

In high school, I finally achieved my first writing award for a short story called "Sunsets and Truffles". This was my How to Train Your Dragon era, so naturally it was about a girl with a tiny little dragon that she kept hidden from everyone else. Anyway, it won first place at the University of Akron's Student Writing Awards, and that's when my hunger for writing really grew.

As high school went on, my outlandish, plot-holed filled ideas slowly started developing into better conceptualizations of the stories in my head. I was determined to publish a book by the time I graduated, but severely

underestimated how much refining my writing actually needed.

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Grasping at Embers' #1 Fannnnn!

For that, I have to thank my illustrator. Karmellah has seen every draft of this book from day one. She's seen the original characters, the original plot, the weird side plots I wrote for some reason--and, of course, she's always the one to tell me with complete honesty whether something works or if it really, really does not.

That and, of course, her art. Her drawings of my characters both astounded and inspired me to keep writing. I love, love, love fanart--anything that brings my characters or story to life make my heart swell so much I'm close to crying.

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This Book = My Baby

My love for this book is infinite. Every writer has a baby, and Grasping at Embers is mine. These characters are so incredibly important to me, and I hope that as you read, you can fall in love with them too.

I desperately want to share this book with the whole world, and while my personal reach is limited, I have confidence that this story will reach everyone it needs to. That being said, I am always appreciative of you all spreading the news of its release!

This is the start of a new chapter in my life, and although I'm a bit nervous, I'm also genuinely excited. Sharing this story with the world is something I have wanted for a very long time. I hope you enjoy it <3