Where were you born/grew up at?
I was born on the coast of Florida. When I was quite young, I moved with my Air Force family from the Azores to Texas, until finally settling in the evergreen state of Washington. I love being around bodies of blue water, and especially and always, green forests.
What are you passionate about these days?
I am passionate about nature walks. I have an unusual relationship with trees, and with my plant identification app on my phone, I converse with several favorites along my recurring strolls. They speak to me often, the trees, the wind, and the general sky-talk above. Nature always babbles in a language I don’t fully comprehend…but I smile and open myself up to whatever absorbs into my heart, my soul, my mind. Then I go home and write!
What do you do to unwind and relax?
Unwinding and relaxing is not in my nature. So, to help myself out on a daily basis, I start every morning with Pilates and a little devotional time. It’s the fuel I need to rejuvenate each day. However, my favorite days are the ones when I’m on vacation from my day job, and when my house is already clean, the laundry is already done, and I don’t have any pending deadlines. Then, as long as the rest of my family is busy…I LOVE to spend my mornings snuggled in bed with decaf coffee and a good book, my afternoons writing with a quart-sized Mason jar of ice-water and allergy-free chocolate, and evenings with some cherished Netflix shows and wine. Throw in a good walk on a fair-weather day, and I’m a happy girl!
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I remember the exact moment when I considered myself a writer. Beforehand, I had been writing for years…in secret. I never told a soul about my unfinished drafts filling journal pages and clandestine-titled Word documents. And I never believed myself to actually be a writer. Quite honestly, I was so fed up with the desire to write, but not knowing exactly what to do, or how to finish drafting anything, I literally prayed about it. Two weeks later, a woman in my son’s karate class saw me grading papers (from my day job as a teacher), and we struck up a conversation. When I asked her about her work, she said, “I’m a writer.” For some insane reason I blurted, “Oh my gosh, I’m a want-to-be-writer!” Without blinking, she simply replied, “Then, you already are one.”
I knew this encounter was divine intervention. After she spoke those five words to me, my world shifted. I was a writer. I was a writer! I was a writer…already.
The best part? She challenged me to write a book in one month. She even outlined the rules:
Choose a new story idea (nothing I had written before).
Write, even if I didn’t know what to write (filling the page with garbage was A-OK).
Don’t stop to edit or revise until I type the words, the end.
GO!
Did I succeed in such a crazy NaNoWriMo-style challenge? No…and yes! No, I did not write a new story in one month. Yes, I wrote a new story in eight months. That meant, for the first time, I had finished a draft. I had something solid to revise and edit and grow (even if it took a few more years to complete). And that’s exactly what I did. My fantasy, Seam Keepers, is a result of that challenge. I was already a writer because I wanted and was working to be, and finally (with humble thanks to my karate-mom friend and you-know-who above), I am a published author. My take-away from such a life-altering event? Believe that you have already achieved what you desire (and a little prayer helps too).
As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
My writing mascot or avatar would be a bird. I love all birds, but during the several years it took to perfect my fantasy novel, Seam Keepers, I would surely channel a hawk. No spoilers, but hawks are an important part of my book. When I wasn’t writing, or working my day job as a teacher, I was usually driving my own kids around or taking nature walks. Whether paused at a stoplight, crossing a parking lot, or trekking down a wooded path, when a large bird of prey caught my eye above…my book characters always came to mind. It happened all the time. In fact, it got to the point I would literally speak out to the sky, “I know, I know, time to write! Thank you for the reminder!”
Then, just a month before the 2019 PNWA Writing Conference in Seattle, I was visiting my parents and saw a hawk land on the fence in their backyard. Gleefully, I was able to videotape it for a short while before it flew across the sky. This might be hard to believe, but a few hours before seeing the live hawk, my mom and I had gone shopping. Guess what I purchased to wear to my upcoming writing conference? A flowy button-down top with little hawks. It’s what I wore when my now publisher, The Wild Rose Press, found me at the conference.
Signs! They’re everywhere!
I will continue soaring with a hawk as my mascot or avatar for the next book, Dream Keepers (sequel to Seam Keepers), but after that, I have a new story idea. And for that one I’m thinking more along the lines of a…goat! A sweet little baby goat. You will have to wait to find out why!
Have you published any other books?
I have a poetry book, Colors Collected, that released in 2019. Poetry is a part of my bloodstream and comes out in contemporary free verse, fun forms, and is even woven into my fiction books, as well. I love words and adore my poetry circle of friends and authors, who I constantly surround myself with.
Interesting book. Love the cover.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the contest.