Can
you, for those who don't know you already, tell something about
yourself and how you became an author?
I grew up in a
rural community in a small logging town in the California mountains
called Boulder Creek. Population: 6,000. I had a rare bleeding
disorder, so I was often in the hospital, and books became a vital
escape. No one was really self-publishing back then, and I had to
rely on the local library to supply my voracious reading habit. I was
the kid who would stay up until 2 AM with a flashlight under my
covers, reading even though my parents told me to go to sleep. So,
eventually, I ran out of the kinds of books I wanted to read.
This is probably
self-incriminating, but I remember using my step-sister’s address
in a neighboring county so I could get access to their library
system. That’s how desperate I was for books, and that’s why I
started writing. I ran out of options, so I had no choice but to
write my own.
I started
writing my first “chapter” book by hand in a spiral-bound
notebook when I was about 12 years old. I never finished that one,
but I completed four other books and many more stories as a teenager.
I took a break when I went to college, where I studied Journalism,
but as soon as I graduated, I knew I wanted to write a novel. Pretty
soon after that I decided I wanted to turn it into a trilogy, and
then I spent the next decade making it the best that I could.
I’m what the
writing community calls a “pantser,” so I built these books
entirely based on a gut feeling of what the characters would do. But,
eventually, I realized that wasn’t going to cut it. So I studied, I
read books about writing, and I put my imagination to work. I
invested a lot of time into developing the Da’Valian world until it
was ready to be put out into the real world. And here we are!
What
is something unique/quirky about you?
Haha. I love singing along to country
songs, but I almost never know all the words. I’m the person who
will make up their own words or start humming, or vocalize the guitar
solo because I get really into it.
Tell
us something really interesting that's happened to you!
OK, I’m convinced my mom’s house is
haunted. I lived there for awhile and house-sat occasionally, and
I’ve had some very strange experiences. Lights turning on in empty
rooms, doors and drawers opening and closing, and once a strange
voice. All these things would happen when it rained and I was there
alone. It never felt malicious, but it was certainly creepy. Probably
the creepiest experience was when a friend slept over and had a
horrific, thrashing nightmare. That really put me on edge. Plus,
there were crosses burned into the paint over a couple windows, which
added to the mystique, and rumors about local ancient burial grounds
that may have been constructed over.
What
are some of your pet peeves?
Guys who leave the toilet seat up.
Where
were you born/grew up at?
I was born in beautiful Santa Cruz,
California, and grew up alongside Big Basin State Park. The park
suffered some severe fires this summer and, sadly, my childhood home
burned down, so I’m still mourning the loss of that. I had always
thought it would be nice to go back and visit it one day. The park
suffered a lot of loss, too, so I know I’ll be too sad to go back
and see it for some time.
If
you knew you'd die tomorrow, how would you spend your last day?
I would spend it with my family, write
my daughter a letter telling her how much I love her, take my husband
on a hike, and eat all the food I’m not supposed to eat. Especially
chocolate gelato.
How
to find time to write as a parent?
Oh my gosh. The struggle is real. If
anyone knows a trick, please tell me. Normally, I would set aside
time to meet up with my writing partners, because we’re great at
holding each other accountable, or I would call my parents to come
give me a little time off “moming.” But with the pandemic and
being a new parent, it’s much more difficult.
I don’t want to be the one to
accidentally pass along Covid germs to our friends or parents, so I
really rely on my husband, Brian. Most days after he’s done with
work, my daughter hangs out with him while I “go book” as we say.
I tried getting up early a couple times to write before my daughter
wakes up, but she has a spider-sense and wakes up right with me, so
evenings and weekends it is!
When
did you first consider yourself a writer?
The first time I saw my byline in the
paper. I was freelancing for the sports section of the
Register-Pajaronian, a newspaper in Watsonville, California. I was
still in college and figuring out what I wanted to do, but there was
a shift in my way of thinking when I realized that thousands of
people were going to see this article -- about a local basketball
coach who dedicated his life to coaching local kids -- that I wrote!
What a thrill.
Do
you have a favorite movie?
I love Back to the Future! And the
second and third movies in the Back to the Future trilogy, but I love
the first one the most. I have a little quote graphic with a Delorian
on my desk that a friend gave me. It says, “Roads? Where we’re
going, we don’t need roads.”
Which
of your novels can you imagine made into a movie?
Isn’t that the dream! I would love
the Da’Valia Trilogy to be made into a movie. A lot of my visuals
play on black and white, you have adventure, fights, passionate
romance… I mean, let the dream casting begin! I’ll be waiting by
the phone, Hollywood!
What
literary pilgrimages have you gone on?
The closest I got was the Anne Frank
House in the Netherlands, but our timing was off and we were not able
to go inside. My family history involves the Holocaust, and reading
her diary when I was younger helped me imagine what they must have
gone through.
As
a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
OK, don’t laugh, but for a long time,
the grasshopper has been my spirit animal. I moved around a lot, and
grasshoppers would always show up in strange places - my bed, in my
purse at work… It struck me that maybe moving so frequently - 7
times in 7 years - was part of who I was on some spiritual level at
that moment in time.
I thought they left me for awhile, when
I settled down and got married, but I saw a grasshopper again just
the other day. Maybe, together, we embody the spirit of jumping from
one thing to the next. For a long time, that was jumping from one
geographic location to another for me, but more recently, I think it
pertains to major life changes and the willingness to take chances of
a personal and professional nature. For instance, settling down with
my husband, becoming a mother, and leaving behind a career that just
wasn’t right for me anymore.
