I am an aspiring author.  I chose to create this website in the hopes that it might help me get more in touch with future readers, fellow writers, and potential agents and publishers. 

 

As my manuscript is still in the process of being edited, I really can't say too much about it on here just yet.  However, I feel like I can tell you a little about the basics of my work; genre, writing technique, favorite authors, and so on.

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Literary Background​

Shortcut by Donald Crews was the first book to really have an impact on me.  My preschool teacher read it aloud to us one day.  The book is about a group of kids who decide to take a shortcut along the railroad tracks.  Along the way, the eerie wail of a train whistle in the distance interrupts their journey, and they realize they need to get off the tracks.  Reading that now, it doesn't seem like that big a deal.  Kids playing on railroad tracks hear a train whistle, so they get off the tracks.  But at the time, the idea of a train whistle screeching in the night was enough to send shivers down my tiny spine.  I was captivated by the idea that words on a page could have such an effect on me.  After that, I began writing and coloring my own versions of stories I knew and loved.

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My love for reading and writing followed me all the way to college.  I wrote for fun all the way up to my junior year of college.  That year, I spent spring break sick on the couch with nothing but a gigantic box of tissues and a pile of newly purchased Nicholas Sparks novels.  Halfway through one, True Believer, there was a paragraph about shampoo bottles in the guest bathroom of a lighthouse.  I loved that description.  It was so simple, but it added so much to the setting.  I remember thinking to myself, Hey, I could do that.​​ ​

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My Genres

My works (both completed and in-progress) are mostly mainstream fiction.  They are geared toward a wide audience, male and female (though probably leaning toward female), from teenagers to adults of any age.  I enjoy several genres including mainstream, romance, young adult, paranormal, and fantasy.  

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My Technique

​When I first get an idea for a story, I do something that I call a "brainspill."  I open up a new document on my computer and write down every thought, every description, every character, and every plot twist with no regard for punctuation, spelling, or spacing.  I just write and write and write.  Once I have it all down, I go back and organize.  I put events in chronological order.  I write down character biographies, physical characteristics, and relationships to other characters.  I even found a website where you can create your own Disney Princesses.  I have made a Disney Princess version of every female character that I want to write. 

 

                              This is what I would look like if I was a Disney Princess.   

​                                                  Along with getting to know my characters, I also create a playlist on iTunes that serves as a sort of writing soundtrack. 

 

 

 

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