Those are very good questions.
To start with, I don’t know why you’re here. I hope you’re here because you saw something with my name on it and found it interesting enough to look me up. I hope you’re here to support my journey as I attempt to build something worth calling a career out of this thing I do. I hope you’ll keep coming back.
But back to that first question, who am I? Well, I’m a mother. I’ve got three kids. A teenager, a first grader, and a toddler, though she’s pretty sure she’s actually in charge. And I’m a wife. Of a man, if that’s important to you for some reason. It’s less important to me. What matters to me is that he’s my best friend and biggest supporter. I’m a migraineur. I’ve had chronic migraines since I was 12 when stress, a pinched nerve, and puberty conspired against me. My primary triggers are weather, allergies, and heat, which make my current geographical location pretty much the worst possible place in the world for me to live, but hey, it’s where all our family is. I’m depressive, though I’ve managed to attend to the declines as they begin and avoid any major cycles for…maybe a decade (emphasis on major). I’m anxious, though, in just under 20 years, I’ve made it from full blown ER inspiring panic attacks to waves of anxiety I can recognize and navigate. And I have ADHD. Can I just say that executive dysfunction and hyper focus are the banes of my existence? They double team my days, and I go to bed too guilty about what I didn’t do to feel properly proud of what I did accomplish.
Mostly, I think, I’m a writer. I’ve loved stories my whole life. From my dad reading The Hobbit at bedtime, to desperately wanting my own Secret Garden and wishing I could runaway to a museum, to finding my way back to Middle Earth. From books and comic strips to film and television. Stories have been my escape, my salvation, my encouragement, my entertainment, my diversion, my family, and even my connection.
I began writing my stories down in high school. I shared some of them other people, mostly online, but they were ultimately for me. I was brimming with ideas. Worlds were being born within me. Eventually, I finished a novel! I didn’t know how to edit it. So it sat there, for a couple years, waiting. And when I went back to it, I could actually see it. So I cleaned it up, and I actually let people read it. But it still just sat around, really. Eventually, I got brave. Eventually, I pulled it out again, polished it a little more, and began querying agents!
But that’s hard. And I didn’t want to give up on it. So I thought…why don’t I work on short stories while I query? That might distract me…I didn’t expect to sell anything very quickly. After all, the only stories I had that were remotely ready to submit were older. I’m just submitting them while I write new stories. (That’s a very good way to realize how much you love your stories, by the way.)
And I sold one! I actually sold one! No matter what else happens in my life, I will always be able to say: “I’m a published author.” Of course, as wonderful as that feels, it isn’t quite enough, is it? I want this to actually go somewhere. I want that to be a first story sold. I want to build this.
I made a Twitter. I actually made a twitter. I can’t keep up with Twitter. There’s too much. It’s visually overwhelming. The idea that I can’t read everything the people I follow are posting and sharing makes me a little queasy, to be honest. Twitter gives me vertigo. But I want to be able to connect with my audience. I want to actually find an audience. I want people who see my name on a story to be able to find me. And I want to be able to promote any publication I manage to secure. So I did it. I think it might be sustainable? I hope so. I’m committed to the scheme.
That didn’t seem enough, though. I needed something to share, somewhere to send people who wanted more. I mean, I hope people want more, right? So I needed somewhere to put more. So here we are.
That’s who I am, and why I’m here. I hope you stick around.
(Oh, and I also have a master’s degree in second language acquisition. I would love to be back in a classroom teaching ESL to college students or other adults, but, alas, for a field with so much need there are precious few paid and/or day time positions.)
