I have been making up stories for as long as I can remember. I have endless notebooks and journals full of old stories that are so bad they make me laugh until I cry. Among those is my first novel, which I completed at the age of fifteen. It was a Backstreet Boys fan fiction. (Yes, it's okay to laugh. My family always does.) I love fan fiction. I wrote fan fiction for a number of years in such fandoms as The Backstreet Boys, Smallville, Supernatural, NCIS, Castle, Firefly, and Veronica Mars. (VM THE MOVIE!!!! HELLS YEAH!!!!)
Despite my writing habit, I never recognized myself as a "writer" and never had any clue what I wanted to do when I grew up. I went to college at BYU Idaho (Ricks for those of you as old as me) for three semesters and was three different majors. I started with voice performance, then switched to general education because I hated music theory that much, and finally I ended with outdoor recreation. (I swear it's a real major.) I probably would have stuck with that one, but I ended up getting married and dropped out of school to move with my husband to Los Angeles.
It wasn't until I became a full-time mom and found myself stuck home all day in a 600 sq. ft. apartment with no TV, no cell phone, no Internet, and no car (yeah, we were that broke) that I started writing a lot again. After a few years of people telling me I should get published I decided to self publish and let the chips fall where they may.
Four years later I am truly humbled at the response I've received for my books. My writing is paying my bills (miracle!). My books are hitting best-seller lists all over the place (including #1 on Amazon for teen romance! Yeah!). Several of my books have been nominated/finalists for different book awards. I've sold several foreign rights deals. I was offered several publishing contracts, though I decided to remain Indie, and I infiltrated the ranks of Amazon's top 100 teen authors list! (OMG!!!) I am so incredibly blessed and can't wait to see what the future hold in store for me.
On a more random note, yes, my hair really is naturally that red, but I never look as good as that picture in real life. I'm a huge dork. I love to role play and own my very own 10-sided dice that no one else is allowed to roll. I hate the Twilight movies but adored the books. Have a husband, three sons, a daughter, and a cat named Mr. Darcy, but no partridge or a pear tree. I'm a huge Arizona Diamond Backs fan (yes, even with their record this season--there's nowhere to go next year but up, right?) and I love soccer. (Go Manchester City!!) I'm obsessed with reading, I talk way too much, and I love to eat frosting by the spoonful.
