1. Please tell us your origin story as an author.
I started my creative life as a musician. In my early twenties, I moved to Nashville to pursue music and I did that for a decade or so. I had a great time and released five albums. But as I hit age 30 and kept going without having my big break as a musician, it sunk in that I might not ever have that big break. So I put that dream to bed and decided to try to make the dream happen for others. I began volunteering at music camps for teenagers called Tennessee Teen Rock Camp and Southern Girls Rock Camp. While doing that, I fell in love with the way young adults love the art they love and it made me want to make art for them. I realized that publishing doesn't require you to have your big break by the time you're thirty, so I hadn't aged out of writing books for young adults. So that's what I did.
2. What continues to inspire your writing?
People who fascinate me. The beauty of writing is that you get to live other lives and writing affords me the opportunity to live the lives of people who fascinate me.
3. What message would you share with young authors and creators?
You never know where your creative journey will take you. If you asked me 10 years ago whether I'd be writing books at all, I would have looked at you like you were insane. It hadn't even entered my mind. And now here I am with four published novels and a fifth ready to go out to editors. You just never know where your path leads.
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