This is actually a pretty funny story. I was trying to think of a completely unique take on faeries, because I didn’t want to write the same faeries that I had seen before. And I literally could not sleep that first night because stranger and stranger ideas kept running through my head. But by about seven o’clock the next morning, I had the wisp of a mythology that I thought was going to work. I spent the next three or four days bouncing ideas off my husband until I came up with something fairly solid. However, even though the basic mythology is in place, I’m still always coming up with new ways in which my mythology affects my faeries’ lives.

I don’t really have a process. As a mother of three I take time where I can get it. My husband is currently a law student and is going on to be a PhD student, so the nice part of that is that he has summers off. That’s when I get a lot of my writing done. In the summer I generally have breakfast with my family and then go in our office/bedroom, close the door, and just chip away at the computer. Other than that, everything else varies. Sometimes I snack; sometimes I listen to music; sometimes I sit at the desk; sometimes I put my feet up and type on my lap. The only thing that remains the same is that I sit with my computer and I write. And write and write and write. :)

It took me until I was about halfway through my first draft of Wings before I really had the entire series planned out. I personally like working this way because I have been able to plant “seeds” throughout the first book that are hints to what will happen at the end. My goal is to finish the whole series and have readers go back and read from the beginning again and be able to say, “Oh! I totally get this now!”

This may sound strange, but I would advise writers to keep their story a little close to their chest while they are writing. Not out of fear that someone will steal it but to keep it special and exciting. I have seen so many writers who will give anyone who asks a full rundown of their unwritten book. But after several months of telling the story over and over again, they often find that they have lost the vivaciousness of telling the story. It has become old and boring, and it shows when they try to write it. The second bit of advice is that after your book is finished, give it to someone whose opinion and honesty you trust—and then listen to what they say. Every book can be better, and if you do get published there are a lot of professionals who get paid to tell you what is wrong with your book. :) Criticism is a part of life and if you can truly understand that every critique has the ability to make your book better, you will be so much better off.

I believe in the possibility that there is more out there in our world than we have any knowledge of.

It depends on what you mean by trolls. :) I haven’t met very many bloodthirsty savages bent on invading the faerie realm, but I have met a lot of hateful, spiteful people in my life. People who take delight in tearing others down. And yes, I am afraid of them. That doesn’t mean I run and hide, but how can you help but have a chill of fear?

I was “lucky” enough to move to a new state twice during my freshman year of high school. Which meant that I attended three schools, in three different states, on three different time schedules (semesters, quarters, and trimesters) in one year. My transcripts were a mess! So I had to not only make a new set of friends, but three months after meeting them I had to leave them and do it again. What I learned is that no matter how scary and intimidating it is to go to a new school and make all new friends, it is much easier than leaving old friends. That made doing it the second time easier, because I knew I could make new friends, but harder, because I was afraid I wouldn’t find friends as good as the ones I’d left. But I did. I made some really great friends. So I learned that no matter where you go, there are always people looking for a friend.

My advice for teens trying to survive high school is a bit contradictory; lean on your friends but not too much. Friends are so important in high school. They are supportive and share your ups and downs. They can be a great source of advice and a reminder that all the extreme things you are feeling are, in fact, normal. But don’t lean on your friends so much that you become a sheep. Every teen in the world has something unique to offer—a special part of them that is all their own. I truly believe this. Don’t lose it. Stand up for what you believe, even when it’s unpopular. Don’t do something just because everyone else is. Do what you want to do and be who you want to be.

I went back and forth, actually. I have always written stories. But I am also into both medicine and childbirth and I really wanted to go to medical school and be an obstetrician. However, I don’t grasp science nearly as easily as I grasp grammar, and the professor who taught my anatomy and physiology class gave me some really great and honest advice one day. I was getting an A in his class, but only because I was spending three to five hours every single day studying. I was working so hard to hold that A! I was proud of myself, and so was he, but he told me that if I had to work that hard to excel in an area I wanted to make my career, maybe I had chosen the wrong career. And I realized he was right. What I naturally excelled at was English and writing! Later that week I changed my major to creative writing and it was one of the best decisions I have made in my life. Now, instead of being an obstetrician, I am a doula, which is a professional labor coach. So I’ve been lucky to have the best of both worlds. I am an author, which I absolutely adore, and I also get to help new mothers during childbirth.

I admit, I’m a bit of a gym rat. I generally spend about ten hours a week there. I particularly like spinning, running, yoga, and Zumba. I love to read, and I also have a huge love for theater. My other passion is working with women in childbirth as a doula. For fun I like playing German board games, watching movies, and wrestling with my kidlettes.

I don’t know how to type. My husband often laughs at the fact that I have written several books with only three fingers. I keep thinking that the more I type the better I’ll get . . . but no.