Here's my novel:
And as for why I decided to write...
I was one of the first kids in my class to learn to read. I could read full paragraphs while the other kids were still reviewing the alphabet. Part of the reason for that is that everyone in my family reads. My grandma likes romance novels, my grandpa likes westerns, my aunt has a bookshelf spanning an entire wall in her house. I have a couple of relatives who are legally blind, and still they read. I was read to often as a child, and they made sure I started learning early.
In elementary school, I wrote a book. It was a story about my dog secretly being a superhero and trying to save the planet from aliens that turned out to be friendly. It was written in crayon on colored construction paper and bound with ribbons and a 3-hole punch. A few years later, I wrote a story (illustrated!) for school about three princess sisters who could do magic and was asked to read it for visiting parents. I got consistently high marks in English and creative writing classes and was occasionally asked to read reports that I'd written out loud.
As many do, I began my foray into writing for a larger audience with fanfiction. It didn't work out. Eventually I realized that I had little to no interest in writing about a world or characters that I hadn't created. Derivative works just weren't for me. So I began thinking about what kind of world and characters I would create.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago. I sat down with my laptop and felt the urge to write something. I wasn't sure what, but I opened a Word document and started typing. What I wrote that day ended up being the first chapter of Boneman. I can't say for certain exactly where the idea came from. Then Writer's Camp was announced a few weeks later and I had chapter one written, so I decided to expand on it, then kept going.
I have many influences and inspirations, but I write because books are a part of me, and there is nothing more rewarding to me than to be able to tell my own story.
