Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up in Southern and Central California. So far all of my stories (published as books or not yet) all have California in them. The main character(s) have all be from there and I use a lot of the towns and areas that I love as settings (even if I change the name). California is my home and it's so diverse from beaches to mountains to valleys filled with agriculture - there's a lot that can inspire my imagination. Personally, I favor the oceans and beach towns.
When did you first start writing?
I wrote a lot of stories when I was a kid in elementary school, but I started writing daily when I was in high school. I had notebooks of never ending stories and some of my current ideas have roots in those notebooks. Writing was the best tool I had (next to reading) to explore and experience the world. I started writing stories with endings after getting involved with NaNoWriMo a few years ago. My first published book Future Letters was my second NaNoWriMo project.
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