I work as a copy editor for a publishing company, I love watching superhero movies or TV shows, and I spend a lot of time hanging out with my writing critique group. On rare, special occasions, I can be caught cosplaying, most recently in steampunk garb. I've also recently decided to start making chain maille jewelry, and I'm hoping not to pinch my own fingertips off with my pliers. I need my fingertips for writing more stories.

I also like to poke my sleeping cats to wake them up. I feel only slightly guilty for it.

My first short story. Wow. I believe I was in the fifth grade, and we had an assignment to write a short story, which was meant to be "bound" as a small book. I wrote a story about a rabbit who had to sneak into a human's house and steal medicine for his sick mother. Rabbits and drama go together, right? Hey, it worked for Richard Adams.

I open a document. I stare at it. Sometimes I read back a bit to remember where I left off. I write a few words. Then I write a few more. I tilt my head and look at the resulting sentence with either mild pleasure or delight. I write another sentence and then a third. I stop. I wonder what comes next, and I realize that I'll never find out what comes next unless I write it. In frustration, I walk away, huff in frustration, get some water, and then come back and suddenly start writing all in a rush. Some time later, I blink and realize I've written several paragraphs. maybe a page or two. Then I throw my hands up in air in triumph. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat!

The editing process is where it gets scary.

Counting down to number one!
3. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas -- because every sentence is a demonstration of literary elegance.
2. Aesop's Fables -- because I can use what I learned from these stories almost every day.
1. Deerskin by Robin McKinley -- because it is the darkest of dark fairy tales, and I fell deeply in love with the style of the writing and story.

Wait...there's a desk under all of these papers and books and the laptop and second monitor and printer? I thought I was levitating everything with the power of my mind. Way to burst my bubble. Geez.

I approach cover design the way a little kid approaches a finger-painting project; that is, with a lot of enthusiasm and very little restraint. For Kiss Chronicles, first I brainstormed general ideas and got feedback from my writer friends. When I was ready for art to happen, I had the best time working with Saharu Fakhraie on the cover. I gave her my cover idea, gave her a description of what I wanted and how that would fit with the themes for the book, and she ran with it. From there, we communicated over drafts to refine it, and we got to know each other in the process. I can't wait to finish another story for publication so I can start the cover process all over again.

I don't read for pleasure. I read as an instinctive drive because if I don't consume all the stories and words I can get my hands on, I will wither away.

Causing emotion. If someone has a reaction to what I've written, I receive the greatest joy possible. Whether I make the person laugh, cry, sigh, rage, or tremble, it is my honor to deliver those moments to the reader. It's much like when I was an actress a long time ago...I want to connect with the audience on an emotional level as I share a story. And I really believe that the strongest parts of my writing happen when I'm lost in the moment as I write and experiencing the story from the inside the way that I want the reader to experience it. Those are the golden moments.

(In geekspeak shorthand: All the feels.)