Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I grew up in Arizona, amidst cacti and dirt bikes, with schoolteacher parents who always had high expectations. I have since lived on four continents and learned four languages. I began writing my Absolute Series of novels when I was 11. I wrote most of the content for the series of 10 while I was a teenager. I’ve also written a Western (being such a country girl) and a couple post-apocalyptic novels (especially because I’m terrified of zombies). I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when I was 18 but I first struggled with severe depression when I was 12. I work with teenagers to confront stigma around mental illness. I am also a Club soccer coach and referee. I was an exchange student to Belgium my senior year of HS, so I continue to encourage and support High Schoolers to broaden their horizon, just as I still enjoy broadening mine with explorations in new cultures, countries, and languages.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest published novel is ABSOLUTE AWAKENING, Book I in the Absolute Series. The book started out, when I was 11, as a fun story detailing a camping trip with characters who resembled my best friends, but we were frolicking with magic and dragons. Since then, the entire universe and magic system has become much more complex. The heroes of the story also deal with mental demons. It was important for me to explore what bipolar disorder would look like in a fantastical world. I wanted to see what types of dualities the characters could confront: good versus evil, sin versus virtue, ecstatic versus depressed, friend versus enemy, and see that they could find there is worth on each side of the coins.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
When I am looking to kickstart the muse, I will find artwork in my area, whether it be an actual gallery, museum, or a café displaying local artists. I will focus intensely on a piece, using free-flow word association to compose a story with the intent of making myself cry. This always moves me into writing mode. It also makes the baristas or gallery attendants a little bit stunned, usually inciting a small laugh and bringing something different to their day.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
My childhood imagination was fueled by Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Louis L’Amour Westerns. Cormac McCarthy and Sylvia Plath lend their particular style to my inner writing voice occasionally while dystopians like Huxley, Orwell, and Bradbury always have me thinking how to flip the norms. Ernest Hemingway will endlessly inspire me, not only with his work but also his life and devil-may-care personality.
What are you working on now?
I am finishing the edits on Absolute Avar, the second book in the Absolute Series, while also polishing up some new pieces in the third book, Absolute Nería. I also have a creative nonfiction that I am writing which is actually a choose-your-own-adventure piece revolving around a woman with bipolar disorder. This last book has been a tough one to write because so much of it is my own lived experience. I’ve also been writing a lot of poetry, capturing my adventures as I travel in East Africa, France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, and the Florida Keys – all while #chasingHemingway.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am excited to use Aweseomgang for promoting my book, though I’ve also found publishing with KDP Select has been beneficial for running some ads through Amazon Marketing Services.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Get a block of wood. Set it next to your desk. Tell people who disturb you when your fingers are tap-tapping the keys or when your pen is tick-tacking the paper: “This is my writer’s block. I throw it at people who disturb me while I’m writing.” Never let the muse pass by without taking a chance to say hi. Always carry a journal.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
My grandmother told me that if I “ever get stuck writing, bring in a man with a gun.” This has helped me so many times, even in universes where guns don’t exist. The man with a gun brings an immediate conflict and tension into the scene and the characters have to figure out how to deal with him – even if he is entirely edited out later.
What are you reading now?
I am reading “Child of the Flames” by D.W. Hawkins, which is a fantastic grim fantasy book and “Brain on Fire” by Susannah Cahalan about a woman facing down her mental illness.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I am scheduled for book readings in the Spring and Summer and look forward to connecting with more people through my universe – hopefully challenging the stigma around mental illness while I do it.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
“The Two Towers” – my favorite of the Lord of the Rings, like bringing old friends with me
“Atlas Shrugged” – regardless of any political content agreement or not, Ayn Rand develops her characters in the most beautifully raw ways
“Comstock Lode” – one of my favorite Louis L’Amour novels to remind me that times are tough in rugged lands, but the strong and resourceful will survive
An anthology of Romantic Poets like Byron, Keats, and Shelley so that my mind can keep turning in existential philosophy and delicate thrills of love
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