A Little Backstory

When I was a little girl, a fire lit in my soul. It was a small flame, at first, kindled by the magic within stories. Then, as I fed the flame pages and words, it grew, until it was a full-fledged passion. It started with reading and listening to the various stories of my early youth, but, as flames do, this flame desired more content to consume. 

So I did the only thing I could do: I fed it. Over time, worlds opened to me. I traveled through time periods, loved and lost, battled and befriended characters of all varieties. 

I read more and more stories, and the flame grew larger still, until simply reading and listening was not enough. Now, the flame required creation. 

And I thought… what if?

What if I could create stories? Did I have stories to tell?

I started thinking up all kinds of stories, some better than others, and the more I wrote, something strange happened with this flame. It began to cling to the details. I gained a love and appreciation for different words, literary devices, metaphors especially. I paid attention to the rise and fall, the ebb and flow of language, and I found it beautiful. I loved the idea that I could add to the corpus of literary works out there, even if I had no idea how to do so. 

I knew even at such an early age, that I wanted to do so. To contribute my words to the whole world I had discovered.

When I was in high school, the flame grew large enough that I could no longer contain it. I began writing. Songs, poems, short stories. Even essays were these beautiful opportunities. And then, at fifteen, I began writing the story that would stick. The one that started me down the path that would form my world. 

I wrote of a world which did not contain light, and a reluctant princess who took her best friend on a wild journey to find the light and bring it back to her people, with twists and turns and creatures along the way.  This story was the first of many that I would write to completion, the first story that I would dare to publish. 

Azure Light gave me the inspiration, the motivation, the direction I needed to publish, and after that, I couldn’t stop. 

After that initial release, I made a habit of writing, editing, and releasing a new book every year. This one book turned into two, then three, and so on.

…. and then I released my eighth book. The one that turned my fire from a lantern in a window to a bonfire that would continue to grow and spread exponentially. Bound.

​Bound, the story of a girl who finds that the mysterious injuries she’s always gotten were caused by a magical connection she had with another person, provided me with the courage to experience a lot of firsts. 

I got in contact with my first paid developmental editor. 

I ran my first KickStarter.

I had my first readers outside of the country. 

I had my first book signing event (which very quickly turned to MULTIPLE book signing events).

I had my first real restless nights, where I couldn’t sleep a wink (and actually had to wake my husband up so I could tell him my ideas) because I was so unbelievably excited about my story. 

I started writing Bound in 2023. I released it in September of 2024, and since then, my literary world has opened further still. I’ve made connections with wonderful people. I’ve sold books all over the world. I’ve made more book sales than I ever thought would be possible for me. I’ve expanded my goals. I’ve gone from releasing one book every year to releasing 2-4 books every year.

I’ve gone from being afraid to talk about my writing to saying aloud, “I am an author.” I went from being afraid to even invest in author copies of my books, afraid to invest in myself, to calling around and asking bookstores to take a chance on my work, to regularly investing in business cards, bookmarks, stickers, and more so that I can share my passion, my fire, with others. 

Bound - now the Bound Trilogy - has done that for me. 

Having the trilogy completed, with the final book coming out in just over a month… well, it’s more than just a book release. It’s a celebration of the book that made me believe in myself like I never had before. It’s a celebration of the book that made me realize that I can do this. I can share my stories with other people, share my passion with them. That I didn’t have to feel embarrassed or ashamed about my “little writing thing.” That I could implement my passion for art as well as literature into a work that I have created.

To me, that matters. It’s more than ink on paper. It’s more than hours and hours of work. It’s life. It’s light. And I’m so grateful to each and every one of you who has been here and supported me on this journey as I feed this fire. Thank you, for being here. Genuinely. 

If you would like to support the release of the final book in the Bound Trilogy, reach out. Check out my KickStarter. Share the books with someone you think would enjoy them. And if you’re a writer, or you have that little flame inside you, too, know you’re not alone. It’s not silly. And you’re always welcome to share here.

Support The Bound Trilogy KickStarter Here