It has been *cold* and *gross* this week and I don’t want to be outside. Also it’s been a very busy few days! So in lieu of a physical walk, today let’s take a walk through time.
Here is me at three years old.
Like most authors you’ll talk to, I’ve been writing since I could (incorrectly) grip a writing implement. I loved stories, and I especially loved making stories with other people. First with my sister, then with my middle/high school best friend Ali. And then, in college, I met my found family, and also was introduced to TTRPGs. A lot of my storytelling became verbal in those years, crafting worlds and characters with my best friends. Note the actual (college-aged) babies in the picture below – we’ll get back to them.
I didn’t start to actually try to do anything with it until after college, however. My first piece published for money was in 2009. It was a tweet, back when Twitter wasn’t a hellsite and you could actually get paid ($1.25, but still) for twitfic.
A few handfuls of short stories later, and my sister and I got a collection published with World Weaver Press. It’s out of print now, but it had a really good run, and I’m still very proud of it.
I was also able to be in a number of anthologies, some of them edited by the inestimable Rhonda Parrish. Rhonda was the first to publish Zinnia and Harris, my post-apocalyptic and somehow also Victorian monster hunting ladies.
Now: remember those babies in the picture above? We wrote a book together and it came out yesterday.
The above is a (slightly blurry, sorry) screenshot from our book launch video with our publisher last night.
It’s been a long walk to go from scrawling on scrap paper to having a novel out in the world. A lot of people have walked along with me: Ali, Scott, multiple people named Amanda, the Hamsters, Rhonda, Mark, the ROS, Lucas, and many many others. I’m thankful for everyone traveling the road with me.
And I’m so very thankful this book is out in the world.
If you’ve read it, let me know what you think of it!
Leave a comment