A Little Peek into My Life and My First Book

                This whole “blogging” thing is new territory for me.

                I have been writing stories since I learned to write in kindergarten; I have been telling stories since long before that. As a toddler, my imaginary friends and I went on faraway adventures daily. In elementary school, as my teachers could tell you, I could really tell some whoppers about my life at home. (Thank you to Mrs. Mitchell, Mrs. Hernandez, and Mrs. Williams for listening patiently and letting me tell you these ridiculous tales. And thank you even more for pretending to believe me.) My imagination is and has always been spiraling out of control, compelling me to write. And I have always been content to write stories knowing that no one else will ever read them, save a few family members and close friends.

                Until now. One of my books, The Visitors, will be published on September 16 by Astraea Press. The very idea of this makes me pinch myself every time I think about it. I never dreamed that an opportunity like this would present itself to someone like me…a small-town, simple girl who until now has only been known locally as a wife and mother who teaches middle school reading and high school English and has a weakness for adopting stray dogs and cats.

                But I digress. As I said, blogging is a new concept for me. I hope to introduce myself as an author through this blog. I’ve been devouring books for as long as I can remember, and though I just keep getting older and further into adulthood, my one true love in literature is still young adult fiction. My favorite book of all time is Lois Lowry’s The Giver, and book series like Veronica Roth’s Divergent and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight kept me pent up in my house, inhaling them in lieu of eating and sleeping and functioning like a normal person.  These are the books that haunt my dreams, that change my life. They are why I wanted to teach English. And I found once I started teaching that not only do I love literature, I love working with teens. They are so vibrant and smart and challenge me every day. Thus, young adult fiction is what I write.

                The Visitors is young adult fiction that is both science fiction and romance. I wouldn’t categorize myself as a science fiction junkie, per say, but I have always had a fascination with life outside of our planet, which is the basis for the novel.  Set in the future, it is the story of a crew of humans who go to a recently-discovered planet, Verdant, in hopes of learning from their highly-advanced civilization. However, the citizens of Verdant fear these new visitors, as humans are irrational, destructive, and self-serving. When sixteen-year-old Jady, a member of Earth’s crew, meets seventeen-year-old Noah, a citizen of Verdant, the sparks are immediate. But when their secret affair is revealed, danger is created for everyone involved.

                I hope to explore some of the concepts in this book through my weekly blog posts. My goal is to discuss everything – from life outside of our planet and other what if topics such as mind-reading and immortality, to more down-to-Earth topics like young love, love at “first sight”, and relationships of all kinds.

                I hope you all join the conversation with me each week. I look forward to “meeting” new people and hearing your thoughts and ideas!