The first story I remember writing followed a group of intrepid explorers who crossed the spongy plains, climbed treacherous, steep White Mountains, swam the hot sea, and reached their destination. They were a group of strep bacteria conquering a human throat. I was eleven, and I loved twist endings.
I read a lot during middle school and high school, a random mix of science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and Regency romance. In college, I signed up for British Lit classes for an excuse to read for pleasure outside my biochemistry major. My reading life-list, kept since since 1989, is twenty pages long. I guess I’m a born reader.
Some people are born writers. I didn’t actually know I wanted to be an author until I hit thirty, and then I got serious. I practiced the craft for years with the help of several wonderful and generous organizations--the Society for Children’s Writers and Illustrators, the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction and Fantasy, and Context writing workshops. A lot of individual writing buddies supported me along the way, some ahead of me on the ladder, some a short step behind. I wrote a dozen short stories and seven novels.
And then, the dream came true.
Six short stories found publishers in 2010 and 2011. My indy-novel Out of Xibalba came out in 2011. Katherine Tegen at HarperCollins bought my seventh novel Pretty Girl-13 for release in early 2013 and many international sales followed. Since then I've published the Tor Maddox "pink thriller" series, contemporary adventures featuring a heroine for our times, and The Captain's Kid, a sci-fi adventure for tweens/teens.
I have lived in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California and Ohio and visited England, Mexico, Belize, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, Bali, Hungary, Norway, and Antartica. I feel incredibly lucky to have glimpsed so much of the world. Still, many of my story ideas are born in the car while I daydream and listen to the reports and interviews on NPR. I’ve been known to miss my exit and keep going for miles.
I vividly remember my teenage years, and while I know things have changed, the emotions of those years are universal. I think that’s why my stories speak to teens and to people who ever were teens. I try to tell stories that will make you laugh a little, cry a little, and think about what it means to be yourself.
In 2016, I blind-dated playwriting and fell in love with this physical manifestation of storytelling. In a similar vein, short plays preceded long ones. Many of my short plays (1-10 minutes) have been read on stage, fully produced, published and/or adapted for film. The longer plays--Planting Grandma, Castaways, Henry X, and Moving In, Moving Out, Moving On--are working their way through the development process, from writing to reading to workshop to staging before an audience to winning awards. In 2021 Castaways played one award winning night at Enter Stage Left's summer festival of one-acts, and subsequently I self-produced the play for the San Diego and Cincinnati Fringe Festivals. Finally in 2023 Moving In, Moving Out, Moving On premiered in at MadLab Theatre and garnered a best new play nomination from BroadwayWorld Columbus.
Most of my scripts are available to read at NewPlayExchange.org.
For an almost up-to-date interview about me, check out the "Choose to Be Curious" podcast by Lynn Borton.