Hey there! Have you always loved books?
I grew up in a home where an evening spent reading was as magnificent as it was ordinary. My sister and I filled color-coded plastic bowls with snacks, burrowed into the sofa, and let our parents settle in around us. Whether we were all reading the same book or each reading different books, my family occupied fictional worlds as agreeably as we occupied the real world.
Have you ever wanted to know more about the real people behind fictional stories you love?
As a child, I enjoyed finding connections with my favorite authors. Laura Ingalls Wilder shared my first name. Beverly Cleary wrote about kids who lived on a street near my house. Louisa May Alcott glamorized an introverted family like mine, and Lucy Maud Montgomery told stories about a girl with an imagination I recognized.
How I wished I could meet my favorite authors! And just … be around.
As an adult, I’ve read my favorite authors’ published journals. I’ve toured their historic homes-turned-museums and even sat at their desks, ever more intrigued by the notion that an average woman living an uneventful life could spin all those ordinary moments into a magnificent story.
Now, I’m the one spinning stories, and I absolutely love having readers right there with me in those moments when real life inspires fiction.
For instance, I often invite readers to influence stories I’m writing. My full-length novels (soon to be released!) feature contemporary characters struggling with, and celebrating, the same kinds of things you and I do. My interactive serialized stories are influenced by readers in real time, and my podcast episodes reveal the stories behind the stories. In my journal entries, I ask questions: What are we learning? What do we find beautiful, uncomfortable, humorous, or promising?
Sometimes, I even do stuff that isn’t reading or writing.
Like swimming, enjoying nature, listening to music, and organizing whatever feels messy. I live with my rock star of a husband and our goofy mutt dog on an island in the Pacific Northwest—and yes, experiences from my real life sometimes turn up in my stories!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Now it’s your turn. Tell me about yourself. What are you reading? What do you want to read about?
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[Author photo by Suzanne Rothmeyer]