When asked about themselves, people often start with something like: “I’m an ODU grad with a BA in English linguistics; I’m from Virginia; I like cats.”

That’s boring and not revealing. I’m happiness and sadness, running and falling. I’m vegetables and cake. I’m a tumult of words that I cannot put into words. I’m apathy, ecstasy, sympathy, and a little self-pity.

I’m a bit Harry Potter, more like Percy Jackson. I think in terms of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, although I wish I was more Divergent. (And I do read genres beside sci-fi and fantasy.)

I’m beach-scene posters and paintings that are incredible or embarrassing. I’m bad teeth and good hair and cleaning products and nice pens. I’m borderline asthma and astigmatism and a couch potato and an adrenaline junkie.

I have voices inside my head and I wish they were only the voices of my characters, but what I didn’t realize until this year is that the book speaks too.

I’m a writer with extensive experience in research papers, novels, articles, and blogs. While earning my English degree at ODU I wrote several full-length novels and am currently seeking representation for “Aloft,” a YA fantasy about elemental magic and the end of the world.

I’m interested in anything to do with books, writing and literature, because words are as powerful as magic.