I’ve been obsessed with reading since I was little, so it was probably no surprise that I started writing my own stories. A great deal of my dad’s printer paper was sacrificed to my handmade volumes, their pages messy with smeared ink and blotted where my marker drawings bled through. Other than the fact that I had no artistic ability and my plots were shallow at best, I was sure that I was destined to make the bestseller list.

By the time I was seven, I had turned pro. My second-grade teacher gave the class an assignment to write a fall-themed poem, but she made the mistake of saying we could write about “anything we wanted.” I really took those words to heart, because while my classmates were writing about leaves and acorns, I wrote a poem about… unicorns. It ultimately worked out for me, though, because my poem was selected for publication in the Anthology of Poetry by Young Americans! I still have the book on my shelf, next to a huge book of Emily Dickinson’s poetry. I like to pretend that I’m as cool as she was.

I loved school and learning, but my favorite subjects were languages. I was lucky to go to an elementary school that had an outstanding foreign language program, so I was exposed to multiple languages at a young age. I discovered that I had a knack for learning them, so between absorbing the patterns of words and constantly having my nose in a book, my brain wired itself to have a deep understanding of language and grammar. I was the wacko who actually liked diagramming sentences. (I know, I must be so fun at parties!)

I continued to study languages through college, earning my BA in Romance languages and linguistics from The Ohio State University. Despite my passion, I didn’t know what I actually wanted to do with my life, but I knew that I still loved to write. Around 2018, I began writing a new story—as I had hundreds of other times—but I could tell early on that this one felt different. Instead of abandoning it, I found myself continuing to plan ahead and devise new plot points. I even got to bring my love of puzzles into the mix! The desire to do justice to this story ultimately led me to an MH in creative writing from Tiffin University, which gave me the skills I needed to start looking into publication.

The Treasure of Cajmoor is my first novel, but I have also written articles for StarTrek.com and the magazine Silly Linguistics. When I’m not writing, I enjoy reading, bingeing my favorite TV shows, playing the violin, and boring people to death by yakking about where words came from. When I am writing, I enjoy staying up late like a raccoon and destroying my circadian rhythm. (That’s how you know you’re a real writer!)