I once read something that said, "writer's block is when your imaginary friends stop talking to you." I can relate to that. I am almost notorious for writing with only a loose plan in place. When I get writer's block, the problem usually comes when I created a problem for my characters but I've not quite worked out how to solve it. When I wrote the first draft of the Light Keeper, I knew Isaac was going to face off with the troll on the bridge and he would capture it. I knew Isaac had to catch faeries from the very beginning, but I had no clue how he was going to get one into the faerie glass. I was stumped for quite some time. Then I wrote the scene where Yara explains to Isaac what he must do and slowly the answers began to come to me. So when I have writer's block, I ask my characters what happened. I don't always piece it together right away, but thinking from someone's perspective other than my own, helps me

 I will write under my abbreviated name. First initial and last name, simply because I do not feel my name is interesting enough. If I were to write outside of the YA and MG genre, I would consider using another name to avoid confusion.

For me, dialog comes very easily. Filling in the action can be a struggle for me. I see a scene in my head, but determining where to focus and on what details can be confusing. The Light Keeper has more action than anything else I've written before. As I continue writing each book in the series, I believe I'll become stronger with action scenes.

For The Light Keeper, the plot came first and as I worked out the what, I determined the who. I wrote another story call, the 50 Deaths of Annabelle Joy and in that case, the character came first. In general, I think I often come up with my plots though. I get an idea for a cool concept and then I figure out what kind of people could find themselves in that circumstance and what qualities they would need to possess.

While the Light Keeper is aimed at the 8-12 age range, it certainly does not exclude older readers. Anyone who enjoys a coming of age tale and fantasy elements with plenty of adventure should give my book a shot.

I had to completely rewrite the ending of the book, so the final fight scene for sure. Originally, I was proud of myself for how long it was, thinking I had provided plenty of detail and that the reader would want to give Isaac a big high five at the end. The feedback I received was the fight was pretty lackluster and didn't quite live up to the way I had teased it throughout the book. So I more or less scrapped the entire thing and almost tripled my word count. I think it was important to give another perspective on to what was happening outside of Isaac's POV and I realized I didn't show how much was also at stake for my antagonist also. By slowing the scene down, I also raised the stakes and therefore brought a lot more intensity.

The only character loosly based off of someone I knew was a girl from high school. She was a couple grades my junior and I used her description and demeanor to create Yara, but I created the personality.

Titles stress me out. I will not write something until it has a name. In this case, the faeries glass glows, so "Light" and Isaac is responsible for protecting it, "Keeper."

Currently, I would love to spend a day with Sarah J. Maas. I really enjoy her Court of Thorns and Roses series, and she has now written a spin off series based on another character in the original book. She has achieved the level of writing I aspire to achieve. Her books are loved widely and have inspired fanart and fanfics, and to me that it the highest praise an author can receive- for you characters to live so vividly in someone else's mind, they must re-create your work. She also is in the talks for having her work adapted to the big screen, or so I've heard, and that is my ultimate dream. I would love to hear from her how she began and got to where she is today.

What had helped me the most is the continuous feedback I get from my husband. I am a people pleaser by nature, so I need someone there to tell me when I am doing a good job or if I've gotten off track. What hinders me the most is myself. I love writing, but I am also a procrastinator. If I can say I need to do something else, I'll do it. I'm working on better habits. But without a deadline, I struggle.

I don't really follow blogs all that much. The most help I received was by taking the courses at the Institute for Children's literature. It's not free, but the help is personalized and I have learned so much about the way I write. 

Sometimes a name just comes to me, that was how I got Isaac's name. I closed my eyes and just heard Isaac Henry Hale and I knew that was it. For Yara, I used baby names websites. I tried a couple of different meanings I wanted her to embody as a person. Cristo's name just came to me as well, but his family was more complicated. For Cristo's family, I researched the country of origin of his name and searched for girl names from that same country. I'm also known to create my own names that don't necessarily mean anything, but I feel like they sound good.

I like an underdog. Someone who has a lot to lose. And someone who is a good person.

I used to write X-Men movie fanfiction stories. One day someone commented with very helpful feedback and we started to write back and forth. I wrote a fanfic of his fanfic and he was always there with feedback, he was the first person to truly offer me feedback on my writing. I was also very inspired by the Faerie Wars series by Herbie Brennan. He changed the way I thought about faeries and I fell in love with his version.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan

Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan

Goddess Test series by Aimee Carter