As an adult, I have spent years learning to live with depression and anxiety. I speak openly about that because hiding it makes it shameful and it is not.
In 2003, I wrote a fan fic for a little known show called Firefly. I thought it had the beginning of an idea for a novel. I knew I couldn't publish in that universe, so I took my idea to my own universe and developed my own characters. But life and work got in the way. In 2018 when I retired, I was still stuck at 8 chapters. I decided that I would make it a retirement project to finish the novel. I published that novel on Amazon in September 2020.
Along the way I got hooked on writing and started taking writing classes (and volunteering) at the Muse Writer’s Center in Norfolk Virginia. I wrote the first draft of two other novels and the workshop feedback made all of my work get better. I have more novels in progress as I start to polish the fantasy novels and get them ready for publication. My work has themes about aftermath because so much of my life has revolved around dealing with the aftermath of abuse, bullying, death, rape, sexual assault and harassment. My characters are diverse because I didn't read a character who I thought of as representing me until I was in my mid-thirties. Representation is important. I also make sure that older women and men are represented because I am an older woman and I am tired of only teenagers saving the world. The heroes in my first novel are mostly middle-aged. The hero of my second novel is a 66-year-old woman. The heroes of my third novel are an 11-year-old girl and a middle-aged, blind woman (who kicks ass at unarmed combat, BTW). Other characters include a disabled alien, a dragon with epilepsy, a couple of married tran people who have four children, a gay healer.
My first book is called a Line in the Sand and is available here: