Reading, Writing, Whatever

I was born a reader!

Although I forget lots of things these days, I will always remember how excited I was when the teacher would distribute Scholastic book order forms. The book fair was one of my favorite days of the entire school year, remember those? I spent so many trips on the school bus escaping into someone else’s story. Sometimes it was The Babysitter’s Club, then it was Sweet Valley High. Stacey was my favorite BSC member and Elizabeth was my favorite Wakefield. 👍

Life happened and I tried to do some grown up things for a while. Higher education, then trying something less like a job and more like a career. Met a boy, married him, and we started a family together.

I was LIVING my own story.

But I’ve gotten older these days, although I find it hard to believe I’m not still that nerdy seventeen year old girl with blue fingernails and purple hair. The lines on my face and the aches in my body tell me otherwise. But time never stopped, and my own kids are getting older now.

As my kids have become more and more independent, I realized how dependent I have been on them. Being their mom became my whole identity although I absolutely wouldn’t have had it any other way. But when I had a few quiet moments of nothing here an there, I asked myself… now what?

In early 2025 I took a look at an old story I had written in 2012. It was a historical fiction called Constellation. I had written a dozen or so chapters before I stopped… right when the story was starting to get really good. I remember some vague ideas that I had for this story and a rough idea of the mystery it centered around. It was an adventure somewhere in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of piracy. So much time had passed that I felt more like a reader than the author.

In the spring of 2025, I wrote a different historical fiction novel, The Cassiopeia, after I took a cruise with my mother. After fifteen years, I had finally drafted a complete story again.

I found a little confidence and started thinking like an author again. I started reading regularly too. It was like I had rediscovered who Jenny was all over again. This time though, I don’t feel the need to filter how much of a book nerd I am. I’m finally mature enough to embrace it.

I had an idea for my own fantasy novel, Feather and Stone, back in 2013. Sadly, most of those notes and drafts had been lost over the years. I only had a rough idea of what I had done to work with. But the more I thought about that idea, the more it evolved and grew.

Somehow, it is August 2026 and the first draft of my fantasy novel is nearly finished.

I’ve noticed a few similarities between the two stories I’ve written over the past year. They usually center on stars, a special nod to one of my son’s interests. I also like including pretty beaches, because that’s where I wish I could be. Saltwater and stars. 🌊✨

I’m trying to think like an author, although I feel like an imposter.

I want to publish my stories, and share them, and see where they take me.

I hope you will join me for this journey! Sign up for my mailing list below.