ABOUT
ME
My writing journey
When I was in the seventh grade, I entered a story into my first-ever writing contest and won a whopping $25 dollars for SEARS. A photo of my pre-braces smile was printed in our local newspaper, along with the Christmas story that I wrote about meeting my grandmother for the first time. A cheesy poem was thrown in there, too. You know the one - where the poem fit my perceived clever rhymes versus the rhymes complimenting the content. Sweet tart rhymes with heart...enough said. Despite the cringe-poem, it's a good reminder where my first love for writing began.
It wasn't long after this that I told my dad that I was going to write his story in a book one day. He smiled at the thought but never imagined that fifteen years later, that dream would come to fruition. I wrote my father's story of redemption titled, 'Like Father, Like Son' in 2017. I wrote about his crime ridden relationship with his own father, about the kidnapping, armed robberies, and violence he cultivated before he met Jesus in prison. Our community raised enough money to print twenty thousand copies to be shipped across Canada at no cost to inmates, and it is the most humbling thing I've accomplished. Letters still pour in today about men who decided to change their life.
After fictionalizing my father's true-life story, I knew there was more I wanted to say in the world of fiction, so I took a creative writing program through the University of British Columbia where I gained practical tools for my next journey. I decided to write a novel. I moved from Canada to Alaska after marriage three years ago(woo-hoo!). I began trail running the mountains where my head oftentimes is literally in the clouds where I've formed my characters, setting, and plot for this novel. It's taken over three years, but I have a complete manuscript titled 'Mosaic' which has me currently navigating the publishing world!