My strong desire to tell stories hit me early in life. At the young age of nine, I penned a play about Nessie from the monster’s point of view. Since then, I’ve written constantly, whether it was in a journal, diary, in my notebooks at school, or on my computer. But I also came by story-telling naturally. My great-grandmothers and grand-parents, all had traveled extensively through the US and the world and told us all of their parents and grandparents immigrating to America and ending up in Texas. Now factor in the numerous aunts and uncles, who were always amazing sources of information and incredible stories about everything from where exactly the tooth fairy puts all those teeth to Santa’s elf who hides in the air conditioning vents and watches us all year, to the mythological creatures that hang out under our beds, and I had a very well rounded education in how to spin a yarn. In my adult years, I learned to be a waitress, bartender, bill collector, bank teller, Blockbuster Video clerk, and dishwasher all before I earned my degree in nursing. Then I spent the next ten years in the adult ICU’s and adult and pediatric trauma units. As if I didn’t have anything else to do, I went to massage therapy school to learn to better care for my ICU patients, many of whom suffered bed sores and back pain due to their extensive times in bed. (Yes, I’m coming up with a hero who’s a massage therapist.) After that certification, I still didn’t think I had enough knowledge and in an attempt to educate myself right out of the general dating pool, I returned to school to earn my journalism degree. It was while I worked as a Level 1 pediatric trauma nurse, I met my husband while I worked at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas. Now I hope to share my fiction and non-fiction story telling techniques with our children and with anyone who wants to read or hear it.