When I was in third grade, my teacher directed us in a drawing of a character she called "Dirty Dan." My brother had had the same teacher four years earlier, and he'd written a story about Dirty Dan, so I wanted to as well. I must have really enjoyed writing it, because I decided to be an author when I grew up.

In fourth grade, our teacher had us do creative writing every day. It was in fourth grade when the other students started teasing me, and creative writing became a healthy outlet for me and solidified my desire to be an author when I grew up. I wrote tons of one-two page stories, often incorporating the other students in my writing, usually in a positive way. Fifth grade continued like fourth, but without the block of creative writing in the classroom. But I continued by starting my Star Wars fan fiction where I wrote myself into the universe. I wanted to make sure my story wouldn't come true anytime soon, so I made myself "really old" in the story: 18!

When I was in sixth grade, I went to a new school, and I wrote my first series of short stories Sleeping Girl which was a mix of the stories Sleeping Beauty and Anastasia with my own twists. I also wrote my first "longer" story: The Way to Charm. Mrs. Harper, the school librarian, was a huge encouragement, and it was through her enthusiasm that I decided to venture into longer stories.

In seventh grade, I began another new school and was later home schooled. My good friend, Nathan Stone, and I came up with a long and complicated story about characters we called The Knight Girls (Joan, Mary, and Crystal) and their friend, Quinton. I started writing a lot of the stories down, including on a typewriter.

In eighth grade, I began writing my first full-length novel, Mysterious Warriors...