I was nine years old when I decided I wanted to be an author, and honestly, writing was always more important to me than school. But being the daughter of a teacher came with expectations: graduate high school with honors, go to college, get a Bachelor’s degree, and find a “real” job.

I didn’t want that path.

I wanted to be a writer — and you don’t need a college degree to do that.

I still graduated high school with honors and went on to junior college, but that’s where I rebelled. I dropped out and lied to pretty much everyone about it. After three semesters of anger that slowly turned into self-loathing, my parents and I finally came to an agreement: I would finish an Associate’s degree, get a job with my own benefits, and then focus on writing without the pressure of finishing a Bachelor’s.

That’s when I found Lisa Shapiro’s Novel Writing class — which ended up being one of the most valuable experiences of my writing life. I graduated with a General Education Associate’s Degree in the Arts in June 2011 and kept taking Lisa’s class even after I finished, because it helped me so much as a writer.

In fall 2013, I decided to go back and finish my Bachelor’s degree in English at San Diego State University so I could become an editor. I took a couple of classes and applied to SDSU, but in January 2014, I was hired by the San Diego County Library System as a Library Technician I. Suddenly, I realized that a lot of what I wanted to do as an editor could actually happen in the library world.

I finished my last class mostly to prove to myself that I could push through something I hated — and kept working at the library. My supervisors quickly noticed I worked well with kids, loved the job, and worked hard, and they started encouraging (okay, slightly pressuring 😄) me to finish my Bachelor’s and go for a Master’s in Library Science.

For about a year, I resisted. I always told them, “I’m a writer — that’s my passion.”

Then my Branch Manager, Amanda, said something that completely changed my perspective:
“You know what would be an amazing platform for a Young Adult writer? Being a Youth Services Librarian.”

She was right.

She introduced me to Clarion University in Pennsylvania (now PennWest University), which offered online Bachelor’s and Master’s programs in Library Science. My mom asked if finishing my Bachelor’s was really what I wanted — and this time, it was.

I assumed it would take me about three years since I wouldn’t be full-time. I started in fall 2015 with three classes and quickly fell in love with the program. Amanda asked if I was planning to rush through and just pass — and I told her no. I wanted to actually excel.

Between fall 2015 and fall 2016, I took seventeen classes (including eleven units my last semester!). On December 17, 2016, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Library Science — Summa Cum Laude.

I took one semester off before starting grad school, helped open a new library, did very little editing, and took some much-needed vacations with my mom and then my husband to celebrate our five-year anniversary.

I started my Master’s in Information and Library Science in June 2017 and took eight classes that year alone. I graduated on May 12, 2018 — and my parents, husband, and I flew to Pennsylvania so I could walk in person. I finished with a 4.0 GPA, was five weeks pregnant, and thanks to my family’s generosity, graduated completely debt-free.

​And just to top it all off — by the time I finished my Bachelor’s degree, I already had eight novels published.