I read that you wanted to be in the medical field when you were younger. And the more I found my voice, the more easily I was able to publish my work. Slowly but surely, I started to find my voice. Along the way, I realized, “I would like to share these words with someone.” I started reading the Writer’s Market, back when it was a physical book that people carried around religiously-when people sent off stories in envelopes with stamps and hoped to get something back. Once I graduated from college, I worked on a Master’s degree in creative writing, along with a PhD in a similar writing field, because I loved it so much. It’s pretty standard writing advice, but I took it to heart. He encouraged me to write every day, to think about the stories I wanted to tell and how I wanted to tell them. In high school, I had a great writing teacher named Rex McGuinn, who saw something in me. How did you reach the point of becoming published?
I have continued to write stories and essays since then, and now I’m writing books as well. I began publishing my work in the late ’90s. My parents noticed what I was doing, so they bought me a typewriter. I remember drawing little villages on napkins and writing stories about the people who lived there. I’ve been writing since I was four years old. Tina: Describe your path to becoming a writer.
