My Top Ten

In no particular order here are my top ten favourite books (or series) that have inspired or shaped me as a writer in some way. Some such as Cashore, Pierce and Velde instigated by love for YA fantasy. While others, Dubus, Gaiman and Benioff, inspire me to be the best writer I can be. All sit on my 'favourites bookshelf' which I go to frequently if I need a reminder for why I love reading and writing so much. So thank you to the authors on this list for being so amazing! And a special thanks to Andre Dubus III for being such an inspiration to me at the PNWA conference back in 2010. I frequently replay our conversation in my mind and flip to the front page where he inscribed "Dream on" in House of Sand and Fog.

Tales of Otori - Lian Hearn
His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman
City of Thieves - David Benioff
Graceling Realm - Kristin Cashore
The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stievater
Dragon's Bait - Vivian Vande Velde
The Graveyard Book - Niel Gaiman
House of Sand and Fog - Andre Dubus III
This Dark Endeavor - Kenneth Oppel
Circle of Magic -Tamora Pierce

Current Projects

A MILLION STONES is a story about a farmer's daughter who must protect her family from slavery, even if it means lying to the prince she loves, stealing from the king and defying a god.

THE SKY EMPRESS is the tale of a princess that must prove herself to the gods and the demon that must prove himself to her.

PORT OF STORM is the adventures of a young king who must find the true heir to the throne so he can stop a war and the knight who never realize the exiled king was always at her side.

Today I am a Writer

For many years I have written. I remember the first story I had to write was in grade four. We were given a pre-made booklet to fill out with whatever our imaginations could conjure. Something happened to me that day. It was like I had unlocked this superpower I knew I had but could never define. It was that exact moment when I put pencil to that paper that I knew I was writer. By the end of the project I had filled out four more of those little booklets. From then on stories always flowed out of me. I wrote about horses, adventurers, owning my own dragon, the weather, the first car I drove, about bullying, being bullied, about tigers in the jungle and a kid who wanted to grow up and be just like his adventurous father only to discover his father was not an adventurer but in jail. I wrote about a boy who had to convince heaven he wasn't truly dead and a girl who lost a revolution. I traveled to Japan and from there I collected legends and folklore weaving them with my own ideas to form new stories. I never stopped writing.

I love to write and find if too many days go without it, I grow moody and irritable until friends and family ask "Have you written lately?" The answer is usually "No." Unless I've just finished reading a book that ended tragically. (I'm looking at you Lian Hearn. I cried for days after finishing The Harsh Cry of the Heron.) It was this that made me realize I not only loved writing but was a writer. It is more than just a hobby. It is the definition of me.

So today I take my first real step into believing that. I keep waiting for validation that it's okay to call myself a writer but I will no longer. Today I am a writer and from this day on I will always be.