For as long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a writer

I’ve always loved stories; exploring situations I hadn’t experienced, or getting to know people who don’t exist. I was a voracious reader who– no joke– got in trouble as a teenager in the summers for staying up too late reading, and all throughout childhood do you know what my parents had as the worst possible punishment they could give me? I wouldn’t be allowed to go to the library. Apparently I acted like I was dying any time they slapped that verdict on me.

I still remember writing a story about a kitten and a locket when I was in second grade, and when I was in fifth grade we had an author visit our class who was so kind about my writing. He was there for a week and he started to ask me to read my stories in front of the class. When I was in high school, a friend and I founded a creativity club. My English teacher liked a story I wrote for a project so much she asked me to come up and read it in front of everyone.
I wrote a lot of stories for as long back as I can remember, and to this day still have to laugh at the old notebooks I have filled with poetry and half-started ideas. When I was around 12, for example, one story idea involved how an entire population was kept under control by drugs they didn’t know were put into their food, and one of the main characters hated the food so she refused to eat it. She couldn’t understand why everyone else was so complacent, even in her own family. When I was 13 I had an idea for an epic fantasy series that I started, wrote about 150 pages in, then decided I didn’t like it and I started over. Over the course of the next two decades, I kept shelving that series and coming back to it. I still hope to finish it someday.

And if you weren’t already convinced of my extreme affinity for words, the first job I got when I was legally able to work? At a bookstore. My work study in college? The college library. One of my favorite dorky pastimes? Learning foreign languages. I suppose I will always love words, in whatever form they exist.

After finding it difficult to find stories that were exactly what I wanted, I eventually had a thought:

“If I can’t find what I want to read, I guess I’ll write it myself.”

Knowing that, what should you expect to see in my stories?

Generally, I don’t hold back on topics. If I’m going to do something, I’m going to go hardcore into it because I don’t see the point in being half-committed to anything. Also, as a reader I am most fascinated by character progression and the psychology of characters, so I think that becomes a theme in my writing. I’m a romantic but not at the expense of plot, plus I have no attention span for single-plot stories. You will probably see interweaving plots on most things I write, or at least something more complex than a single storyline with nothing happening in the background.

As for who I am as a person, I do think that informs a lot of my tendencies for writing. So you should know that I’m some form of asexual, which translates to me not having a problem including sex in stories when it’s needed but it will never be my primary reason for writing a story because I don’t find it to be interesting. I’m also a lesbian, so most of my stories end up having a LGBTQIA aspect to them eventually, whether or not I go into it planning to do so.

I’m also a vegetarian and have been for almost two decades but that won’t really affect my writing, since it’s not like I’ll only write people who are herbivores. Although, let’s be honest. That would be pretty hilarious.

Cool story, bro. What now?

You should look around my site! The section I’m probably most proud of is Give and Take, where you’ll find a page highlighting the beauty in the world like my favorite charities and beautiful/inspirational videos and quotes. I also have a lot of my photography there, available under creative commons license for your use if you want, and the shop if you want to buy ICoS merch or Evenfall paperbacks.

You’ll find fun stuff in the menu section named (*gasp!*) fun. I know. I’m blowing your mind with that unconventional naming system. That section is where I throw a lot of things together, like music, art and videos. There’s an ICoS playlist there now but I also hope to start making playlists for songs that inspire me for different stories, or that I listen to while writing. Feel free to give me suggestions any time! That’s what it’s there for!

The writing section has a portfolio that lets you filter my stories based on what you want to read, plus pictures of old poetry that displays my awful handwriting (if you couldn’t already tell from the header). Seriously, go play with the portfolio. It’s so much fun! Give it a second to load if you don’t see it immediately.

Incidentally, I love questions. No, really. I am endlessly asking questions, myself, and am fascinated by new knowledge. So it will never bother me if you want to contact me (in fact, I’d love it if you did!) and no question you ask will offend me if you’re just being honest and not malicious. If I can answer it, I will. If I can’t, I will let you know why. Don’t worry about poor grammar if English isn’t your first language and you’re self-conscious. I will understand what you ask and if I don’t, I’ll ask you for clarification 🙂

Fair warning: my answers might get long because when I’m excited or intrigued about a topic, I tend to go into it a lot. Is this a shocker to you, considering the redonk length of this about page? I sure hope not.

Incidentally, if your thirst for information hasn’t been quenched by this about page, you can find a bit more about me in my Smashwords about/interview section.

Contact! Is the secret!

..is the 80’s reference no one will get..

Find me all over the interwebz at the options below:

Also, you can find excerpts from stories and other assorted sundries under the writing tab above. And if you have any ideas for other fun, interactive/informative/(insert description here) things for me to add to my site, don’t hesitate to let me know! I’d be happy to take it into consideration. I can’t promise I will do it for sure, but I can promise I will read what you suggest and genuinely think about it.

I mean, I started writing because as a reader I didn’t find the things I wanted to read. So I don’t see why, as a writer, I wouldn’t try to do the same for you with finding things you want to see on my author site.

You can always contact me on the contact page, too.

bee tee dubs, why no face?

It occurs to me that you may wonder why you don’t see my face chilling out anywhere, staring back at you soullessly with my pixellated eyes. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which being because I’m a vampire who doesn’t appear on camera.

It’s okay. As I said before, I’m vegetarian. I only drink the blood of broccoli and, when I’m feeling adventurous, oranges.

You’re (probably) safe.

Oh, and if you wondered, unless otherwise noted I drew all the terrible pictures and took all the photographs you see dotted around on this site. Like Mr. Orange over there, wishing he’d never seen this text box.