When I was in the 5th grade I won my first writing contest. It was a letter to Santa telling him why I should be Santa’s Head Helper. I will always remember the moment when Mrs. Young, my teacher, handed me my over sized Candy Cane pencil and Christmas Mug because someone had connected with what I had written. It wasn’t so much that I had won but that someone had understood me. This is the reason I write. To connect, to be understood, and to understand myself. I wish I could say that I started writing short stories and that I was published by the time I was 14. I wish. Life had other plans for me.
My journey has been an interesting one. I stopped going to school in the 8th grade and went into Foster Care. From there I was shuttled around for a while until I ended up on the streets. Many years later, on a lonely night, in a far away camp ground lit by a falling star, I made a wish that would change my life’s direction…forever.
Fast forward to the present and you find me a Mother, a Writer, a make-do specialist, a sauxe maker, monster slayer, and the one who always remembers to turn the lights off.
I have finished the first book in my Senses Trilogy and I am currently editing is so that I can pander it to the agent that is meant to be mine. My heroine is also on a journey. One that takes her into the mountains searching for a home. It is part of a trilogy. I began work on book two a month ago.
In the mean time, please enjoy the stories I post. Some true. Some fiction. Sometimes, a little of both.
Shanyn Avila 