Ever since I was a little girl I have loved traveling to new places. I believe traveling and living in different parts of the world has helped shape me and my writing and impacted the way I see the world. Family outings and vacations were always a source of inspiration for me. Even at school, my writing projects would often be about a new adventure or a new place I had visited. It’s no wonder geography was my favorite subject. Whether it was a road trip across the country or a day trip to the lake, I would always come home with fresh ideas for a new story or setting for a story. Even a field trip to see a ballet would prompt me to write a story about a ballet dancer. Fresh out of high school, I wanted to become an air hostess, but I stopped growing at seventeen, and my being vertically challenged pretty much ruled that out.

When I say ‘travel’, I don’t mean flying to exotic vacation resorts. Traveling can be expensive, but as a child I was blessed to have parents who loved having fun the cheap and simple way – road trips, picnics in the countryside, visiting friends in a different region of the country and the occasional splurge on a beach vacation with affordable efficiency accommodations. Yes, our family wasn’t averse to sacrificing a few luxuries in the name of fun.