I write about smart girls and geeky guys. Specifically, speculative and contemporary stories for kids and teens. Sometimes even adults. But I focus on kidlit, especially young adult novels, because I love exploring those pivotal moments in my characters’ lives when their worldview is being shaped and they are forming their own identities.
I’ve been writing stories since before I could actually, well, write. I dictated my first stories and poems to my mom, who typed them out for me when I was really young.
Now I’m a stay-at-home mom, helping my own young child learn how to weave a tale. (One of his favorite games is to “tell stories” and we make up little stories to tell each other. He doesn’t know it, but I’ve already been working on the rule of three and plot structure with him. ?
When I’m not writing or spending time with my family, I like to take pretty pictures of books (#bookstagram), decorate my home, travel, and watch movies.
I’m a sucker for romantic comedies, speculative fiction, and thrillers. I collect Pride and Prejudice retellings in book and film format. And I’m not too proud to admit that I really enjoy tropes like enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, and portals to other worlds. (I blame The Chronicles of Narnia for that! Sometimes I still check the backs of wardrobes. Just in case.)
And, in the ultimate crossover in my collection, there’s always the magical portal into Regency England contemporary/historical enemies-to-lovers Pride & Prejudice retelling, Lost in Austen. 😉
Violence against children, explicit sexuality, teen pregnancy (I’ve struggled with infertility for years, so this is just too hard for me personally to read).
I’m also probably not the best reader for most paranormal or horror, but those aren’t hard no’s. It all depends on the content and the project. I just don’t read many werewolf/ghost/vampire/angel/etc. stories so I’m less familiar with the genre. And I’m prone to nightmares (in regards to horror).
On an island built by pharmatech giant ECHELON CORPORATION, MINA BUXLEY contributes to a group science fair project that enhances the island’s floating solar panel lilies. Her streamlined data analysis impresses an executive at Echelon, who offers her an internship that Mina eagerly accepts. She can’t pass up the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Then a friend at her boarding school dies of an apparent overdose. When Mina discovers he was part of an Echelon clinical trial for a mental stimulant meant to enhance focus, she risks losing her internship, and a guaranteed recommendation to MIT, by accessing Echelon’s files from the inside. She enlists the rest of their friends—party girl Jax, deejay Ravi, rule-keeper Lily, and (distractingly cute) hacker Cole—to help her hunt down the truth behind his death before more students are hurt.
On the other side of the curtain, a thousand people were waiting.
Mina’s fingers shook as she buttoned her navy school blazer. She took a deep breath and adjusted the event badge that hung from a string around her neck, so that Mina Buxley, Founder’s Academy, Echelon Island, faced out and lay flat. Her chipped turquoise fingernail polish revealed dark crescents of soil from the greenhouse stuck in the bed of her nails. Too late to do anything about that.
To her left, Alexander flashed his thousand-watt smile—the one that had come out the day he convinced her joining his group project for Echelon Corporation’s International Science Fair was a good idea.
To her right, their third teammate stared out toward the stage. Cole’s dark hair, grey eyes, and determined look set a mood in direct contrast to Alexander’s blond hair and blue eyes. They were just like the ocean that surrounded their city, those two: calm and sparkling, versus dark and stormy.
“I modified a sorting algorithm to track changes in ocean current and wind patterns,” Mina recited under her breath. “I modified a sorting algorithm to track changes …”
Applause thundered. They were up next.
“I can’t believe I let you guys talk me into this,” Mina muttered.
Alexander smirked and mimed, who, me? He put his hand on her shoulder. “I owe you one, Buxley.”
She had known this moment would come, she’d just conveniently ignored it when she’d agreed to help Alexander make the calculations for his research.
I have written contemporaries, fantasy, and light science fiction manuscripts. I mostly plan to stay within those genres, but also have a few inspirational/Christian projects in the planning stages. However, most of my work is not specifically religious in nature.
I’d love to connect with picture book writers because that’s how I started writing back when I did a preschool storytime for a public library and fell in love with kidlit, and now that I have a preschooler, my daily life is back again in the picture book world. However, I most recently have been focusing on young adult novels, so I’d still consider myself a beginning picture book writer.
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