I grew up in places most people try to forget. But somehow, through stories, I found a way not just to survive, but to speak — and eventually, to write my way out.

Where I Come From

I was raised in Missouri, in a life shaped more by struggle than stability. My mother, Patricia Rae, battled through eight brain surgeries and still managed to pull us from homelessness into a Section 8 apartment, placing us in a school district where dreams were at least within earshot — if still far away. We didn’t have much, but we had grit. We had late-night talks by candlelight when the power was out. We had handwritten notes in lunch bags, even when the lunch was just a slice of bread and hope.

That kind of upbringing doesn’t leave you. It makes you watch everything — and everyone — more closely. It makes you listen with your eyes. And it teaches you that stories aren’t just for passing the time. They’re survival tools.

Why I Write

I started writing before I ever called it writing. At first, it was just scribbled thoughts in a notebook when life felt too loud. Then it became a way to make sense of what I saw: the fear in my mother’s face when bills came in, the quiet victories that no one else celebrated, the ache of trying to do something different with your life when the world tells you it’s not meant for you.

Writing became my way out — not of the place, but of the mindset that said, this is all you’ll ever be. Every failure I lived through, every lesson I learned from my mother, every moment I doubted myself — I carried those into my stories.

Right On Time was born from that journey. So was The Valley of the Two Winds. And so were the children’s books — because even kids growing up in chaos deserve stories that give them wonder, language, and hope.

What I Believe

I believe we’re shaped by what we endure — but we are not defined by it. I believe every person carries a story that deserves to be heard, especially the ones who’ve been silenced by poverty, trauma, or shame.

I don’t write to impress. I write to connect. To challenge. To comfort. My stories ask questions: What really matters in a life? What does success look like when no one handed you the map? Is it ever too late to begin again?

The answer, for me, has always been: no. We’re not behind. We’re not broken. We’re just arriving — and we’re right on time.