My first "published" book was at the age of six. For a first grade spelling project, I wrote a short story about a girl named Alexandra and her cat, Shadow, who got lost in a rather extensive garden. I took over half of the school's multi-purpose room to edit and organize my story, took it home, typed it up in a program called The Amazing Writing Machine, drew some artwork, printed it out on hot pink paper, stuffed it into plastic sleeves, bound it together with multi-colored yarn, and presented it to my teacher/principal. It's still in the school's library and is one of only two copies ever printed. Today, I am a college student, majoring in what else but English, with a concentration in Creative Writing. I am a geek, an obsessive reader, a New Yorker by birth, a Virginian by the infinite wisdom of the US Navy. I am a slightly overweight individual who likes wolves, Broadway musicals, and bizarre mixes of country and oldies music. I do my best to be honest, to be fair, to help where I am needed, to be cheerful, to be friendly and considerate, to be a sister to those around me, to respect authority, to use resources wisely, to protect and improve the world around me, and to show respect for myself and others through my words and actions. I am a singer, a flautist, a writer, a United Methodist, and a child of God. Laugh, Kookaburra, Laugh, my first official publication, draws on many of my experiences from college and life in general. The story follows the college careers of ten friends at Blue Ridge University, a fictional institution set in Central Virginia, who come to be known as the Kookaburra Clan.   It was written for the 2008 National Novel Writer's Month, or NaNoWriMo, an annual competition that challenges writers each November to write 50,000 words of a novel. This was my third competition and my first win.