I've been writing since I was in middle school. I remember having as many as fifteen file folders with different "story ideas" in them. I owe it to a couple of good friends who gave me the courage to start writing down my ideas rather than letting them just bounce around in my head. My first book, The Butterfly Chronicles: Onset of Chaos started off as a bit of a drabble rather than the series it became.  I never seriously thought about getting published until I was in college.  I let some friends read a couple of chapters and they convinced me to "go for it". And so, here I am.