Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} Growing up with a father who was a closet reader, some macho image that allowed him to only read in secret. After I caught him reading my book, The Lady of the Camellias, he shared his love of books with me and introduced me to many great books. Before I started writing this series, I had played with the idea of writing a fantasy story peppered with historical facts. The history of the Huns always fascinated me—they were my ancestors—although I decided that it was a stupid idea after I started reading about how to write a fiction book. I had no idea how to create a good story line or form characters and make up a plot, and I wasn’t a literary genius. But, the idea didn’t leave me alone, and I kept adding events and dialogues in my head to Ilona’s story. Not knowing how to do something properly had never prevented me from accepting a good challenge before, so I sat down at the computer and began writing. I've never been good at following rules or formulas; therefore, I discarded the instructions and made up my own rules. I began writing Ilona's story as a diary, for my own enjoyment, jotting down the ideas that swirled in my head was far better than being haunted by them. For months I kept writing and soon realized that I never had so much fun doing anything in my life before. Somehow the characters came to life on their own, and they developed under my furiously typing fingers. Pretty soon I realized that I written about four hundred pages. 

My urban fantasy story was semifinalist in the Best Indie books of 2012 award contest