I wanted to be a writer from the time I could hold a pencil.  As a child,  I had quite the imagination and developed a deep love for books.  I wrote song lyrics, plays and poetry in my early years and eventually branched out to short stories and novels as a teen.     My favorite authors growing up were Dean Koontz, Emily Bronte, Christopher Pike and Anne Rice.  They were a huge influence on me and my writing style.  The last two authors, of course, inspired and fueled my obsession with vampires that eventually led me to develop "Vampire Next Door" and publish it as my first novel.