Growing up as a young child, I was in a family that moved around a good bit. Books kept me company, and I started writing stories to entertain myself on long trips. We finally settled in the Southeast, but my writing habit never left me. I just recently developed the nerve to publish, and to actually call myself a writer! (I still have a day job, thought). My influences have been Stephen King, James Patterson, Laurie Notaro, Phillip K. Dick, and more recently, Allie Condie and Veronica Roth. Let's not forget classic sci-fi cinema such as Soylent Green, The Planet of the Apes, and Making Mr. Right.