Meet Anna
I’m a young author with an overactive imagination and an obsessive love for all things bookish. I grew up wrestling legs and feet that never quite listened due to my cerebral palsy diagnosis. Though my feet stubbornly refuse my dream of running, books make the most splendid travel portals. New worlds and new friends all at my fingertips without having to lift my opinionated feet. I was hooked as soon as those strange squiggles called ‘words’ showed me their secrets.
That love for stories only grew. And grew. Now, I write young adult fantasy stories about sidelined characters with physical limitations who still dare to dream, rise above their fears, and find their strength while pursuing their goals. I love stories so much that I even founded Story Magicians Mentoring, a virtual writing coaching service created for my fellow young writers, while attending the Author Conservatory. When not working on my own stories or helping my fabulous students with theirs, I’m probably cheating gravity in the family pool, jamming to my favorite movie soundtracks while play-acting (guess what?) stories, or taking my daily ride on the Nap Train.
I make my home in eastern Missouri with my wonderful parents and our beloved 10-year-old Golden Retriever, Rocky, who’s convinced he’s a human.
It began in Ancient Egypt
“Maybe you could give him a physical disability of some kind.”
Mom’s simple suggestion shocked and thrilled me. I’d always dreamed of sharing my disability journey through my writing to encourage others like me, yet it had never occurred to me to do it this way — through the fictional characters I loved.
The dream seemed unreachable, only a “someday”. Because I envisioned it as an autobiographical story of my struggles and triumphs across the recovery journey following a particularly hard surgery. My journey of fear to faith. Faith to trust God and take that first shaky step and walk alone again with a body I no longer understood even though it terrified me.
Except God had a different plan.
Because Akeeva, the little boy prince in my first two novels (historical fiction stories set in Ancient Egypt) never officially received a disability. Even the characters I wrote next didn’t get disabilities. (No, I did something more drastic than that. Like completely flipping genres to YA fantasy. Because a three-way fairy tale retelling – that was entirely too big a bite for my fledgling author mind to chew — invaded my head and wouldn’t let go until I wrote it.)
But then God sent me a mermaid with a glitching tail. She invaded my mind when I joined the Author Conservatory and demanded her story be written.
It was while working on the mermaid’s story that the connections, the vision, finally clicked. Because I was the mermaid.
Through that mermaid, God helped me realize that I can still share my experiences with a disability to encourage others. Oh, not through a direct autobiography like I once thought, but in a more fun and playful way — through vibrant fantasy characters. A way that God knew was more me.
Because of God’s grace in my life, I can use my words, my stories, to encourage and inspire. Stories of life and color and brightness.
Fantasy stories of courage, whimsy, and hope for the sidelined and fearful. Because I believe there’s nothing better or more fulfilling than sharing hope and shining the light.
Because the God I write for and serve every day is the same God who makes even disabilities beautiful.
My Amazing Family
Fun Fact Time
I love indoor rock climbing — even though my stamina is atrocious, at least compared to what I’d like it to be.
Mountains and trees are my happy place, and any new vacation spot with them is a near-instant favorite.
A homemade version of a London Fog (Earl Grey tea, unsweetened almond milk, and maple syrup) and fun, munchie snacks are a must-have for my best writing time.
Though I have never broken a bone, I had 10 surgeries by age 18, four of which were brain surgeries (not to mention a spinal cord surgery to boot).
Bookmarks have no place on my bookshelves. That’s what page numbers and a good memory are for.
Chocoffee (hot chocolate with coffee) or a good mocha that’s plenty sweet is generally the only way I’ll drink coffee — even though I could happily inhale its scent all day.
I was an accomplished linguist when I was little — if happy babble-singing can be called a language. My siblings jokingly named it “Anna-ese”.
I hate talking on the phone, although video calls are just fine.
The whole family has playful American Indian names, and mine is Babbling Brook because I like to talk so much.
I may or may not be obsessed with dark chocolate and ice cream.
My favorite family vacation tradition is trying to find the best family-owned hand-dipped ice cream shops at each place we visit.
I have never watched the Lord of the Rings or Hobbit movies, though I dearly love the books and movie soundtracks.
Sleep is the time when I write fanfiction with the book characters I love — through dreams I “write”.
I learned how to whistle by sucking a breath in before I figured out how to do it blowing out.
I dreamed of being a dolphin trainer at SeaWorld when I was little.
I spend hours listening to music (especially movie soundtracks and other epic instrumentals), but I have never been good at playing an instrument myself.
When I was little, I always read books out loud — no matter where I was.
Roasted cabbage is one of my all-time favorite foods.
I once wanted to be a CFO — until I stumbled into the bewildering labyrinth called high school algebra. Although I did get the (drastically simplified) role of one as part of an extracurricular program with my homeschool. Twice.
I often wonder what it would be like to be a mermaid or dolphin. . . Absolutely not why a couple of my fantasy stories are set under the sea.
I once wrote 22 nature-themed poems over a single weekend family camping trip.
I like to eat S’mores with the parts separate (graham cracker first, then marshmallow, and finishing with as much chocolate as I’m allowed).
My writing coaching business was directly inspired by the amazing year and a half I spent working with my dear friend and writing mentor, Bethany J. Lincks, on my Ancient Egypt stories.
Join Me for the Journey!
Everyone has fears and insecurities that hold them back. While mine might look more physical than yours, I would love to invite you on this journey towards hope and light. Together we can fight the darkness and fear with stories of whimsy and courage. You’ll also get a list of some of my favorite fantasy reads with courageous handicapped main characters.
