Toadychan

Author bio:

When I was a little kid I practically lived in the library, devouring Goosebumps and Choose Your Own Adventure novels. I sometimes saw my brother writing stories and so one day I decided I wanted to try that, too. Nothing remarkable came from my 9-year-old self's forays into writing (which included such classics as The Princess That Loved The Colour Mauve) and eventually I stopped, though I continued to read.

Even when I wrote my own childish stories and read things by my brother I never fully comprehended the fact that normal people, just like me, were responsible for the books that sat proudly on my shelves. I didn't realize that every book began life the same way that my stories did. I idolized these mystical, invisible gods hiding behind human names that gave me those worlds to visit. It was too magical an experience for me to ever have been created by a regular person. Even years later and after I started writing more seriously, I felt like the names on those books were special people that I could never be like.

As I got older I finally began to understand that anyone could write a book, but I didn't really believe it until 2009 when I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time. But even though I know that now and have even written books myself, I still carry that childhood awe and adoration for books and words and the people behind them. That worship was really just another form of the passion I still feel to this day for all forms of writing. I can't put it into words, and I've tried many times, but the way I feel about books fills me from my head to my toes and brings tears to my eyes. It completely overwhelms me. Books, writing, words are me.

Looking back, it's obvious to me now that I was always going to be a writer; I just didn't know it because my love and passion had me putting authors on pedestals I thought I could never reach. They still sit on those pedestals in my mind because I admire and love what they do, but now I know that I can join them and that has made my life infinitely brighter and more colourful.

I really want to say thank you to the Office of Letters and Light. All of you changed my life, and I know I'm not alone when I say this.

Chris Baty said my spirit animal is a Green Bell Frog. <3

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2012: House of Red
2011: ??? — Win
2011 August Camp: Moonfire — Win
2010: Circumstance — Win
2009: The Toad Prince — Win