Fiction

Fiction is where my love for writing began. Being able to create a world where I can control how the story flows is not only therapeutic for me, but it’s challenging and exhilarating. Investing in each character and establishing bonds, not only between the characters, but between reader and characters, creates a space to escape one’s own world and dive into another realm.

Novels

Beneath the Smiling Moon is a novel of rebirth which follows the main character, Izzie Burke, through her bouts with mental illness and excessive drinking. Izzie awakens on Black Friday after a night of blacking out on the bathroom floor of her apartment. The following day, she is visited by her best friend, Annie. Annie is aware of Izzie’s struggles and offers to help her, once again, get her life on track.

After Izzie seeks help, the two women experience an upswing in their careers, relationships, and life itself. Flashbacks chronicle the bond between the friends throughout their childhood and teenage years, and readers learn that the pair have been friends since second grade.

But when Annie is involved in a tragic accident, Izzie is left not knowing how to cope or what to do. This leads her to a new rock bottom. She must now decide if she is going to fight for her life or simply fade away into the shadows.

For my debut novel I wanted to write a contemporary piece about love and loss. I feel that most people can relate to these themes, so I wanted to create a story in which a flawed but relatable main character is at the center of it all.

I came up with “the big twist” for this novel about six months before I started writing it. Once I decided what kind of plot I would use for this project, I began to write little by little from November to December of 2021. By New Year’s Day, I had a complete first draft. A very rough draft. I edited it like crazy and shopped it around for a year. In March of 2023, I received an email from Atmosphere Press indicating that they liked my manuscript and wanted to work on it with me. I’ve been over the moon (no pun intended) throughout this entire process. Not only have I learned a lot about the world of publishing, but I’ve learned a lot about myself and what’s important to me as a writer.

Beneath the Smiling Moon hit shelves November 27, 2023! It can be found in paperback, hardcover, and ebook format at all major online retailers (Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, BooksAMillion.com, Bookshop.org, and more!). Please read, leave a review, and most of all, enjoy!