How much of myself is in my writing?

I get asked this occasionally. The answer: some.

Every character I write has some little piece of me. Alayna, the heroine from “Air of Darkenss,” has a lot of my younger self in her. She makes many of her choices based on instinct. She has a hard time thinking outside her preconceived notions. She’s far too trusting.

For Jen, the heroine from “Inside the Fire,” I gave her some some experiences that were similar to painful episodes of my own (but hers were turned up to 11). In some ways, Jen is what I could have become, emotionally speaking, if I didn’t have friends and family around to support me through a difficult time.

Other characters have very small pieces of me. For example, Alex, the hero in “Air of Darkness,” suffers from panic attacks. So do I. I know exactly how they feel. When it came time to write them into the book, I think I did a good job of capturing how it feels for the reader.

As for the plots of the books, I write paranormal and urban fantasy. All that comes from a very active imagination. Other bits come from a lot of research. A lot comes from my favorite folklore texts. I swear, I’ve never summoned La Llorona on the banks of Lady Bird Lake in real life.