Empowering Steampunk Fiction with Extraordinarily Adventurous Leading Ladies

                Developing a career does not always come easy for writers and artists, but I think it is truly amazing when you find the genre you’re passionate about. For me, that became steampunk. Looking back at the start of my writing journey, I realize how much I’ve grown since 2014.

                 At the time, I took a two-semester break from Psychology to take a couple of English classes. Breaking up the busy cycle of science-based coursework was something I needed to do with my my long working hours in the Navy at the time, so I decided to take it easy on myself for a short while. That’s when I came to the realization that there was something else I suddenly enjoyed doing.

                 I realized I could put my feet in multiple characters' shoes at the same time and I could even travel to any place or point in time I wanted. World-building became my sandbox, where I played for hours and hours without getting bored. My professor at the time assigned a final project to develop a short story. We workshopped our stories throughout the semester in small groups of about four students, until we turned in a completed nine to thirteen-page story.

                 By the end of the semester, I had a story spanning twenty-six pages and it still was not complete. Sure, it had a beginning, a middle, and an end, but the the plot holes were notorious. The next semester, I took a second class with the same professor to which I wrote several short backstories of other characters in the steampunk world I’d created, as long as they fit within the parameters of his assignments—all having a beginning, middle, and an end. 
                 

                 After taking these two college courses, I was left with a hefty word count of thirty-five thousand words. That's nearly a novella! I even had dreams of my characters up to this point and new scenes populated my thoughts almost daily. By that point, I was unstoppable. I had to keep writing. It never even occurred to me before that moment that I could write fiction. I always hated writing academic papers and was never fond of my writing skills. I received decent grades, but it took me forever to get even the shortest papers written. 

                 Fast forward to 2017—I changed my major from Psychology to English with an emphasis in creative writing. Go figure! I even created a writers group called the Ventura County Writers Salon with a current membership of over eighty people in the community. I've since published several poems, a couple short stories, and even a stage play. I'm not only the founder of VCWS, but I am the primary event coordinator and editor-in-chief for the annual anthology. I never expected to come this far in my writing career, but I am excited to see how much further it takes me.