About Me.
Like many writers, my journey has been a long one. I discovered a love for writing in the first grade when my teacher, Mrs. Walden, asked our class to write about our Thanksgiving. I felt my Thanksgiving was too mundane, so I might have embellished the story just a tad.
Fast forward seven years later, and I was perusing the mall bookstore when I stumbled upon the Harlequin Romance section. I had ended my Judy Blume phase a few years before and was looking for something to capture my blossoming thirteen-year-old heart. That book was Ring in a Teacup by British author Betty Neels. Her stories were sweet and romantic, and thus began my love of romance novels.
Fast forward again, but this time by several decades (grimace), to when I discovered Korean dramas, or K-dramas, as they are called. I was captivated by the heart-fluttering storylines that contained some of the most tender and romantic lines ever uttered in any language. I have never laughed so much or cried so hard as when watching K-dramas. They suit my romantic style.
Fun fact: In 2019 I visited South Korea and fell in love with the country.
“But how could you live and not have a story to tell?”
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
I’ve often heard that writers write what they know, and that’s certainly true in my case. Everything Looks Different is my debut novel, and I’ve incorporated the things I know and love into it. The story is a modern-day East meets West tale; it contains the same tropes commonly found in a Korean drama, including some fun and exciting aspects of Korean culture, but it is set in my beloved Texas. The protagonists are older and from culturally diverse backgrounds than those featured in your average romance novel. And to keep things fun, it contains a lively supporting cast of well-meaning but interfering family members, 80’s nostalgia and music, and food, always plenty of food.
I am an attorney and the co-founder of The Association of Women and Minority Contractors of Texas, a 501(c)(3) non-profit association. I’m a proud cat-mom and a third-generation native of Austin, Texas. I come from a large and loud Mexican American family where everyone is in each other’s business, and food plays a prominent role in our gatherings. Think My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and you’ll get the idea.