I never planned on being an author. In fact, I am horrible at english (sorry to my editor). Growing up I never even read that much. I *maybe* read one or two books per year in my teens and twenties. Needless to say, the book world is very new to me. In fact, I finished writing the first draft of American Reality before I even knew what a book trope was (not even joking).

I know what you're probably thinking - "Wow, Mel, you're really selling yourself." But hear me out, because this is one of those stories that was always meant to be.

In college I spent five years getting my undergraduate and graduate degrees in art history. I was always so perplexed by the art world. When I took a class on the contemporary art market, I was left with more questions than answers. With beautiful art also comes politics and dirty money. It was all so fascinating and I was certain that uncovering the art world would make for a great movie.

On a night soon after, I dreamt about Gaia's story. It was only one or two scenes, but I woke up and wrote them down. The idea churned in my mind for awhile until I eventually wrote down the full plot in google docs.

Then I forgot about it for the better part of a decade. Until one random day I stumbled across the document and opened it up. As I was reading what I had written down years earlier, I was gasping at all the twist and turns, surprising myself with my own plot (lol). And then I just never closed that document. I continued to chip away at it in the evenings after my kids had gone to bed. Three months later, I had written a book. Like, what?!

I am so very proud of my debut novel and I'm grateful you are excited about it too.