An Introductory Post
After posting my first few articles, I thought I’d introduce myself to readers and followers.
First off, thank you for reading and following so far. I am thrilled to have place to share my true crime content.
I am a 30-something Canadian gal who loves gardening, witchcraft, and reading. I am a mystery author, and of course, I have a strange fascination with serial killers and their psychology. My four cats let me live in this house permitting the bills keep getting paid and they can’t ever see the bottom of their food dishes.
My quiet single and childfree life allows me to indulge in my solitude to write, make crafts, garden, or read. Outside of writing, I enjoy sewing, cross-stitching, and painting garden ornaments. Food is another love of mine, be it cooking or baking.
My true crime passion began when I was a id. My mother allowed me at way too young of an age to sit with her while she watched “Law and Order” and other crime dramas, along with “American Justice”, “Cold Case Files”, “COPS”, and “America’s Most Wanted”. Her collection of Ann Rule books became the stuff I devoured in reading. Rule was Mom’s favourite author. She said when Rule died, she felt like she lost a best friend. Such is the impact an author can have with their work.
Writing saved my life. As a kid, I was sexually abused by my mother’s ex and watched in horror for a decade as he terrorized her, too. Through that time, I wrote several novels, mostly fantasy, and tons of poetry, and journalled obsessively — only to lose it all when my abuser burned the house down in 2004. I had to start all over, and almost chose to not live instead. Slowly, I returned to poetry and fiction, though I was in college by the time I began to journal again, something I still do.
Over the years, I’ve suffered from Complex-PTSD, severe chronic depression, and anxiety. It drove me to a couple of suicide attempts. In 2017, I ended my marriage while still processing my trauma. Once more, I found myself ready to end things. I couldn’t bring myself to write any project I had ongoing at the time and didn’t see any reason to go on. I sort of just floated at the ocean’s bottom for a year or two, in a state of numbness. The sort of darkness where I didn’t even notice the seasons changing, or feel the days go by.
In January 2019, I began my fictional mystery series, “Beyond Dark”, after a decision to switch genres and give writing one more try. Somewhere in creating the broody, traumatized Alyssa and her charismatic rookie partner, Thayer, I began clambering out of the pitch-black hole in which I’d been waiting to wither away.
Just as I had done in 2004, I started all over. Again.
Learning about criminal psychology over the years also gave me a chance to understand the cycles of abuse and what happened to my family and I. To realize we’d been terrorized by a narcissistic sociopath. Understanding minds like that, and in violent criminals in general, made it easier to understand why he did what he did, as unforgivable as it is. Through that, I began to learn how to unravel the trauma and not let it be the entirety of who I am.
So, I do my best to approach my true crime writing with balance and respect to both sides, especially the victims and their families. I’ve been there. I’ve looked into the eyes of evil and had to understand him before I could understand myself and who I wanted to be, knowing it wasn’t the victim he wanted to keep me as. In my bios over the years, I’ve put “abuse survivor” first in the list. After my last stay at rock bottom, I decided that it wouldn’t ever be the first thing in my bio anymore. It’s part of who I am. Always will be. But it doesn’t define me.
Thanks for coming along on this writing journey with me. If you have ideas or cases for me to cover, let me know! My main focus will be female serial killers, as that’s the theme in “Beyond Dark”, but there will be different aspects thrown in once in a while.
If you’re interested in my personal blog or my works of fiction, please visit my website.
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