Welcome

As an aspiring writer, substitute teacher, part time farm worker, and full -time mom and wife, it would be safe to say Anya’s cup is full.

Her road to writing was restarted in 2013 when she and her family moved to her late grandmother’s farm in Ontario, Canada. Determined to both save money and live a more ‘down to earth’ life, Anya, then a stay-at-home-mom, jumped into the ‘rustic’ life with both feet. For her children however, the transition wasn’t as smooth.

In a nearly 200 year-old stone farm house with no air conditioning, no internet, and no cable TV, Anya and the kids spent their first (abnormally hot) summer out in the middle of nowhere watching a lot of DVD’s and trying to stay cool.

They watched the likes of Pirates of the Caribbean, The Three Musketeers, Disney Princess, Barbie Princess, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and just about anything they could find appealing at their local public library. Anya also became an avid reader of YA sci-fi and fantasy, enjoying Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo, Marie Lu, Kristin Cashore and more. She also fell in love with Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander.

By the end of the summer, Anya had become intrigued by the idea of writing the story she couldn’t quite find in the DVD’s and books. She drafted an elaborate outline of what would eventually become the basis of her novel series.

When one of her friends, a journalist-turned-novelist, encouraged her to participate in National Novel Writing Month that November (www.nanowrimo.org), she jumped at the opportunity to push herself to write that first horrific draft. She ‘won’ that year and participated in several years after. She has spent time off and on ever since, writing, editing, outlining spin- offs and sequels, and developing the world of Orotian with its characters, history, and geography.

In 2017, she took the plunge and returned to University, hoping to develop her understanding of English Literature as well as work towards her Bachelor of Education. Now a substitute teacher, Anya still finds time to work on her writing when she can.