I thought I’d use my first post as a way to introduce myself to those of you who might be stopping by. I’m an aspiring paranormal romance writer. This is my story so far:
I’ve loved storytelling most of my life. I spent a lot of my younger years roaming the forests around my family home, where I made up my own fantasy worlds. In middle school and high school, I did a bit of everything. My friends and I wrote, directed, starred in, and edited our own full-length feature film. I wrote short stories, poetry, articles for the school newspaper, skits for our student television channel, and even penned a novel.
When I arrived at my undergraduate college, I went straight to the school’s newspaper office. I worked there my entire college career. During undergraduate, I focused mostly on poetry and drifted away from writing fiction. The creative writing department at my school shied away from genre writing. When it came time for graduate school, I chose an MFA program that specialized in children’s literature. I had so many stories in my head that I wanted to get them down on paper. Those worlds I created as a child had grown, and I was ready to write fantasy novels, one of my first loves in life.
I focused on writing YA fantasy novels, often times with a strong undercurrent of romance. After graduate school, life sort of kicked into overdrive. I started working at a magazine, took on a part-time teaching gig, and, most of all, tried to balance my career as a novelist with everything else. I knew it wasn’t something I could give up, so I’ve made writing my stories a North Star in my life. I started working on a new novel, a paranormal romance novel. I love the genre, both reading paranormal romance novels and writing them. So now I’m telling the stories of myth, magic, and faeries that call to me throughout each day and hope to meet others who share this enthusiasm!
So that’s my story. I plan on writing about my experiences in writing and interweaving those with my love of nature and magic, which play important roles in both my life and my writing. I’m excited for the journey and to meet others who write or read paranormal romance novels.
Denise Young (a.k.a. Janelle Madigan) 
Welcome. I recently started a journal as well and promise you… it is SO addicting and full of awesome-writer-type friends. 🙂 For me, reading and writing YA fantasy/romance is another addiction, but a super satisfying one.
Looking forward to hearing more about you and your writing.
~P~
P.S. If you don’t mind me asking, where did you do your MFA? (Looking at Grad Schools now…) 🙂
Yes, it really is quite addictive, but really helpful too. 🙂
I earned my MFA at Hollins University. They have a summer MFA program in children’s literature in addition to a traditional full-year MFA in creative writing. I absolutely loved the children’s literature program and would recommend it to anyone interested in the field. I met great people, learned to write, and did scholarly study as well as writing. It’s a wonderful and unique program for both writers and scholars. The atmosphere is just amazing; it’s like a sanctuary for people who love children’s lit.
Here’s the website if you’re interested: http://www.hollins.edu/grad/childlit/childlit.htm.