John sprawled out farthest away from the fire, laid flat on his back like he’d fallen down drunk. His arm that were missing a hand were tucked in tight, like he were trying to protect the thing that had been taken from him so long ago. I could see Much’s head curled over his knees, his body in a ball nearest to the fire. We slept in the warming room of the monastery, and with plenty of blankets and a well-tended fire, a body never got too cold.

I watched the cold black creep over the orange. I wrote them, prepped them, submitted them, and kept on working, because as far as I can tell, the actual writing is the only thing that i can control, and it’s the part that really makes me happy.The fire breathed, the dying embers flaring and cooling in a hot pulse. It was always novels for me–the first time I seriously wrote short stories was at the end of my college career, to get into my graduate program, and it felt awkward and weird.īut I got in to grad school, wrote like a fiend, and when I graduated I spent three miserable years as a freelance writer while working on several different novels. All through high school I was writing in a notebook instead of taking class notes (explaining the less than perfect GPA). ACK you have no idea how bad those novels looked.

I wrote all through middle school and starting submitting novels (I hope I still have those very kind, gentle rejection letters somewhere) when I was thirteen. In third grade I got detention for ripping bark off a tree.įrom there, it was a long road. Which was also the first and last time for that. Not kidding–some of my earliest memories revolve around books and writing, like reading in front of the class, reading with my mother, and writing a story in first grade that was so funny (it dealt with a gorilla finding someone naked in the shower, and was, sadly, the culmination of my humor writing skills) it got me kicked out of class. I’ve been madly in love with writing since I was in kindergarten. Andrews University in Scotland and a Masters in Education from Harvard University. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from St.

She serves as an engagement manager for the Girl Scouts of Eastern MA and on the board for the non-profit Boston GLOW, creating opportunities to encourage and engage teen girls in the Greater Boston area. GAUGHEN is the author of the Scarlet Trilogy (Scarlet, Lady Thief and Lion Heart) and the Elementae series (REIGN THE EARTH, IMPRISON THE SKY).

Scarlet book ac gaughen