Author of  The Summoned Series

Why did you decide to do a rewrite of the original Summoned? 
*sigh* This is such a saga! When I originally published Summoned, (I’ll be honest), I had no idea what I
was doing. I had a story that I felt was worth telling, so I did tons of research into how to publish a book.
With that being said, I found it tough to navigate: how to find the right editor, how to determine what
feedback to accept or reject, who should be beta readers for the book. Ultimately, I did my best, but I
always knew Summoned could be more. 
Flash forward to 2021, after we’d purchased Miller Tree Inn. That’s when I met Jamie Ryu, and shortly
after, I brought her into the Summoned world as my editor for Crossed. She approached me about doing
the rewrite (a bit nervous, might I add), and I absolutely jumped at her offer. I’d learned enough by that
point to recognize that she and I could take Summoned to the next level if we worked together. And that’s
just what we did.

Why did you decide to self-publish your book series? 
When I first began this publishing journey, I did query a few literary agents. The feedback was
consistently “good writing, but not for me”. As I dug deeper, I came to understand that I had written a
nontraditional book and was beginning a nontraditional series. If I wanted to be picked up by a literary
agent, and eventually (hopefully) a publisher, I would have had to change a number of things about the
story structure, etc. Ultimately, after a lot of thought and debate, I decided I wanted to remain true to my
story and my characters. I worked with my talented editor on the rewrite to help my story reach its fullest
potential without compromising on what makes it unique.

How are you bringing the characters of Summoned to life? 
Samantha and I have partnered with other creatives through Firecracker Entertainment to bring
characters and scenes from Summoned to life on through multimedia formats. By starting with a small
and curated cast, we have been able to realize countless projects through photography, cinematography,
audio projects, and more. It’s been a dream for me to watch my characters lift off the page and truly come
to life.

What exactly is Firecracker Entertainment, and what is your role with the company? 
Firecracker Entertainment is a company I founded alongside one of my closest friends and collaborators,
Samantha Rose Baldwin. After casting her as the face of my main character, Hadley Weston, in the
Summoned Series, Samantha and I began conceptualizing what bringing Summoned to life on screen
might look like. We worked together on book trailers, photoshoots, audio projects, and more. As we did
this, our team expanded, and we welcomed other talented actors, photographers, musicians, and more
as collaborators into this space. We made the decision together to create a safe space for artists to
explore their crafts without being stifled or inhibited by industry standards, and what this safe space
turned into was Firecracker Entertainment.

What is your writing routine, and where do you write? 
It depends! Day to day, I usually write after breakfast service at the inn to catch my brain while it’s still
spry, but I also love to write at night. I can’t do this as much as I’d like since I cook breakfast almost every
single morning at the inn, but when I am able to write from 9pm-2am, that is when I’m most inspired and
most focused. The rest of my world is slowing down or falling to sleep, the inn grows quieter, and it’s just
the magic time for me. I most often write in my office, but sometimes I’ll write at the inn, outside (when it’s bearable), or in my living room. We don’t have many places in Forks I can go to for a change of scenery outside of our property, but when we’re traveling, I always feel inspired and love to write, especially when we’re in
Scotland!

Do you outline/do you know where your story is going? 
Absolutely. When I wrote Summoned, I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t even really know if I was
going to write a book or where my story was going. But with the second and third books, that changed.
The process of the third book has been lovely because I worked on an outline, submitted it to my editor,
and then we had our first editorial meeting to discuss the outline prior to me diving in too deeply into my
first draft. It works well to give me a purpose as I begin drafting and to plant seeds earlier in the process. It’s also
helped focus my mind, which is always a battle. And just because you have an outline doesn’t mean
everything in it always works, or that you don’t have room for spontaneity. I start with a loose outline of
what I feel will be HAVE TO HAVE scenes and add more scenes as I draft.

Tell us about your involvement with Miller Tree Inn. 
The first time I stayed at Miller Tree Inn was in 2011 with my aunt and our friend. I fell in love with it
instantly and couldn’t wait to come back. I brought my husband, Trent, with me the next time, and we just
kept coming back over and over again. We moved to Seattle from Texas in 2013, and we began trading
work around the inn for room and board in the off season with the previous owners. I even wrote quite a
bit of Summoned at the inn in Carlisle’s Office! In 2020, when Bill and Susan decided to sell the inn, Trent
and I knew it just had to be ours. We approached them about it, and in April 2021, we became the sixth
owners of the historic and iconic Forks farmhouse. Now you’ll find me in the kitchen every morning
making breakfast for our guests.