I was the sixth born in a family of doctors, teachers, and people who have personalities bigger than their stomachs. As the smallest and quietest one, I decided that my skill of listening and observing would be my best bet to learn about people.

The beauty of being the listener is that you come across thousands of little stories in your lifetime – the teacher who lost her husband to cancer, a mother who discovers her real father, or a father revealing his first love. All these tales welled inside of me until I couldn’t help but borrow them in my own fiction.

Through the years, my mastery of silence took on the form of defiance. I started to break out of the perfect mold I was once so comfortable in and chose to actively learn about what it means to be a person. People, as I would soon come to learn, are complicated and fickle creatures trying to find the closest comfort to God. They rush over their words and become tongue-tied over egregious dates and the color of the sweater they wore on their first date. However, when I sat down with the only other person I knew to lavish in mute glory, my father, I was graced with perspective.

Aged from his countless adventures as a doctor who wandered in and out of the East Coast and South, my father finally said the golden words that freed me from my servitude: “Just write what your spirit tells you. Everything else falls into place.”

Writing from the spirit meant accepting that my inner voice was one worth hearing. It also meant that when I started to grow as a writer, I could say the same to anyone who was unsure of their own fractured narrative. As a ghostwriter, it’s been my pleasure to work closely with clients and guide them to unveiling their stories. Every experience has a unique plot, and it’s a joy to assist in writing them.