Being chronically sick can be isolating. When I was first diagnosed, mostly between 2008-2009, it felt like I might never find love again. That's hard for a 20-year-old—or anyone! Romances—and the promise of the genre, Happily Ever After—got me through this period, and many other hard ones. Although, for me, the HEA seemed unlikely.

I wrote first the Vampire Inside Me, then Butterflies & Characters, on the 10 year anniversary of my hospitalization and diagnosis with SLE and PAH. It was cathartic and I felt it presented a much-needed voice in Romancelandia.

The Vampire Inside Me has a back story almost identical to my medical memory. The fiction and romance ended up high heat. Characters are bossy and yes sick people have S-E-X too! I listened to their voices. However, I remembered my years of teaching. I remembered seeing my chronically ill students' faces when I told them I had lupus. There is strength in knowing you are not alone. There is strength in seeing someone like you in literature and cinema. I couldn't forget them. Butterflies & Characters is a sweet, teenage or middle school appropriate, wishful romantic fiction. While I gave Ray experiences I had, I wish I'd been diagnosed when I had arthritis at 14. Her story is not mine, but I hope it is still enjoyable and relatable to audiences of all ages.

Please remember the presentation of the disease, symptoms, and long-term prognosis in autoimmune diseases can vary greatly. My story will very likely be different than yours, even with the same disease. But you are lovable. You may not be curable, but I hope you can find your equilibrium, as I have. Luckily, medicine, treatments, and long-term prospects are always improving.

I am Dyslexic.

I was told many, many times I was a bad writer, that I couldn’t write. I went to a special school to learn to read. I made it through high school with mainly A’s. I graduated college early cum laude before earning two Master’s degrees. It was a lot of work. Writing these books took a tremendous amount of editing, editing with editors, reading grammar books, and using read-a-loud editing functions. Believe in yourself. It was hard. It is hard. But I felt I had stories to tell—that I still have stories to tell. I will continue to work hard and appreciate the amazing work of the friends and editors that have helped make this possible. You don’t know what you are capable of doing until you try, and try again.