LK Gardner-Griffie (Young Adult Author)

Born in Seattle, WA and raised & living in Southern California, I am definitely a west coast girl. I started reading when I was 2 years old, so I don't remember learning how, just that books have always been a part of my life. I've always enjoyed reading and as far back as I can remember have added things to the story lines, kind of like a game I played with myself. Louisa May Alcott's series of Little Women, Little Men, and Jo's Boys provided the biggest influence in my life to encourage me to write. That, and the fact of the matter is, ideas grab me, disturb my sleep and won't leave me alone until they have been unleashed from my mind. For me that part is like the infatuation part of a relationship. Everything is new and shiny and you get to see your ideas take shape and grow, and take on a life of their own. Then comes the hard part - the actual grunge work of writing - the rewrites. And the problem with re-writes is knowing when to leave it alone - there's always something to tweak, a phrase, a nuance that could be improved. I started working on my first (never to see the light of day) novel at the age of 9 because there weren't enough books written for my age group, in my opinion. And so the saga goes. . .

Another author that has influenced me as a writer: Mark Twain. I literally read the cover off of Tom Sawyer and later Huckleberry Finn. As a teen, I became incensed by the movement to ban Huckleberry Finn from the approved reading list, and even worse, copies were being burned! Huckleberry Finn is an incredible example of the reflections of the time, and to burn it because it was no longer politically correct is a crime.

I live with my husband, Denny and our three long-haired dachshunds, Gryphon, Phoenix, and Elsa. By day I work in the world of international transportation, streamlining processes, building tools for efficiency, and keeping all systems running smoothly. Night is when imagination takes flight.