I have always had a love for writing and storytelling, even before I really understood what I was doing. It just came naturally to me, more than anything else, which is so funny because when I was just starting to read as a kid, I hated it. HATED IT. For school-assigned books, it was like pulling teeth. But then, when I was around 10 years old, I discovered Harry Potter, and that was the gateway I needed that turned my whole world around! Books became so fun, and I was more inspired than ever after that to write my own. It wasn't until later that I started seeing it as something that I actually could do for the rest of my life.

In my senior year of high school, we had a big "Senior Project" that everyone had to do, explaining what they wanted to do as a career - big as in, you couldn't graduate if you didn't do it. Yikes 😳! For my project, I chose to highlight being an author, and I wrote and illustrated my picture book, Hermi. After that, I attempted to have it traditionally published on and off for the next 12 years. Yeah, that was probably too long, haha. However! In that time, I worked on making peace with rejection and constructive criticism (part of the job, kid), different novel ideas, updated the art for my picture book from colored pencil to digital, and then finally to watercolor (a very good decision), and, most importantly, I grew as a writer and learned about writing as a career in a more hands-on sense. I connected with writers in the community, I watched authors and their journeys on YouTube, and I dove in headfirst! I am still learning so much, and the industry can change a lot from year to year. 

In all of those years working on my books, I also grew as a person. I graduated high school (my Senior Project got an A 😉), got through a flood, earned a Bachelor's degree, then went on to earn a Master's degree, changed jobs, got married, and, right before I had my first child, finally decided to take all of the life and industry lessons and my love of writing and desire to be an author into my own hands 😎. I independently published my picture book in 2025, and I am SOOO close to finishing novels that I am also going to publish! Ahh 😄! 

Writing and my stories have been a literal constant in my life. It was never going to be just a hobby to me. It was my lifeline a lot of times. My stories were my escape and my happy place, just like the many books I read! I am very excited to finally be sharing that with the world. It is still so surreal, but I am here for it! And I'm still getting used to telling people that I'm an author (I think I prefer facing more rejection letters sometimes, I get so nervous 😂). It is just who I am, and I can't wait to see where the journey leads me. Not everyone was meant to finish a novel, not everyone wants to learn the ropes and go the indie pub route, but I just got tired of waiting for permission to fulfill my dreams ✨.

I love my life. I love and am proud of who I am. It took a long time to get here, but by gosh does it feel good 💕! So, did I always want to be an author? I'd say yes 😁.

-Sarah F. Frederick, Feb. 23rd, 2025