Once upon a time, there was a girl who liked to write stories. So she did. And she had fun.

Then, one day, a thought got stuck in her head that if she couldn’t write a really great story, there wasn’t much point in writing stories at all. So she stopped writing.

She was young and didn't know any better.

The girl went out into the world to make a living and do some growing up. And this was fine and necessary.

Then, one day, several years later, a story poked its little head up out of the creative reservoir and said, “Hello?”

It was a little story, and it looked rather forlorn, so the girl shaped it with words as best she could so that it could go out into the world.

The story, who was very happy about this, went back to the creative reservoir to pack its bags for its adventure into the world and told all its friends about the girl.

Not long after that, another story poked its little head up out of the creative reservoir and said, “Hello?”

So the girl shaped it with words as best she could. And the story was very happy. So were the other stories that came after that one.

They were little stories. They were very polite.

During the years when the girl was shaping these stories, she began reading books and magazines about writing (and, later on, about organization and time management). As she worked and read, she became more skillful and could shape bigger stories.

Then came the day when something tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned around, it wasn’t a polite little story, looking forlorn and saying, “Hello?” It was a novel that kissed her hand, smiled at her, and said, “Hello. We’re going to be very good friends for quite some time.”

So that is the story of how the girl ended up sharing her living space with, among other things, an overabundance of paperwork and a great many characters.

You want mundane data too? In that case...

Anne Bishop lives in upstate New York where she enjoys gardening, storytelling, and music. She is the award-winning author of the bestselling Black Jewels Trilogy (Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows, and Queen of the Darkness), The Invisible Ring, and The Tir Alainn Trilogy (The Pillars of the World, Shadows and Light, and The House of Gaian, as well as several short stories, including a new Surreal story coming out in Powers of Detection. Her most recent book is Dreams Made Flesh, a four story collection set in the Black Jewels world. She's currently working on the first book of a duology set in a new world.

Anne Bishop