How aware were you though of the indie scene when you sat down to write that first book in 2022? Not.

I was, so I started, I had a bookstagram.

So I was on Instagram.

I had a bookstagram, which means I was like reviewing books and reading books, posting reviews, pictures of all the books I hadn't read yet.

And a couple of people, I'd seen a couple people I'd followed write a book, publish it through the indie publishing route.

And I was like, oh, okay.

Like, I guess I'll try that.

And are you aligned? Yeah,

So the other book that came out recently in stormy weather, your trad debut, tell us a little bit about that.

So this one was really fun to write.

Um, it is, it features two rival meteorologists who, um, spend a summer chasing hurricanes and tornadoes together.

The female main character, Quincy, she is a, um, kind of like a weather influencer.

She has her PhD in atmospheric science, and she's created a platform for herself to talk about weather, to educate viewers on weather, to cover weather as it comes into the space in Florida where she lives.

And then we have Sebastian who was a senior meteorologist on the national news.

So he's kind of more of a go with the flow guy, has a good time, and he's also her best friend's brother.

Do you, does this feel like a comfortable thing for you? Do you feel like this is how you're going to kind of continue the future as an author in both indie and traditional?

Can you tell us a bit about your journey from going to indie publishing to recently traditional publishing? And sort of what has that transition meant for you personally and also professionally?

It's been really, really wonderful, and I feel very lucky that I have had these opportunities.

I've worked very hard to get here, and I feel very lucky that I have such an amazing team now on the trad side of things.

So I'm a hybrid author, so I still indie publish, but I also have my partnership with my publisher.

And that was never really the goal.

I just started writing and publishing books, and I didn't really know what was happening.

And then I started working with my agent and I want to say 2024, maybe late 2024.

yeah absolutely and in terms of research and you touched on it before in terms of research into meteorology how much research did you do I know you've just said a lot but how much is a lot and was there anything that just completely surprised you in your research

Why did you want to write about meteorologists? Good

question.

I'm not a meteorologist.

I'm not a scientist.

I'm born and raised in Florida, Orlando.

And in 2004, we had four hurricanes come through the state in six weeks.

And I became obsessed.

And so how did you think about balancing the kind of awe for Mother Nature while also the devastating consequences that can come out of that?

Because it might not work for somebody else, but it might ... [laughs] And especially how the market changes so quickly.

Yes.

So I have published 14, 15 indie books.

I had a book that did fairly well back in December of 2023, Caught On Camera, which was like, it was like kind of Christmassy, seasonal, and I released it in December.

It did fairly well.

I had a couple videos go viral on TikTok and Instagram.

And after that, I, I think it was after that that I connected with my agent, Caitlin, who approached me and was like, "Hey, do you have any representation?" I said, "Nope.

Yep