I received my MFA in fiction writing from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. I've had over a dozen short stories published.In addition to regularly contributing literary fiction to various journals and magazines, my current project is a Young Adult series called The Grimm Chronicles. Maybe you've heard of it? No? Really? Well ...My co-author Isabella Fontaine and I devised 3 "rules" for this Young Adult series. They're important to us. 1. There are no love triangles. We've set this as an explicit rule. Our main character might find love, but she won't be hounded by topless boys and she certainly will never spend her time deciding who to spend the rest of her life with.2. Our hero, Alice, must use her brain to overcome her obstacles. That doesn't mean she can't kick some butt (she definitely can!), but she does have to rely on her knowledge to win the day.3. Alice will never commit an act of violence against another human being without there being consequences. Sure, she can do battle with evil monsters ... but violence against human beings has real consequences. Too often our heroes of today cause physical pain to people around them in order to achieve victory. Alice is different. Alice respects nonviolence to solve real-world problems, and only uses violence to rid the world of the evil Corrupted.