You know that moment in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy pulls back the curtain and discovers that the great and powerful Oz is… just a man?

That scene has always stuck with me.

Maybe because it says something true about the way we see creative people. Authors, actors, musicians, artists—we turn them into these larger-than-life beings, all sparkle and mystery and magic. But the truth is, most of us are a whole lot more ordinary than that.

Case in point: I’m in an orange cat Facebook group, because orange cats are elite chaos creatures and I stand by my own chaos. One day, I’m scrolling, minding my business, and who do I see? Jimmy from Yellowstone. THE Jimmy. His fiancée had posted a photo of him holding their adorable ginger cat, who had apparently peed, pooped, and thrown up all over its carrier on the way to the vet.

And honestly? That was it for me. Curtain pulled. Wizard exposed. We are all just out here surviving life, bodily fluids, flaws and all.

So in that same spirit, here I am—me, the very real, very flawed human behind the books.

  1.     I knew I wanted to be a writer in the third grade, right after I read a book that made me cry. It took me a while to get there, though. I didn’t write my first book until I was 45, which just goes to show it is never too late to become who you were meant to be.
  2.     I write under the pen names E.R. Whyte and Evie Rae. There’s logic in the madness: Elle for my real first initial (L), Rae from the Gaelic spelling of my maiden name, and Whyte from an alternate spelling of my ex-married name. Complicated? Maybe. But it works.
  3.     I’m a classic work-obsessed Capricorn with a Pisces moon, wildly ADD, and an imperfect perfectionist—which is just as exhausting as it sounds.
  4.     A few things that reliably make me happy: Pepsi, Netflix, Henry Cavill, Tom Hardy, Brendan Sklenar, SNL, and chimichangas.
  5.     I have an almost alarming affection for cats and am one emotional support kitten away from fully embracing my destiny as the crazy cat lady.
  6.     Go Yankees.
  7.     My happy place is home—messy, cozy, comfortable, and mine.
  8.     I also have a completely unreasonable weakness for bedding. I firmly believe there is no such thing as too many sheet sets or too many cozy quilts.
  9.     And because I have always been a nerd at heart (Ravenclaws, unite!), I can proudly tell you that I went to the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee not once, but twice.

Yes. Twice.

  1. I don’t drink enough water, moisturize enough, get my steps in every day, and am entering perimenopause just a little bit grumpy because I don’t understand how I’m not still twenty-seven.

Finally, and most importantly, I truly love hearing from readers. Getting to connect with the people on the other side of the page is one of the best parts of this whole journey. So reach out. Email me. Say hi on social media. Tell me who you are, what you love, and what makes you smile.

I’d love to know.