ABOUT ME
I moved to Canada at a young age. Since then, I’ve lived in several major cities from the west coast of Victoria, BC to Montreal, Quebec. I have always been creative – singing, dancing, acting, so writing was just another avenue to keep my creative juices flowing. As with a lot of adolescents, I dabbled in fun poetry, then short stories. The child in me is forever present, and as a young adult, I knew that one day I would write children’s stories. I just wasn’t sure when.
After my son was born, I enjoyed reading bedtime stories, particularly when I could use different voices for the characters. My favourite series were the Muppet Babies as they were engaging and encouraged the child’s imagination.
In 2000, I tried my hand at an illustrated book which I now refer to as my “practise book”. Unfortunately, I had a bad experience with a bad publishing company. Several years later, I started my own independent publishing company to help new writers avoid the same mishaps that I had experienced. After six years of publishing books for other writers, I wrote and published my first “real” book, Sweet Pea in the Pumpkin Patch: an adventure in parenting, based upon my experiences as a single parent.
I have always enjoyed story books – the kind from years past that parents would read to their child night after night while he listens attentively. The book that, when the child is old enough to read, he’ll pick up and read the descriptive words, and feel the story all over again. I wanted to try and write that type of book. So, in 2014, while continuing to publish other writers’ works, I released A Christmas Star for Pugnacious, the first book in the children’s series Pugnacious. I’m looking forward to introducing many more of Pugnacious’ adventures.
Bianca Basso
My fabulous illustrator.
Bianca knew she wanted to be an animator when she was as young as eleven years old. She had seen Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring in the theatre, and something spoke to her. As she says, “I left knowing that I wanted to be the person that brought that cave troll in Moria to life”. And so, the pursuit of that dream started.
Her two passions – a career as an animator and her love for video games have collided. She currently teaches animation, modeling, texturing, and video games. When she’s not teaching, Bianca works on bringing video content about art and video games to her YouTube Channel.
Read more about Bianca and take a look at her artwork on her website.