Lesa Boutin

I can’t remember a time in my life I wasn’t imagining myself in other places, meeting new people, and living wild adventures. The problem was, I lived in the woods. Not the country or the forest where cute little animals frolic, but the woods where there’s nothing but trees and brambles and bugs and snakes and wild animals and, well, you get the picture. So, my head was my favorite place to be. As a young adult, I only wanted to read adult novels, which is odd since now, as an adult, I only want to write Young Adult novels. The coolest thing about being a writer is that I get to become all the things I dream of. If my character lives in a zoo, I volunteer at the zoo—scooping goat poop. If my character is a ballerina, I tour the Houston Ballet Academy and get to know a real-life ballerina. I haven’t quite decided on writing fantasy yet. Not sure I can be trusted with a magic wand.