As a pioneer in my working class rustbelt family, the only path offered me was to go to college and snag a practical job (maybe in insurance) that could afford me a secure living. And hopefully, some day a car. So I took the bus to campus, drank myself stupid the way only an overly capable straight-A eldest daughter with her first taste of freedom can, and spent the next 20 years changing majors, states, careers, and lives.

Somewhere between joining the Army as a helicopter mechanic, getting a Master’s degree in urban planning, becoming Brand Manager for a national corporation, and being elected President of Women in Film Kentucky, I learned that audacity, a sense of humor, and a scrappy figure-it-out approach can lead you places you never even dared to dream about. And a reliable 2013 Honda Fit.

This is why the stories that really light me up are the ones that play with our understanding of fantasy and reality. Many times, literally — thrusting my characters into new worlds, time loops, or circumstances that stretch their understanding of what’s possible. But because you can take the girl out of the working class midwest, but you can’t take the working class midwest out of the girl, it’s often served up with a healthy dose of 90s nostalgia, dick jokes, and faerie sex. Because if we’re going on a journey, it may as well be fun.