I've always loved to write. In elementary school my friends and I would make little "books" out of squares of notebook paper stapled together and write stories in them, sometimes illustrating them, too.

Seems like when I'm in a group of people, I've always been the one quietly observing everything going on instead of planting myself in the center of things. Not that I'm anti social--I'm not--it's just the way I am. And actually it's been invaluable to me as a writer to fall back on these observations of people and places and things through the years. Many writers are thoughtful observers--they'll tell you so.

What do I get out of writing? Besides the fact that all you really need is a pen and a tablet which will go anywhere--at the very least it's a great creative outlet--at the most it's a wonderful form of self expression and an extraordinary, ongoing learning experience about many things, including myself.

I've been influenced by many different genres and author voices from an early age. As a girl I read classics such as Little Women and Black Beauty, and mysteries such as the Nancy Drew series. Later on, I also loved books by Jules Verne and George Orwell, John Irving, Arthur C. Clarke and Grisham and King and Brown and Binchey and--!--anything new and unusual and mind-provoking--there are just too many authors and books of various genres that I have enjoyed and admired through the years to create a true list.

The point is, I've always loved to read and to me it's a privilege to have written something that perhaps others can enjoy for years to come." 

Leann's published writings include a humorous short story in Hodgepodge (Spring 1995; her story received the magazine’s “Best Short Story of the Year Award”), a horror story in Dead of Night (Summer 1995), and three contributions printed in Dark and Stormy Rides Again (1996)—the book compiled by Scott Rice from the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction contest. Between 1993 and 1995, she wrote several human-interest articles and many humorous columns for the Lincoln Gazette, a section of the Gaston Gazette, a newspaper in North Carolina. The Starfish People, a time travel fantasy, is her first book.