I grew up halfway between Disneyland and Huntington Beach, engulfed in the latest fads, books, and music. I wrote my first song with a friend and we called ourselves the “Screamie Birds.”

But when a writer friend said, “They say that when you move to Paris, you’ve become serious about writing,” I thought something similar about Las Vegas. “When you move to Las Vegas, you’ve become serious about music.” After all, it is the “Entertainment Capital of the World.”

When we moved to Las Vegas, I interviewed with a client for a technical writing project and they asked me to sing in the interview.

I took voice lessons with a Broadway performer from “Mamma Mia!”

My husband bought me a keyboard for Christmas one year, and one of the most exciting experiences was entering the music store to pick out some music – I hadn’t done that since I’d sung in high school.

Watching Nashville, I started doodling with lyrics, thinking about songwriting, my musical family, and my agent’s words about my writing having a “poetic, almost lyrical rhythm.”

The summer of 2014 was the “summer of Elvis.” I stood on the stage where Elvis performed over 800 shows in the former International/Las Vegas Hilton, held a microphone, and felt so comfortable up there. This surprised me because I only felt intimidated when I stood on the stage of the Ryman.

I held the microphone in my hand and felt very comfortable up there and that surprised me because I felt intimidated when I stood on the Ryman stage.

Was I more comfortable because it was Elvis or because I’m now paying attention to my music? Whatever the reason, I’m now inspired to give my music classes all I’ve got. I have a feeling it’ll spill over into my writing, too.

After all, writers must write. And until you do, you’ll sidle up to other writers and writing tools just like I sidled up to the keyboard on the Elvis stage – my inner musician was screaming at me to get busy.

So I enrolled in the “Modern Musician” certificate program with Berklee College of Music, joined NSAI (Nashville Songwriter’s Association International) and became an NSAI-certified songwriter at the end of 2014.

My goal for 2015 is to determine which path I want to follow – that of commercial songwriter or singer/songwriter, performing songs I’ve written just for me. Or something I do while I sit at my desk pondering life and writing.

Whatever happens, I must say, my biggest musical passion is singing. So I’ve been recording some of my rehearsal vocals, as I work on tuning the vocals, practicing the keys, and working on my next Screamie Birds song.

You can follow me and listen to some of my vocals on SoundCloud or MixCloud or listen to original songs and follow me on Reverbnation.

Or read some of my books. I’ve been told, “You make a walk in the park sound like the biggest adventure of all.”

And that’s what I love to do – entertain you with stories of my own creation – whether through fiction or a song.