Having loved writing ever since she was little, Lauren decided to set herself up for a mid-life crisis by majoring in accounting, which turned out to be a poor avenue for channeling creative ambitions*. Years later, she decided that if she ever wanted to make writing her job, she needed to treat it like one and began focusing seriously on her young adult fantasy novel. She uses Excel to track her progress though, so maybe her degree wasn't completely irrelevant. After living on both coasts, she now lives in the Midwest with her husband and three children and has found that the flyover states are grossly underrated due to their big skies and plentiful parking.

*Don't worry, she’s a rule follower--especially when it comes to taxes.