Get to Know Me!

In the past few weeks, I've met a bunch of new readers. Hello and welcome!

In light of that, especially with more people accessing this blog, I thought I'd make a post so you can get to know me a little better.

First off, my name is Dana Gricken (pronounced Greek/in -- it's German). I am a writer from Ottawa, Canada, and I write a little bit of everything in young adult, middle grade (children's novels), and adult fiction.

My favorite genres are fantasy and science fiction, though I enjoy writing mystery, horror, and thriller, too! And although I tend to stick to young adult fiction (I'm 21, so I feel I relate to it better), I've been writing an adult fantasy lately which I've fallen in love with. (It's called END OF THE VAMPIRES and includes blood magic, time travel, forbidden romance, and of course, vampires.)

I have an agent -- which is a first for me! I am represented by the wonderful Jessica Reino of the Metamorphosis Literary Agency. She is representing my YA mystery novel (which will be a series. My next blog post will be introducing that novel and its characters!)

Currently, I have four books available:

-THE DARK QUEEN, which is my latest release. It's YA fantasy and the first in a trilogy (and the second and third books will be available later this year! One in spring and one at the end of fall.)

-There are three books in THE DRAGONWITCH CHRONICLES: The Girl Who Walked Through Fire, The Girl with the Invincible Blood, and the Girl and the Silver Mark. You can read them all for FREE on Kobo, iBooks, and Barnes and Noble! (These were my first few books, so please be kind! I think I've improved a lot, especially heading on to my 19th novel.)

I'm almost finished the first draft of END OF THE VAMPIRES. That marks my 18th novel! I've come very far and I can't wait to see where this story takes me. Now I'm plotting my 19th novel!

At six years old, I declared to everyone I knew that I wanted to be a writer. I wrote my first short story at that age where I was abducted by aliens. It was terrible (but a good starting point!)

My goal in life is to write 400 novels. (I know, I know -- that's a lot). But with my writing as my full-time career, I can write the first draft of a novel in one month, so it's doable. I've always been ambitious!

Other than novels, I also have an interest in comic book writing. I recently wrote a zombie detective comic and a half-demon, half-human anti-hero. One of my goals for the next few years is to find an artist to draw them!

Other Random Facts:

-My middle name is Marie!
-I love cats!
-I enjoy video games in my spare time (mostly fantasy RPG's -- like Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and KotOR. I also like The Sims and play it way too much.)
-I like cooking (stir fry, stuffed peppers, and chili are my favorite meals!)
-Taylor Swift is my favorite singer/songwriter!
-I was in homeschooling for high school, which was an online program. I didn't have any teachers so I had to teach myself everything -- and I discovered I hate trigonometry. I think I'll stick to writing!
-I have bad anxiety and depression, which I fight every day to do my writing. But I'll never let it conquer me!

Feel free to introduce yourselves and share random facts. I love hearing from readers, writers, and everyone in between! I'm very active on Twitter and Instagram (both @DanaGricken) so definitely reach out there if you'd like.

Thanks for reading!

Dana



 





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