Crystal Bright

I started writing very young. My first story was a young adult romance called 'Trudy'. I wish I could find it so I can see how far I've come from then to now. Hopefully it's a grand leap!

After only one year at ODU I dropped out to 'live life'. Little did I know, life is expensive and it doesn't suffer fools lightly. So after working 3 jobs at one time just to make ends meet, I decided to go back to school.

With any school, you have to meet with an advisor before registering for classes. So my advisor asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I proudly answered that I wanted to be a novelist. She smiled, nodded and said, "That's nice. Now what will you do for money?"

Ouch! So I hopped from journalism to professional writing to literature but my heart always brought me back to creative writing. I figured if I'm going to spend my money for my education then I should enjoy it. So I stuck to creative writing and was pleased to find a non-residency Master's program for Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University. It's the first in the country and invaluable. I learned so much and made great contacts.

• Graduated with a B.A. from Old Dominion University in 2000 with a major in creative writing and a minor in communications, an emphasis on public relations.
  

• Graduated with an M.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in 2003.

• Working on an M.A. in Professional Writing from New England College. Expected graduation: January 2019.

Holding my Writing Popular Fiction M.A. thesis, Kissing Casanova.