I write literary historical fiction grounded in archival research and the landscapes of Canada's west coast. My work explores how people respond when the structures they depend upon begin to fail, and how memory shapes the stories communities tell long after an event has passed.

I didn't begin by trying to write about the SS Valencia. I wanted to write historical fiction rooted in the history of Vancouver Island's west coast. My mom introduced me to the story of Minnie Paterson and her role in the rescue of the Coloma. As I researched Minnie's life, I found myself drawn further back to the wreck of the Valencia, where she had also played an important part. What began as research for one story gradually became another.

As the research deepened, I discovered that the Valencia was not simply the story of a shipwreck. It was the story of an entire coastal community. Lighthouse keepers, telegraph operators, Indigenous rescuers, settlers, mariners, government officials, and families all became part of a tragedy that unfolded over days rather than a single night. My own journey as a researcher has mirrored the journey of the novel itself—from seeing the Valencia as an isolated maritime disaster to understanding it as an event woven into the history, relationships, and landscape of Vancouver Island's outer coast.

I believe historical fiction carries a responsibility not only to tell compelling stories but to separate the mythology that builds around a story over time and listen carefully to the historical record. As much as possible, the characters' decisions, movements, and experiences in The Outer Coast are grounded in contemporary testimony, official records, and primary sources. The goal is not to retell the myth, but to reconstruct the lived experience of those who were there.