I'm Taya and I'm pretty sure I'm not human but, in the greater scheme of things, I doubt it matters. On any given day, you'll most likely hear me say, 'What if...' followed by some far-fetched theory. To keep my friends and family from throttling me I've turned my more persistent wacky thoughts into stories. You're welcome 🤪. 

From an early age, the mysterious, mystical, and mythical have fascinated me. Written words and symbols have also held my attention since I can remember. Solving puzzles and finding symmetry in patterns brings me balance. I guess it was inevitable that the realm of enigma would be my destination of choice for adventure. Gazing into the middle distance while floating on a slow current to who-knows-where feels like home. 

What really interests me is consciousness. How far does that rabbit hole go? Are we real? What is real? In essence, are we free or contained? Small-talk is a language I have no interest in learning. Sanskrit and Latin might be fun though, and anything with symbols. Tbh, I'm hooked on English. 

Many types of creative works inspire and delight me—comedy, music, art, performance, film... the list goes on—but for me it's mostly stories. STORIES. STORIES. STORIES. STORIES. Favourite authors at the moment include Martha Wells, V.E. Schwab, and Becky Chambers. All-time favourites who inspired me to write and make me gush and fangirl to extremes are, in no particular order:

• Philip Pullman, who tells a riveting story rather perfectly well.
• Holly Black, whose character-development is out of this world.
• Ben Elton, who just nails the satirical comedic response to the unfathomable and ridiculous goings-on in our world.
• Charles de Lint, whose worldbuilding is next level awesome (who doesn't LOVE Newford?!).
• Clive Barker, who exemplifies how to write outside of the box, and proves that bewitching prose and captivating storytelling are a wicked combo. 

I am proudly bi-racial (Welsh-Bajan), and highly recommend it for everyone. I write from an off-grid tiny homestead in a forest on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland where I live with my husband who's a theme park designer, and a fluffy grey cat for a muse. When I'm not pondering absurdities, I enjoy improv dance, freestyle frisbee, and exploring the natural world, often all at once. What else? Oh, here's some trivia:

• I love onomatopoeia words, and alliteration always and affectionately. 
• I’m ridiculously gullible—tell me anything and I’ll believe it (◔_◔).
• I do a good unintentional pun. 
• I’m around 62% fickle—wait, make that approximately 76%.... I think.
• Do I contradict myself—Um, yes—I am large, I contain multitudes.
• Have rope, will tie self to tree.
• Current overused punctuation: the em dash. I like the way it looks.
• My greatest accomplishment is that I once kept the same hair tie for an entire week!
• Quite soon I expect to get confirmation that I'm not really human, which will be a relief and explain a lot.

If you relate to any of this or have your own interesting opinions, theories, or quirks and want to share with a fellow misfit weirdo, drop me a line. Honestly, it's lonely out here in the wild with just my cat and characters for company on the daily. Oh, and the forest spirits. Can't forget them!