That’s a really great question. I’m Tarrah, and I could no sooner untangle the web of thought threads that goes on in there than anyone else. It’s sometimes dark and twisty, other times it’s a dance party. And, it’s frequently tickled by the randomest things the universe has to offer.

‘You came out of the womb with a book in your hands.’ So says my mother. I’ve always been an avid reader. And, I have more than once jumped headfirst into any number of writing adventures. Many of which, like the jeans that don’t fit pile hiding under my bed, I’m confident I’ll pick up again one day. However, it was an algorithm that broke the damn that led to this blog, four novels, one screenplay… and counting.

In 2018, somewhere around May or June, The Kissing Booth premiered on Netflix, and the wizards in their tracking department correctly pushed it to the top of my suggestions queue. There is no shame in my game: I love high school drama in any format and cheesy rom-coms all day, any day. I watched it. And then I watched it again. And again. Until I read in the Los Angeles Times that it had become the most re-watched movie on the platform. (At the time, I was responsible for close to a hundred or so of those. It’s more, so many more, now.) Then I read the book written by a teenager and made online famous on Wattpad.

Good, bad, or otherwise, the story struck a chord with a teenage version of myself that wanted to be a writer.

That chord would ring louder and louder until, at the end of 2019, I started posting Unthinkable to Wattpad chapter by chapter. It is a first novel. It’s better than I expected (and finished, so that’s a huge win). But I did it, wrote it, put it out there, and then told people about it. For me, it’s a story I had to tell, and, more importantly, it sparked so much more.

Since then, I’ve written two novels on my own, a third novel with a writing partner, a screenplay, and countless press releases (because I still have to do my day job). I’ve worn out the keyboard on my MacBook, and I can’t stop writing. 

I find inspiration in everything from the news, to books, to that saucy senior strutting with her hand weights on Culver Blvd. this morning. Music triggers me. Unexpected turns of phrase. Random seemingly unimportant conversations with friends become unforgettable dialogue that winds up in stories. Basically, no one and nothing is safe. 

My WIP folder is overflowing. My ideas notebook is running out of pages. And I’ve maxed the memory on my phone with “ideas.” So, my cup runneth over into this block. Buckle up, team. It’s gonna be a ride!

Thank you for reading! Hopefully, you’ll enjoy some (or all, it’s allowed) of it. And, if not, there’s always next time!

— T