Welcome To The Lion's Den

I would like to introduce myself as J. Kitana. My imagination is often where I live out my greatest adventures. Movies, music, and books have always been a guilty pleasure of mine. Since I can remember the feel of a brand-new book brought and abundance of excitement. Often times I found myself living in the fictional worlds created by my favorite authors. One thing that often times could be difficult was imagining that someone like me could be written in those fictional worlds.

I am determined to make worlds where people who look like me fit in. Instead of trying to join everyone else's fictional worlds I would create my own. "If there is not a seat at the table, you build your own table and watch people bring chairs to join you." My life has consisted of very many experiences, more than some people will see in their entire lifetime. It's only right that I put pen to paper and share my experiences and imagination. You'll find parts of my in every book that I have written. The rest is fueled by a very curious and extensive imagination.

My Beginning

I have always been a fan of books, but it wasn't until the summer before eighth grade that I read Copper Sun. It was the first book that made me cry. Despite my emotions this piece of literature made me understand how hard an Author must work. With my interest sparked I began to burn through YA books. As my interest began to require more, I went on to become a fan of a Fantasy author Karen Marie Moning. It was on a completely different level then Copper Sun, but I got a familiar feeling of being drawn in. This would like to spark my interest in writing.

Writing didn't begin for me until the age of fifteen. No computer, just a fresh notebook and a great pen. Writing was my escape, a solution to hard times. It started simply as YA fiction. They were inspired by the greatest Young Adult entertainment. TV shows like Degrassi and books by Sharon M. Draper. Then I discovered Wattpad. From there I explored every genre from YA fiction to Fantasy and fell in love. Writing was so much harder than reading, my interest faded, and my high school stories became a thing of the past.

My writing career prevailed because of my mother, who is an author herself. She stumbled upon a short story that I wrote. Initially she thought it was written by her and read through it. After reading she urged me to send a query to an Indie Publishing Company that she was signed with. I didn't think anything would come of it, but the query was loved. Some of you may know this short story as the "Rebirth" or "The Denouement Chronicles". Though I enjoyed the process, I still hadn't found my niche, the fire wasn't lit under my behind just yet.

My search for a genre that fit me began after that. It took a while to figure out that I was a genre hopper, so to speak. While I love Fantasy and Paranormal Romance, Urban Fiction is my first love. It's thanks to the many black authors that I have gotten the chance to read, that I found myself renewed and ready to try again. This time, I felt the fire underneath me.