Growing up, Rachel wanted to be Sir William Wallace, James Horner, or Stephen King. Unfortunately, the U.S. Army doesn’t issue claymore swords, and she’s painfully tone deaf so that left writing – a campaign that would wage on for a quarter century, leaving Rachel bruised, bloody, and downright defeated. She’s been a soldier, maid, door-to-door bookseller, Fikes Family Farm field hand–thanks Pops!–leasing agent, baker, journalist, pageant queen/director, wiper of butt sweat (tanning salon), seller of overpriced lingerie at Victoria’s Secret, and dejected Wal-Mart cashier. Eventually, with skin thicker than chain mail, a shield of resolve, and the reckless, indefatigable hope of a warrior poet, Rachel finally fought her way into publishing. After quite the adventure, Rachel takes refuge in her hobbit hole in Austin, Texas, squirrelling away all the coffee, whisky, and plants she can get her paws on, and teaching ESL to the most amazing students in the world.