Hello, I’m Pam. Welcome to my creative home.
I’ve been asked a few times, in different ways, how the same person can be “in the business of turning scars into strength” while also being in the business of creating colossal sea monsters or magic-hating wardens.
It’s a fair question. On the surface, what does my real-life journey have to do with a supernatural fog that “swallows the horizon”? What does a non-fiction book for middle schoolers like ‘The Unstoppable You’ have in common with a fantasy book?
The answer is simple: Everything.
I don’t write in spite of my past; I write from it. Every story I tell is just a different lens for exploring the one, non-negotiable theme that defines this blog: resilience.
Some connections are more direct. Take The Riftwood Echo. I’ve mentioned before that this story is deeply personal. When I was a kid in a “turbulent, chaotic” and unsafe home, I would run. I’d run to the hills and build forts, desperate for a sanctuary. That real-life need for a safe place is the creative spark that became the Whisperwood.
And Bronwyn, my “magic-hating warden”? She is “the embodiment of the strength and resilience I had to learn all those years ago”. She isn’t just finding a sanctuary; she’s become the one who defends it. She is the literal manifestation of turning a scar, a place of fear and vulnerability, into a source of strength.
“Okay,” you might be thinking, “I get the fantasy, but what about the ‘colossal’ sea creature that hunts from the fog?”
This is the other side of the same coin.
My life, especially when I was younger, had its own monsters. They weren’t supernatural, but they were just as terrifying. The fear of the unknown, the uncertainty of foster care, the harsh realities of the streets, the suffocating grip of misjudgment, these things can feel like a “slow-motion tidal wave”. They can feel like a fog that “swallows the horizon”, making the world quiet and terrifying, leaving you with nothing but the “taste of a wet nine-volt battery” in your mouth.
Writing about the “Taker” in the mist, about the “Silent Sea Lions,” and the “Watchers on the Ridge” is “incredibly freeing” because it’s an act of power. It’s me, taking all that formless, chaotic fear and giving it a name, a shape, and a set of rules.
When I write scary, spooky stories, I’m the one in control. I get to be the one who defines the monster. I can stand in the fog, look the “Taker” in its (non-existent) face, and decide exactly what it does next. That, in its own way, is the very definition of turning scars into strength.
So, you see, it all connects.
My Non-Fiction is about giving you the tools to build your own resilience.
My Fantasy is about the journey of becoming a protector of the sanctuary you’ve built.
My Fog-Mythos are about confronting the fears that made the sanctuary necessary in the first place.
Whether it’s writing about a warden, a monster, or helping a middle schooler navigate through challenges, it’s all just part of the same story: finding the strength to face the fog, and maybe, to build a lighthouse in the middle of it.
—Pam
The best way to know when the next story emerges from the mist is to subscribe to my newsletter! As a thank-you for joining, you’ll get a free download of my exclusive subscriber-only short story, “Where the Fog Settles First,”—a spooky tale you can’t read anywhere else.