Tera Lynn Childs

Tera Lynn Childs is the award-winning author of the mythology-based Oh. My. Gods. and Goddess Boot Camp, the mermaid tales Forgive My Fins and Fins Are Forever (coming June 28, 2011) and a new trilogy about monster-hunting descendants of Medusa (Fall 2011). Tera lives nowhere in particular and has spent time fleeing hurricanes, making character profiles on MySpace, blogging on her own and with the Buzz Girls, and writing wherever she can find a comfy chair and a steady stream of caffeinated beverages.

Life Story
(aka more than you could ever want to know)

I was born in the outskirts of a small town called Minneapolis, Minnesota. But, you see, my parents are pretty nomadic people, so we were only there for about a month before the moving began. (No, I'm neither a military brat nor an oil brat ... I'm a theatre brat.)

By the time I started kindergarten (in Montreal, Canada, of all places) we'd lived in: Colorado, Indiana and Ohio. I spent the bulk of elementary school in San Diego and Sacramento, California. Then we returned to Minneapolis for part of middle school, but moved to Springfield, Missouri halfway through.

We actually stayed in one place for the duration of my high school career at Kickapoo High School (the alma mater of Brad Pitt--and, before you ask, no I didn't know him... he's twelve years older than me people!). But once college came around, I continued the nomadic tradition.

My first two years of college were spent at Columbia University in New York, but being... me, I transfered to the University of Colorado at Boulder, where I earned my degree in Theatre of all things. Since I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life--theatrical or otherwise--I went on to get a masters degree (back at Columbia) in Historic Preservation. (aka saving old buildings)

And when I finished that masters degree and still didn't know what I wanted to do with my life... that's when I started writing. Mainly because that's when I started reading. A lot. I would read the latest romance by my favorite authors and think, "I want to do that."

Well, writing is a little harder than it looks when you're just reading a book, so it took me a while to get on the write--er, right track. Four years after I earned that now useless masters degree I signed with my fabulous agent. A year later we sold my first book, OH. MY. GODS. (My first published book. I have three complete manuscripts moldering under my bed.)

The rest, as they too often say, is history. For a while I lived in Houston, Texas (mainly because my dearest writing friends are here... but also because it's a lovely city). But I am currently living the nomadic life. Who knows where I'll end up next.