Well, hello there. These first introductory posts always feel so awkward to me. So, I guess I will just introduce myself and what I am working on currently. So, who am I? My name is Darcus Murray and I am thirty-five years old as of today. I am a wife and mother of three daughters. I have a full-blooded boxer named Gracie. I was born and raised in Appalachia. I had a rough childhood and moved around constantly until I was about eleven years old. As a child, I lived in many different counties and different states, but Eastern Kentucky was - and is - the place I call home. As frustrating as it is sometimes to live in the middle of nowhere, I love these rolling hills and I wouldn't trade them for anything. I am a member of the queer community. Something that I used to be terrified to admit, I now claim as a true part of me. I mention this because I am proud of who I am and I want others to know that they have an ally in me, that I am a safe space. References to my sexuality will also be found in my work. I am not attempting to hide who I am. What am I working on? Now that the introductions are out of the way, you may be wondering what you can expect from me. Well, I'm a writer. I have been a writer since I was a child and have always wanted to make it my profession. Being a published author has always been my goal. When I was little, if asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was always an author, a singer, and a witch. While I do still enjoy singing, my aspirations for that profession fizzled away in my high school choir class. As for becoming a witch, well, that goal never dissipated. So, my fellow Eastern Kentucky witches, lets go searching for hag stones and work on our sigils together. I digress... So, what do I have in the works? I am currently working on a three book series of poetry. Each book is inspired by the different phases of my life. The first, Who I Was, is about my life as a young girl, before marriage and children. I will post with more information about these books soon. Aside from poetry, I also aspire to write children's books and adult novels. My future adult fiction will be published under a pseudonym. My reasoning for this is simple. I intend to write graphic mature content. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, I want those works to be separate so that future young readers of my children's books will not search my name online and accidentally discover stories that are not meant for their age level. I guess I had more to write about here than I realized. This easily could have been split into two posts and I may end up splitting it up in the future, but, for now, I let this stand as my introduction. So, hello. My name is Darcus and I am a writer. It's nice to meet you. ~