Behind the Story of When the Apple Tree Shines

J.K. Rowling has always been my forever role model as a writer. So naturally, when I started taking writing seriously, I wanted to write fantasy. But I knew myself well enough to know that I didn't have the talent needed for world-building on that scale. A world like Harry Potter felt so far beyond where I was, and I knew it. So instead of trying to write something I wasn't ready for, I decided to start small. Fantasy romance felt like the right place to begin. I want to be clear that I don't say that to speak lowly of the genre, not at all. But at the time, I thought it was a lighter entry point into the world of fantasy writing, and that felt right for where I was.

I also made a decision early on not to spend too much time brainstorming or planning. Looking back, I think that was actually the right call for where I was in my journey, because what that book ended up being, more than anything, was a learning experience. Writing a long novel is so different from the short stories and poems I had written before. When the Apple Tree Shines taught me exactly where I fall short, and that clarity is something you can't get any other way.

Now when I read it back, there are moments that make me cringe, because of course there are. It's my first novel, and I can see all the things I want to improve. But that awareness is exactly what pushes me forward. I'm now working on my next novel, and this time my goal is to finish the manuscript and send it to a publisher when it's ready. When the Apple Tree Shines gave me the courage to get here, and I wouldn't be at this point without it. To every reader who enjoyed it, I'm so genuinely grateful. 

The Behind Story of "Shall We Dance?"

I wrote Shall We Dance? right after my husband, who was my boyfriend at the time, proposed to me. When he became my fiancé, I was so full of love that I wanted to share even a little of it with my readers. I kept thinking about that famous line from Love Actually, the one that says love is all around us. It sounds cheesy, but it has a truth to it, and I felt it so strongly then.

My husband changed me in the best way. Or maybe it is more accurate to say he helped me see the parts of myself that were already good but buried under my own high standards. I have always been hard on myself. I always thought I had to be better, do better, fix more, improve more. I rarely allowed myself to feel satisfied with who I was. But he saw me in a way I had never seen myself. He loved me as I was, without asking me to be different, and because of that, he opened my eyes to the person I already was. A person who didn’t need to climb endlessly upward to feel worthy. A person who was already valuable.

When I realized that, I wanted to give him the same thing in return. I wanted him to see himself the way I saw him. I wanted to embrace his flaws, help him grow in a healthy way, and grow alongside him too. Because becoming better does not have to come from self-criticism. It can come from love. It can come from support. It can come from being on the same team.

So when I said yes to his proposal, it wasn’t just I love you and you love me. It was deeper than that. It was a promise that we would grow together for the rest of our lives, that we were choosing to be one unbreakable team, that we would live, love, and laugh our way through everything. Saying yes felt like eternity opening up for the both of us.

I wrote this book to capture that moment and to manifest that kind of love on the page. I wanted to sprinkle even a little bit of what I felt that night into a story. I hope it reaches as many people as possible, the same way love reaches everywhere around us. It really does. We just need the eyes to see it. And sometimes we need a little help, a small nudge, to recognize it. I hope my book can offer that nudge to someone who needs it.