Annie didn’t always know she wanted to be a writer, but she had always loved words and understood the power they could wield.

Her early work consisted of persuasive essays for her parents, often co-written with her older sister. The most notable were pleas to see Titanic in theaters, get her ears double-pierced, and buy Titanic on VHS.

Years later, she would pen a blog called CambodiAnnie—a gloriously chaotic stream of consciousness detailing her time teaching kindergarten abroad.

Once she returned to Austin, she thought “I should write stuff… for real.” And thus, her professional career began.