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 mostly of persuasive essays, often cowritten with her older sister. The most notable essays were to convince her parents to let her to see Titanic in theaters, get her ears double-pierced, and buy Titanic on VHS.

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

Then, she thought “I should write stuff… for real.” And thus, her professional career began.