M.S.A’s soul was stirred with rhyming words when she was just a few years old. Her maternal grandfather, a doctorate in literature and her father, a rocket scientist laid the first few stones in the foundation of her writing career. Her dad would inspire her and challenge her to find rhyming words similar to the rhymes she used to sing. Dry listing of words was tedious and did not mean much to her.  With her feeble diction and broken grammar, M.S.A was able to string words into her very first poem on her mother. Her grandfather would offer encouragement and tips of how to improve her writing.

Born into a family of avid readers, M.S.A could do nothing but take up the family tradition of reading. Storybooks enthralled her! She loved reading stories, but loved to write poems. She did not read poems much because she noticed that the usage of rhymes can sometimes influence your own creations. That seemed to compromise M.S.A’s own creativity and sabotage her thrill of discovery of rhyming words by using dictionary to find new words and ways to use them in her poems. She did not like writing stories or essays since there was this cumbersome grammar that she had to satisfy. Poems gave her the artistic license to ignore it. Totally! But then one day she finds her mother craft a brilliant short story! Her world changes entirely. Her mother’s story lured her into storytelling because here she could create her own world with endless possibilities! Anything could happen; anything she liked! As she ventured into this enchanting world, she realized that an effective story obeys most of the rules of the real world, but slightly deviates to deliver a powerful message. And thus she embarked on a story telling mission.

Stories can be told in many ways. If writing is one way, speaking is another. M.S.A is a member of Toastmasters where she gets to speak regularly. Here she learnt the importance of humor, well placed anecdotes and other story telling techniques. Her brother was her first experience in incorporating humor in daily banter. His timing is spectacular. M.S.A originally lacked that timing. Gaining inspiration from her brother, M.S.A managed to get a foothold in humor and uses it in both speeches and writing. Motivated by her driven husband to reach the stars, M.S.A hones her speaking and writing skills to utilize even in her professional world. Becoming a mom only fueled her drive to achieve… She says “If ever my daughter questions her ability to manage her profession, her family, her hobbies, her responsibilities and others, she needs to look at me and think ‘if my mom can do it, so can I’ and continue her pursuit of her goals”

She spends her time taking nightly walks and hiding herself away with her little black cat to write. With an obsessive need to learn, it is not at all uncommon to see her with a book in hand, whether it be about plant life or Victorian occultism. A trait that follows her into her stories.

Her passion in writing comes from a love of classic literature and the wish to always live partially in her imagination. A place that is both frightening and delightful. Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror 2017 will be the home to her debut work.