Jennifer Bray

And I never realized how terrified I've been of like being seen for who I am.

And I know that sounds like really like woo-woo, but it has kept me awake at night going, oh my God, what if everyone hates me?

And then it's like, okay, well, people are going to think what they're going to think.

Just be yourself.

I mean I was trying to think even last night this memory came back to me I was just like at home like puttering around cleaning things that are never clean and I remembered sitting on the couch with my mom when I was like four or five and her reading like the princess and the pea and like

Jack and the Beanstalk and all those you know kind of kids books to me and I it just I just remember even then being so transported to this fairy tale world I couldn't believe it and then when I got a bit older um I got into the Harry Potter books and I was the same age as the characters and that as the books came out and oh my god you're so young I'm not you are that's young to me that's young

Don't feel you're going to feel old.

But I just remember like, this is going to sound so lame, but when, spoiler alert, when Dumbledore dies, I bawled reading the book.

And I remember going, hold on, books can make you cry.

Books can transport you to a world that doesn't exist.

that really opened my mind and then when I was a teenager I started to read thrillers I probably started reading them a little bit too young but whatever we move and I remember just finishing thrillers and going what how did they how did they do that how did they play those tricks on me you know and that was kind of the journey was just the sense of awe of what writers do and being transported and when I got to being a lady you know later in my teenage years I'm like I kind of had a

I really, really wanted to be independent.

I wanted to be financially independent.

I grew up in a big family.

So having space is important to me.

Yeah, you're one of 10 siblings?

Where in the family are you?

So I'm the eldest girl and I'm 37.

And then the eldest is Stephen.

He's 38.