Say Hello To

Fia Sylvan is an average, lower middle-class American woman, not a professional writer, nor even an English major. She works full time and did so throughout the writing of this book, which took over 20 years to complete, due in part to the painful nature of some of the memories, as well as the vast complexities of learning how to write a book.

Fia worked in fields as varied as healthcare, horticulture, construction laborer, professional painter, retail clerk and horseback riding instructor, in addition to the various internship jobs detailed in the book. She completed two years of college at a state trade school for her associates degree. Also took a few writing classes at local community colleges and online, over the years she worked on this book. She held a multitude of volunteer positions over the years, in addition to the two mentioned in the book. She has been involved with CAVA - Citizens Against Violent Acts, Literacy Volunteers of America, The Wetlands Conservancy, Cascadia Wild, a volunteer EMT, and currently Oregon State University Master Gardener's Association, as a Master Gardener. Her interests always wide ranging and centered around caring for her fellow beings.

Fia did not have a normal education. In and out of eight public and private schools by sixth grade, she was removed from school immediately after starting sixth, with no formal education thereafter.

She did not set out to self-publish. She pitched to about seventy-five agents, literary agencies and publishers over the prior fifteen years and was rejected by all. Thus, after overwhelmingly positive feedback from objective readers, the journey to self-publish commenced. She expects the book is too dark, too brutal, too rough to become popular, but it is her hope that if even a handful of people are touched, enlightened or inspired, it was a worthwhile endeavor, and it is one of the biggest achievements of her life.

Fia Sylvan is a pseudonym adopted to protect herself and others, whose lives and secrets are exposed in her book. Fia is a derivative of the Latin "Sophia", meaning wisdom, and Sylvan is also from Latin (sylvanus) meaning "of the woods". Words which hold a strong connection to both Fia, and the story told.