Hello, fellow humans of the world! I'm Hazel K. Ford, and this is my very first blog post. (Please hold your applause until the end, or just send chocolate instead.)

I've been stringing words together since the tender age of five, when my literary masterpieces primarily featured talking cats and the occasional dinosaur. Fast forward a few cough decades, and here we are. I spent most of my writing life dabbling in sci-fi and mystery, creating worlds where the laws of physics were bendable and murder was always solved by teatime.

Then 2020 happened. Like everyone else, I found myself with an abundance of time and a concerning shortage of places to go. While most people discovered sourdough starters and virtual yoga, I rediscovered my keyboard. Words poured out like I'd uncorked something that had been fermenting for years. Possibly because it had.

But plot twist! About four years ago, I had some unexpected medical issues that landed me in the hospital. There I was, captive audience to whatever entertainment was within arm's reach, when someone gifted me a romance novel. "Why not?" I thought, expecting to hate it. 

Reader, I did not hate it.

I devoured that book. Then another. And another. Between IV changes and vital sign checks, I fell head over heels for the genre I'd spent years pretentiously avoiding. Meanwhile, at home, I was working my way through every romcom Netflix could throw at me. (I can now quote "The Holiday" verbatim, which is either impressive or concerning, depending on your perspective.)

The result of this genre awakening? Eight completed manuscripts sitting in my digital drawer since 2020, with five more in various stages of completion. 

So here I am, launching this author website with all the confidence of someone who has absolutely no idea what they're doing. But hey, if I can survive a medical crisis and emerge with a newfound love for happily-ever-afters, surely I can handle a little thing like the internet, right?

...Right?