Monica Lyrehart is a writer of Speculative Fiction, certified contest goblin, and “the best mommy ever” according to biased sources. She splurges on Chinese teas, continually studies the subjects she enjoys writing about, and will give you a run for your money at most table top games. When she’s not trying to pull universes through the nib of her pen, she can be found perusing nature with the fam, or singing—mediocrely—with her more talented spouse at open-mics.

It’s difficult to pinpoint the beginning of Monica’s writing journey. She was definitely the child who shined a flashlight over book pages late into the night, more than willing to give up her burden of a flip phone, but taking her book away? Well, that’d be criminal. The earliest she can remember thinking she wanted to craft stories was at twelve, upon discovering roleplaying and manga. Many teenage and college years were spent learning the art of creative writing (and Chinese, Japanese, programming, astronomy, graphic arts, and fine arts and so on) until Monica landed her first official writing job as Prose Editor of her college magazine in 2019. Monica was never the type to settle in matters of learning and decided that writing was the best path to exploring everything and expressing creatively.

She returned to writing seriously, after seven years of family building. Re-sharpening her craft in writing contests and sharing feedback in her writing community helped jumpstart her latent ambitions. Now, she works as a contest judge for NYC Midnight, helping others grow their craft, while writing her own short stories and drafting her novel.