Biography

My name is Amy Proebstel, a USA Today Bestselling Author, and I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. I’m married to my wonderful husband, Richard, and our daughter, Kailey, is a Physician’s Assistant. We share our life and house with our Pomeranian (Keno) and Pomskies (KoKo and Kaia). They fit our lifestyle perfectly as they sleep 22 hours a day and don’t need to be walked.

When I’m not writing or reading, my husband and I are watching YouTube. We’re subscribed to over 100 channels ranging from church to farming to sailing to flying. While I’m not a farmer or a sailor, I am a Christian and a private pilot. We also love to sit out on the front porch to watch the sunsets and enjoy the beauty of nature surrounding us.

Even though I never thought about writing as a career, I’ve discovered it’s my true passion. My stories have won many awards while also achieving international #1 Amazon bestsellers rank, and USA Today bestsellers status.

Strangely enough, my first book came to me in a series of three dreams. In 2009, my sister challenged me to write it all out. Since then, I've written in many other genres including Portal Fantasy, Epic Dragon Fantasy, Clean Fated Mate Shifter Romance, Clean Contemporary Romance, and Sweet Young Adult Medical Romance. I haven’t stopped writing. To this day, my best ideas come to me either while I’m sleeping, taking a shower, or sitting out in the hot tub.

I’ve loved the people I’ve met through writing; they are some of the most amazing people on the planet. I'd love to hear from you which series is your favorite.

Feel free to email Amy at Amy@LevelsofAscension.com.

Flying

When I was a child, my father used to take me flying in his 1947 Piper PA 17 tail-dragger. It was a special time with just he and I. As my dad got older, he developed Parkinson's disease and he became unable to fly as a private pilot anymore.

It was always my dream to become a pilot to be able to return the favor to my dad. In 2011, when time and finances finally came together, I got my private pilot's license and I surprised my dad with his first flight in almost 15 years.

The surprise flight happened to be on Veteran's day, and as he is a veteran from the Air Force it was a perfect day to go flying. My dad was smiling from ear to ear as we flew over the Willamette Valley. He may not be able to fly on his own, but I'll gladly be his personal pilot to let him continue to soar the skies.

Vacations

My husband and I vacation exclusively by cruising. We love the idea of a floating hotel with all of the conveniences of dining, entertainment, accommodations, and travel all mixed together. My husband is extremely understanding of my need to write. He encourages me to bring my laptop along so I can write whenever inspiration strikes.

There have been so many occasions where we won't even get off of the boat when we get to port. This is usually because an idea has come to me and I have to write it down or it could be lost forever (not really, I tend to remember all of the good stuff, but it does flow better when I first think it up). We spend every meal going over what has happened to my characters since the last update and Richard occasionally adds his ideas. Richard says he's not very creative, but I can attest to the fact that he's very inventive when he gets going.

Discovering Books

As a child, I didn't like to read because I was a very slow reader. For some reason, I felt the need to read every single word very carefully. In my early twenties, my sister, Ginger, introduced me to the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey. I was hooked. There were so many books in the series and I reveled in the storyline. I then moved on to Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, Jean M. Auel, and Diana Gabaldon who also had books that captured my attention and kept me reading. Now I'm an avid reader of fantasy and historical fiction. I thoroughly enjoy getting lost in the worlds and characters created by the authors.

Continually Learning

Typing was something I never learned in high school. School was awful and I couldn't wait to get out of there. I hated it so much that I took early-bird classes and a couple of classes through the local community college. My tenacity paid off and I was able to graduate a year early. So here I was, a sixteen-year-old high school graduate, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.

I was approached by a representative from Trend College who said she'd be able to help me get into a career & I jumped at the chance to get enrolled. Then I discovered in order to graduate I had to type at least 45 wpm. I took the first typing test and found I was able to type 17 wpm with 5 errors (definitely nothing to write home about). I couldn't understand how you could type without looking at the keyboard (which happened to be covered up with my fingers...so frustrating.)

Eventually, my brain connected with my fingers and I was able to get out of the class. Upon graduation, my first job was transcribing dictation at a law firm. By the time I finished working there I was able to type over 200 wpm. This blessing has helped my writing immensely. You never know where your skills will be acquired!