Piper Punches

Piper Punches grew up in a rural Missouri town in the far west suburbs of St. Louis. As early as kindergarten, Piper began her adventure as a storyteller. It wasn’t long before others caught on that her talented storytelling was actually a disguise for her tendency to be a pathological liar. Luckily, by the time high school rolled around she got her act together and began to channel her bad girl tendencies into something constructive.

By the age of 16 she had written her novel, Silent Witness; a John Grisham- like tale about the treachery and brutality of the Colombian cartel. Before ever hitting the book shelves, Silent Witness was adapted into a screenplay that was picked up by a major Hollywood studio. It was at this time that Piper learned the harsh lessons of Hollywood and the literary world. NEVER pay an agent one measly dollar until you have a contract in your hands and  listen to your parents when they advise you against blindly sending $500 to have your dreams come true overnight.  Sometimes parents actually know what they are talking about.

For the next several years (okay, about 20 years) Piper held onto her dream of becoming a published novelist, but decided to take up procrastination instead. It didn’t pay well, but it sure felt great to get nothing accomplished and pursue other random dreams. Finally, in 2012, after an eight year period as a social worker and a seven year stint as a business owner Piper decided it was time to get back into the habit of storytelling . . . err, writing. She began freelancing and ghost writing for several popular websites, while continuing to postpone writing her original work.

Piper’s mother had told her during her teenage years that writers write what they know. Of course, she didn’t take her mother’s advice back then and continued to write about drug cartels (because didn’t you know that every 16 year old living in rural Missouri knows about drug cartels? Meth – maybe. Colombia drug runners – no). However, in true Piper fashion, after 20 years she finally took that parental advice.

In late fall of 2013, Piper will debut her first novel as a bona fide adult. The Waiting Room is a novel that started as the title of a short story collection, but quickly proved it could be so much more. It evolved into a story about the complexities of family, the invisible bonds that connect people, and the pain that can reverberate through the choices we make.

Piper Punches lives 45 minutes from downtown St. Louis with her husband and two daughters. She continues procrastinate and write on a daily basis and is excited to share her stories with new readers each and every day!