Born to Bleed

There is a haunting line in a Maddie Poppe song that says, “Maybe I was born to bleed.”

For most of my life, it felt like a diagnosis. Long before my divorce tore away my safety net, I was already navigating a life of fierce, forced independence. I carried the weight of everything. I survived severe health crises with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. When people tell me about their financial, physical, or emotional wreckage, my quiet internal response is always: Yep, been there.

I used to think that constant weathering meant I was just meant to take the hits. But it was actually muscle memory for survival.

I write ARC-MUTAR: THE HEART OF THE QUEEN for every woman who has felt like she was born to bleed. My 48-year-old protagonist, Rayale, has survived exile, betrayal, and agony, carrying her people’s burdens until her own inner demon finally erupts in a set of literal horns. I write because transformation doesn’t belong to the untouched; it belongs to the scarred. Ray’s story is my promise that the blood we shed isn’t a sign of defeat - it is the raw, untamed fuel for our awakening.