How did your writing career begin?

I came here from law school, basically. I was in law school in northern California and decided while I was in school that this thing that I'd always done as a hobby - this writing thing - was too fun to pass up.

I thought a really nice study break would be writing my own episode of Star Trek. It seemed like it would be a fun way to take a break, and eventually what happened was that studying for finals became my break from writing my Star Trek episode. If anybody ever goes back and gets hold of my transcripts from law school, you'll be able to have proof of that for sure.

I sent the script off to the Star Trek office. They liked it and brought me down to pitch stories. That was when the light bulb went off over my head and I said, "This is something I can do."

So I graduated from law school, moved to Los Angeles and started writing. I did some freelance work on some shows and wrote a pilot for a series which was never produced, but which was bought, and got some really good positive attention. Then [my work] landed on the desks of Marti Noxon and Joss Whedon.