A longtime English teacher, speaker, advocate for abuse survivors, and founder of the gritty YA fiction website UncommonYA, Beth Fehlbaum is the author of Hope in Patience, a 2011 Young Adult Library Services Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. Big Fat Disaster grew out of her own struggle with an eating disorder. Visit her on the web at www.bethfehlbaumbooks.com, www.uncommonya.com, and the Merit Press Facebook page. She lives in Texas.