It was when at Georgian College studying Interior Design a Professor brought to my attention that I had a talent for writing.  While working through mental health problems, the notion to write came to me in 2008.  My first title in October 2012; Loving A Drummer by Aprilstar (at the time) was published with Blurb.ca and is a memoir. Second title; 'The Montpelier Reaching' was published with lulu.com in March 2014 and is a memoir. Third tile; Rikka Shai: Here to Stay was published with lulu.com in April 2014 and is a book of poems.  Fourth title; .....And They Said She Can't Play Guitar was published with blurb.ca in July 2014.  My Fifth title; Exposed: Poverty Survival Handbook was published with Blurb.ca in January 2015 and is non-fiction/memoir.  Sixth title; Rikka Shai: Behind The Music was published with Blurb.ca in October 2015 and falls non-fiction/memoir/poetry/entertainment.  My seventh title is Vanished: The Story of Studio Slicks; published with lulu.com in November 2016 and is my first fiction attempt. My eighth title; rikka shai: behind the music 2 is also a work of non-fiction/memoir/poetry/entertainment and was published with blurb.ca in November 2017. My latest title; Rikka Shai: behind the music 3 was published with Blurb.ca on March 29th 2019 and is a work of photography/entertainment.  Music creating came with my first album in 2011.  Today Rikka Shai has Ten LPs, Four Compilations and 2 EPs done independently.   my two latest Titles; Acapella & my 8-song ep Era (not officially released). My stage name began as Aprilstar, was changed to Rikka Shai in 2013 and that's about when I chose to use my real name for my writings. - In mental health recovery since oct2013!!!!