Local Author Spotlight - 2026 Spring Edition

In the heart of Central Texas, where sunshine often outshines shadow, local author Meagan Trayler leans unapologetically into the quiet, the melancholic, and the beautifully subdued. Her novel, Umbra, is a haunting, rose-laced reimagining inspired by The Secret Garden — but beneath its castle grounds and overgrown blooms lies something even more intimate: Meagan herself.

We interviewed Meagan to talk about hidden pieces of her personality, creative doubt, homeschool life, and why she absolutely cannot keep a plant alive.

What part of yourself shows up in your writing that most readers might not notice at first?

“Unless someone is close to me, they may not realize that my main character, Valencia Vanderbilt, is very much like me,” Meagan shares.

Valencia is withdrawn, reclusive, often lost in her thoughts, most comfortable lingering at the edges of social gatherings. She’s drawn to shadowed spaces and the melancholic corners of existence — a personality that feels rich, nuanced, and quietly powerful.

“I often see female protagonists portrayed as loud, sarcastic, or quick-tempered — and I love those characters,” she says. “But I wanted to show that softer, quieter personalities are just as valuable.”

In many ways, Umbra is an ode to the introvert — to those who bloom privately.

What life experience has influenced you more than any book or class ever could?

While she doesn’t point to one singular moment, Meagan credits a lifelong love affair with the library.

“My mom brought my siblings and me constantly when we were kids,” she says. “That laid the foundation.”

Though college, marriage, and babies interrupted the habit for a season, she rekindled it when her oldest daughter was two. That toddler is now a teenager — and their weekly library visits never stopped.

“Even though story time has long passed, our hunger for books hasn’t.”

For Meagan, the library wasn’t just a building — it was a rhythm, a ritual, a steady undercurrent shaping her imagination long before she ever considered herself a writer.

When you’re not writing, what does a perfect ordinary day look like?

A chai or latte starts the morning. Always.

From there, the day unfolds gently: a book or creative project, light chores (“If my surroundings are cluttered, my brain is cluttered”), and homeschool rhythms with her three daughters.

Car rides mean middle-grade audiobooks playing through the speakers. Afternoons bring yoga or a long walk with her own audiobook in her ears. Evenings are reserved for Pinterest scrolling, Kindle reading, or watching a show with her husband.

It’s quiet. Intentional. Slow.

Much like her writing.

What doubt or fear do you wrestle with most as a creative?

“I’m an Enneagram Five,” she says, “and one of our core fears is inadequacy.”

Unlike many writers, Meagan didn’t follow a traditional path. No English degree. No publishing job. No journalism résumé.

“Nothing about my life screams ‘qualified writer.’ It was simply something I wanted to do — so I did it.”

That whisper of this isn’t good enough still lingers. But she’s learned to see art differently.

“Art isn’t something to weigh on a scale of perceived value. It’s something that makes you feel or think differently. My hope is that’s what Umbra does.”

Who believed in you early on?

“The first one to believe in my creative writing was me.”

For years, she carried a false narrative that she wasn’t creative — despite coming from a family brimming with artists: actresses, a singer-songwriter, a dancer, visual artists, designers, builders.

Umbra began as an experiment — a challenge to test that internal narrative.

“Not only did ideas come alive in ways they never had before, I realized I loved creative writing.”

Her sister and closest friends soon became her sounding board. They read excerpts, asked questions, and — most importantly — wanted to know what happened next.

“There comes a point in long projects when quitting feels as appealing as success,” she admits. “Their hunger for the end of the story kept me going.”

What would surprise readers about you?

Given that Umbra is filled with sprawling rose bushes overtaking castle grounds, one might assume Meagan has a green thumb.

She does not. “I can’t keep a plant alive to save my life.”

Her Central Texas flowerbeds stand as evidence — brown leaves and brittle stalks marking good intentions gone wrong. It’s become a household joke that every plant she touches perishes.

“I was told aloe vera plants can’t be killed. I got one. I killed it.” Apparently, they don’t survive outside in a Texas winter. Who knew?

Where can readers find Umbra?

You can find Umbra locally at From the Vault — Waco’s first mobile bookstore — or online on  Amazon.

In a world that often celebrates volume and velocity, Meagan Trayler writes for the quiet ones — the watchers, the thinkers, the ones who linger in the in-between.

Like the roses in Umbra, her voice may not shout.

Click Here to Purchase Meagan's Book

But it grows. 

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