Amanda Inderbitzin was born in the Midwest in 1977, raised on grit, responsibility, and the promise that hard work could outrun circumstance. She spent her early years believing she’d make her way to a stage or a studio, but life had other plans — kids came early, bills came faster, and the bright lights faded into fluorescent ones. For more than twenty-six years she’s worked in multifamily real estate, seeing firsthand how America’s safety nets can both save and strangle. At forty, breast cancer forced her to stop running and start writing — not to escape, but to make sense of the mess. Her essays have appeared in Elephant Journal, and her first novel pulls back the curtain on how our country enables poverty while punishing accountability. She writes from the middle of contradiction — where survival becomes clarity, and the truth doesn’t always come wrapped in grace.