.png)
About Savannah J. Goins
Inspirational speaker and fantasy novelist Savannah J. Goins teaches creatives how to value failure, enjoy the journey, and know when they've arrived. She uses her background in dragon wrangling as an exotic animal veterinary technician to encourage and inspire audiences with entertaining stories and unforgettable lessons.
She is the author of young adult fantasy novels The Gwythienian, The Crivabanian, and The Cathawyr. She has appeared in panels with fellow fantasy authors such as Christopher Poalini, Julie Kagawa, and Rachael Hartman.
.jpg)
More about me? Well, if there's an animal around, I'm probably petting it. If it's after 5:00 am, I'm up and at 'em, and if I'm sitting down, I'm probably dozing off. If there's coffee, it's in my cup, and if there's dark chocolate, I already ate it.
Growing up, some people made me feel like I wasn't a real person.
Like I didn't count.
One time, I had the chance to prove my worth.
But I failed. Twice.
And that particular instance of failure is one of the events in my life I am most grateful for.
Without it, I would never be where I am today.
Through stories of epic failures, including one or two of my own, I introduce success perspective and encourage audiences to do the things they've never thought they were ready for before.
When eyes are opened to the incredible benefits that can come from failure, if one only knows how to spot them, previously unfathomed possibilities come to light.
.png)
How Am I a Professional
Dragon Wrangler?
So why do I claim to be a professional dragon wrangler? Because I actually am! While I recently made a job change as a step toward writing and speaking full time, I spent three incredible years wrangling dragons and other amazing animals as a Registered Veterinary Technician at an exotic animal clinic. While working there, I cared for everything from beta fish to tigers, budgies to bald eagles, baby dragons to giant dragons, and even a few kangaroos and a coatimundi.
I was part of the most amazing team of RVTs in existence and our job included taking histories on, feeding, watering, handling, medicating, sedating, radiographing, anesthetizing, and monitoring our exotic patients, and also teaching their owners how to give medications and take care of them in the best possible way.
I continue to volunteer with an awesome exotic animal rescue, and in the process have fostered bearded dragons, geckos, tortoises, snakes, and even a baby alligator who'd been abandoned in an apartment in zero-degree weather and needed a temporary home until he could go to a gator rescue.
Working at the clinic and volunteering with the rescue gave me a lot of cool opportunities, many of them involving the wrangling of various animals. I have scars from hanging over a fence holding up a potbelly pig and I have literally had a couple drops of both tiger blood and dragon blood land on my skin (which means I probably have magical powers now, so I'm just waiting for them to manifest).
It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, but in order to prioritize my entrepreneurial and writing career goals, I left the clinic a few years ago and went on to work with animals at a university in Indianapolis with a more flexible schedule to accommodate these other pursuits.
After working there for a few years, I was finally able to transition to working full time as a writer and speaker! While I miss working with animals every day, I love writing and speaking full time, and I still have my reptiles pet and my volunteer work with the exotic animal rescue to keep my animal-loving side happy.
Miscellaneous Facts
-
In my spare time, I help homeless dragons find forever homes.
-
I once had three pet rats named Kaz, Inej, and Jesper after the characters in Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows.
-
As for coffee, as much as I like fru fru chocolaty stuff with a dash of caffeine, plain black coffee has become a staple.
-
I can anesthetize a bird and keep it alive through surgery.
-
I love sketching my characters and locations, but Christopher Paolini's ability to draw his creations far outmatches mine!
-
I recently adopted a 4 foot long pet golden dragon (an albino green iguana who's albinism makes her bright yellow) named Glaedr after the dragon in Eragon.
-
I listen to audiobooks about five times as often as I read regular books, and The Falling Kingdoms Series is currently rivaling Eragon for my all time favorite story.
-
I didn't grow up watching anime, but my husband introduced me and Attack on Titan is perfection (I might have a WIP with that as a comp title)
