Die Gänsemagd
Before becoming a full-time author, Hale participated in stage and improvisational comedy, studied in Mexico and the United Kingdom, and worked as an instructional designer. She began writing "The Goose Girl" while in her graduate writing program, and worked on her drafts of it during her lunch break while working at her instructional design job. She originally planned to work in literary fiction, publishing short stories and teaching English, before writing young adult and children's books.