Shayna Douglas started writing stories about her favourite fictional characters falling in love as a teenager and never really stopped. Common Goals was born from her love of sapphic romance, competitive sports, and the complicated, electric emotions that come with falling for someone you were never supposed to like in the first place.

​

This book is, in many ways, a love letter to the rink. Growing up in Ottawa, Ontario, Shayna spent every weekend playing ringette, her childhood shaped by cold arenas, early morning practices, and the kind of teammates who feel like family. With Common Goals, she set out to capture that world through a queer lens: the intensity of rivalry, the vulnerability of ambition, and the surprising ways love can sneak up on you when you're too busy trying to win.

​

Now 26 and based in Canada, Shayna writes the kinds of stories her younger self always wanted to read, where sapphic girls get to be messy, driven, complicated, and deeply in love.