#PimpMyBio

'ELLLOOOO PITCHWARS MENTORS!

This is your driver speaking, about to take you on a mildly exciting ride into the mind and dreams of a 1st year PitchWars hopeful.

DISCLAIMER:
-Please keep hands, arms, legs, and feet inside the blog at all times.
-Secure all lose articles, including wallets, change, cell phones, and hats (some of my characters are SUPER shady and wouldn't think twice about swiping them).
-Remain seated until the ride comes to a complete stop (just kidding, you can leave at any time...wait...don't go!).

WHY PITCHWARS?

My story is in one of the dreaded-dead genres, Urban Fantasy (with vamps and weres to boot). It seems like agents still hightail it for the hills when they see those words. I want so much to take my novel to the next level. To push it, to challenge it, to break those glass market ceilings! I'm ready to, with a mentor's help, beat it down and build it back up, to make it go the distance (Hercules, anyone?) despite the odds!

I need a mentor/mentors to help me whip this story into fighting shape (cue "Eye of the Tiger").

A mentor/mentors who can help me turn SOUL BOUND into a story capable of helping to dig the genre back out of the grave.

I've tried so hard to do something new and fresh. To give vampires/werewolves new life (er... un-life?). I promise they don't sparkle. And the werewolves aren't shirtless all the time. And their mythologies are completely original and not based on any that already exist.

I've also come up with a completely new supernatural being who is at the heart of the story, and I know she and her fellow soul binders ARE GOING TO KICK. SOME. AS--encourage you to see, love, and nurture the souls of nature. But also, yeah, kick some ass ;)

There are so many writers out there still creating stories and worlds and characters in the genre and I think that says a lot about the hole that exists in the market where UF used to be. I want so much to help bring the genre back and to do that by taking my story to the next level. And I know PitchWars is the place to find amazing fellow wordfolk that can help me do that.


WHY MY STORY?

SOUL BOUND is my book baby. The first novel I've ever written and a story so close to my heart. I wrote it to try and make a difference (ugh I hope that doesn't come across as pretentious--I know it's very beauty pageant, "world peace"-y).

I wanted to try and inspire some sense of wonder and compassion for the natural world by giving it a voice. By giving that voice to a girl trying to find her place in the world. By carefully pitting the three biggest influences (science, religion, and nature) on our species against one another, disguised as characters within the story. It's got an eco-warrior edge, a fiery and impulsive heroine, two characters in one, and a whole lot of heart.  


WHY ME?

I think two of the most important things you need on the journey towards becoming published are thick skin and a stubborn nature. I have both in troves (seriously, I have like, horse-thick skin and would never back down from a triple-dog-dare). 

I have been writing stories since before I could actually write. I would dictate stories to my grandma, who would then write them up for me (my very first story was about an angel named Share who took a new angel back down to Earth to check on his family and stop some bullies from hurting his little brother.). Here's one of my earliest writer's bios (I think I was 8 y/o). I'll never be able to top this one:

8 y/o Rosetta Stone: amashend/amashing=imagined/imagining, chaldrend's=children's

Words are my life. Stories are in my soul. It's my dream to write in every genre and across all different kinds of story spaces (screenplays, video games, graphic novels, etc) and I am prepared to cross hell and high-water to make it happen. If you've ever read THE ALCHEMIST (if you haven't, you absolutely should), you'll recognize the concept of "personal legends." This is my Personal Legend. And I'm not going to give up on it. They may take our lives, but they will never--wait, wrong speech... (cue Mel Gibson in blue face paint and a kilt riding towards you screaming "FREEDOM!!")

Point is, I will work hard to make this happen. Writing is everything to me. I will listen and take your advice, but also stand by some of my choices and aspects of the story. I will take constructive criticism and find a way to apply it to make the MS stronger. I will use entirely too many exclamation points, send you way too many gifs, fangirl with you about fandoms (see all my favorites here) and try to find new ones to get you hooked on, and will most definitely be eternally grateful to you and grant you three wishes (did you make it this far? If you did, I'm totally joking about the wishes thing. I'm not a genie... OR AM I?).