Pitch Wars #PimpMyBio

Hey, y'all!

For starters, I want to thank Dannie Morin for organizing these posts! 
You can check out her original post and all the other mentee bios here.

Pitch Wars is an annual writing contest hosted by the amazing Brenda Drake. 
To learn more about the contest, go here.

I entered my very first manuscript in last year's Pitch Wars.  At the time, I knew nothing about contests and I'd only recently finished my manuscript (an adult speculative fiction with an astronomical word count). Obviously, I did not get picked by a mentor because it was not ready to submit. But I don't regret making that mistake because the contest helped me tap into an incredibly supportive writing community that I didn't even know existed. I got 10 critique partners from last year's contest! TEN! And I've learned so much from all of them since then. I'd introduce them here, but don't want to seem douchey like I'm name-dropping. 
(Yes, they're *that* awesome.)

Meanwhile, I wrote a second manuscript. This one's YA. Think Friday Night Lights meets Practical Magic. Football and magic potions in small town Texas with a little bit of interracial romance, oh yes. :) 
So at the urging of my CPs, I entered it into Pitch Wars this year. 

So here I am. 

With my eldest child. He's actually the calm one, believe it or not.

Here are 10 awesome things about me.

1. I make really cute humans. (Hubby helped.)

2. Speaking of hubby, I hit the jackpot when I married this guy. He's funny, adorable, and he saves children's lives for a living. No, really. He's a clinical affairs specialist for Berlin Heart. Search for Berlin Heart on YouTube for a better idea of what they do. Take tissues.

Also, he folds laundry.

3. I started writing when I was in the 3rd grade and haven't stopped since. But for some reason, I went to college and became a nurse. I did it for 3 years and, for the most part, it sucked. Because of hubby's job, I'm able to stay home with the kids and write full-time now. I keep my license active, though. Just in case I start missing the joys of phlegm, 12-hour-shifts, and cleaning diarrhea off really old balls.

My thoughts in this moment: "What have I done?"

4. I write a little of everything. Fiction, non-fiction, short stories, and really bad poetry. (We won't talk about the poetry.) I have two completed manuscripts now, and about six others are still in-progress. One of my short stories was recently accepted for publication! Yay! I'll do another post when it comes out at the end of this month.

5. Taylor Kitsch seduced brainwashed me during Friday Night Lights. He really wants to be my love slave the love interest in all my stories. I have to really fight his power over me to keep from letting him win. (Notice the Friday Night Lights comp above? Yeah. It's the best television series ever made. EVER.) 
Because LOOK...

But note: He wasn't the love interest in my Pitch Wars submission. I resisted the temptation!

6. Here are some of my favorite books. They've all influenced my writing in some way.

7. There's always at least one Led Zeppelin song on my WIP playlist. Usually this one, because Almost Famous is my favorite movie. 
Besides Taylor Kitsch movies, of course.

8. I have a giant dog named Annabelle. She's a Great Dane  and the epitome of what a good dog should be. Kind, gentle, obedient...but with a bark that tells anyone who comes near our house, "Don't even dream of effing with my people."

9.  I love football. More specifically, college football. Even more specifically, CLEMSON FOOTBALL. I grew up in South Carolina not far from the university, so I've been cheering for the Tigers since I was old enough to talk. I fit right in here in Texas, y'all. They just wear the wrong shade of orange 'round these parts. ;)

10. And last but not least, I have the same amount of nipples as a cat. 

HAHAHAHAHA! Just kidding. I just ran out of fun things to share. But don't even lie, you're wondering if I look like this under my shirt now.

Don't forget to check out the other mentor #PimpMyBio posts at Dannie's blog!

Good luck to all of my fellow #PitchWars mentees! 

xoxo,
Jenn