PitchWars 2017 - My Bio

** peeks out from under a rock and waves**

Hello.

So, it must be summer because I'm back on twitter and dusting off the ol' blog (and stalking PitchWars MG mentors! Eek!). 

Okay, so I'm not a complete hermit. Just... mostly. But I've also been a tad busy. We spent 15 months jumping through all the hoops to adopt our son from China. He came home in April, and after a few months learning how to manage the complete chaos of mothering three boys, I finally felt ready to dive back into my writing.

And oh, how I missed it. 

So, I made up for lost time by completely rewriting one of my old stories in just three weeks. I'd taken a break from this story for a few years and it was so wonderful to breathe new life into it--just in time for PitchWars.

Oh, and here's a picture of my boys. Because cuteness. 

To any PW mentors out there who might be reading:

I want you to know that if you choose me, I will work SO hard for you!!! I am a stay-at-home mama with an incredibly supportive husband and we will carve out whatever time necessary for my edits and more edits (and possibly even more edits?? O_O )  

I'm not afraid to hear tough feedback. 

I'm not afraid of rewrites. 

I will do what I have to to make my manuscript be the Awesomest.

Also, I will be eating a lot of this:

And now... let's hear it for the PitchWars mentors! Thank you so much for all of time, work, and effort you give to us writers who are still in the query trenches. We are forever grateful!

Some info about me:

After teaching kindergarten for five years, I am now home with my three crazy, wonderful boys (you saw the Cuteness above, right?). I'm married to a high school vice principal (an English major!) who was the first fan of my stories and continues to be my fiercest critic. 

I adore him to pieces. 

When I'm not writing or wrangling three small children, I'm dreaming of going back to China, which will forever have a piece of my heart.

My Favorites:

• Doctor Who
• Harry Potter. Duh. (Wait... people still say "duh", don't they? Er... don't they? **runs away awkwardly**)
• The West Wing
• Parks & Recreation
• Books: Ender's Game, The Witch's Boy, Keeper of the Lost Cities, Shadow and Bone, The False Prince, Howl's Moving Castle, and The Septimus Heap Magyk series. 

Confessions: 

* While I am a lover of fantasy, I have not read Lord of the Rings. I've only seen the movies. Guys, I tried--I tried-- to read the books, but couldn't make it past The Hobbit.

* I've never read or watched Game of Thrones (*cue all the gasps!*)

* I don't drink coffee. I know. I'm pretty sure I'm the only writer who doesn't. 

And for anyone still reading (bless your heart!), here's some info on my story, DREW HORRIBLE:

• Title: DREW HORRIBLE
• Genre: upper MG fantasy
• Word count: 69k
• Set in an ancient Spartan-inspired militaristic society. With sock-stealing gnomes. And finicky magic that likes to be wooed. And dragons who like peanut butter. 
• Above all, it's a story about identity. It’s about finding your own way and learning that being different--in a society of militaristic conformity--might be just the thing needed to save the day. 
• Pitch:
  Ever the unimpressive smudge on the family tree, Drew Horrible is expected to follow in his father’s mean and nasty footsteps, and one day take his place to lead the evil Outlander army. After a series of fantastically fumbled events, Drew's on the verge of getting booted from military training altogether—to be forever disowned by his father. But  when a suspicious deadly illness spreads through the Outlander realm, Drew learns a secret leading to the only cure. Drew must summon the courage to ally with the treacherous enemy, the dragon who possibly killed his mother, in order to save his people and prove himself as the rightful heir—if he can embrace his own kind of Horrible.