#Pitchwars Mentee Bio

Okay, okay, fine. I will do a bio. Jeesh.

My name is Erin and I am a writer. A good one. I'm okay with saying that now.

I am a good writer.

I like my stories heavy, thought-provoking and  tear-inducing, with a liberal dash of snark and humor.

I am newer to writing fiction. I haven't written stories since I was five, like some of my Writerly friends. I've been telling stories since then, though. I've often thought that I would love to be a professional storyteller, except, I am a tiny bit introverted in real life. And by tiny, I mean I'm basically a hermit. If I wasn't married to an handsome outdoorsman and the mother of two insanely active children, I would likely never leave my home. (Not even for groceries. Like, Amazon does that now, don't they? I fully support the Amazon drone if it means I no longer need to go to Kroger.)

So I started writing down my stories so that I could actually share them with my loved ones. Most particularly, I wanted to create a character that my daughter and niece could admire. The self-awareness of Elizabeth Bennet with the cool head of Anne Elliot. The pluckiness of Becky Bloomwood tempered by the down-to-earth sarcasm of, well, every smart teenaged girl I've ever met. I didn't care what she looked like and I didn't care where she came from. As long as she could kick Bella Swan's ass and hang with Hermione and Ginny, I was good.

I read everything. Literally everything. I started with Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, THE BABYSITTERS CLUB and ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN. In high school, I bounced between Jane Austen, Christopher Pike and Patricia Cornwell. In college, I found HARRY POTTER. While my children were being born, I discovered TWILIGHT and THE HUNGER GAMES and sprinkled those in between my favorite chick lits— anything with pink on the cover and had the likeability of Sophia Kinsella's SHOPAHOLIC series. Prairie Romances? Yes, please. Stephen King. Okay, sure. Piers Anthony? Since I was a baby, practically. Which is weird, I know. Michael Crighton. Tom Clancy. Meg Cabot. Jane Green.

Since I've written INDIGENOUS, I've discovered the world of YA SFF and I am in love. The LUNAR CHRONICLES haunt my dreams. Rae Carson's GIRL OF FIRE AND THRONES series consumed my life to the point that I don't think I ate for four days while I read. Henry Neff is a genius. Pick up his books RIGHT NOW. Cinda Williams Chima and Melina Marchetta transport me and its amazing. I run to an audio version of PERCY JACKSON and THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS. Rick Riordan has gotten me through training for two half marathons and more road trips than I can count.

INDIGENOUS is my first book and is the lead-in to an almost complete trilogy. It's about genetics and ethics and a group of dear, gifted teenagers led by a sarcastic half-native American telepath named Charlie. I did not set out to write a SF. It just happened, people! I had a slight GATTACA obsession in high school and the ethical questions behind genetic manipulation and designer babies would. not. let. go. My baby brother is genius scientist. So, idly, I asked him a few questions about "what ifs" and it turned into a YA series. I think he still shakes his head that I took his science and made a fictional universe out of it. Incidentally, I also get lots of late night texts that say "That's not really a thing, Erin. Sorry."

I did the math last night and realized I've been half-way querying INDIGENOUS for almost 9 months. As I've been querying, I've been editing. DON'T DO THIS. Believe me. There is little worse in this process than a random email seven months later from a respected agent that has your original query and pages attached with a resounding NO. How embarrassing. Seriously.

Oh yeah, and I'm not patient. Obvi.

Likes:

My kids (they are hilarious and at 4 and 6 already are fluent in sarcasm and badassery)

My husband. We're one of those sick couples that met as teenagers and still make each other laugh. I know. Sorry. He's not a reader, but is my number one fan which is seriously incredible.

Black olives, marshmallows, cashew cream ice cream, banana peppers, guacamole and probably anything at Chipotle. If it was an apocalyptic scenario and all I had left were napkins from Chipotle, I'd probably be fine.

Running. Slowly. Alone. When it is twenty degrees out and dark. If it's just snowed, all the better. God, there is nothing more peaceful than a night run in the snow.

Teen Movies. I was a pre-teen to teen in the era of EMPIRE RECORDS, CLUELESS, CAN'T HARDLY WAIT and TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU, so to me, those are perfection. But I love them all from the beach movies of the 60's to The Brat Pack, to THE DUFF.

Grunge music. If it brings to mind greasy, stringy hair and a thrift store sweater, it speaks to me—whispers sweet nothings into my ear.

Jesus. This is a biggie for me. I might get on my soap box here, so excuse me. I LOVE JESUS. I do. I just don't think he wants me to hate everyone else. Sorry. I touch on faith in my books, but they aren't anything a traditional "Christian" publisher would probably like. My characters cuss, they drink, they talk about sex (and some have it, though they don't tell me details). Some of them also have faith in God. I do not believe these things are mutually exclusive. Like ever.

Dislikes: hypocrisy, social injustices (I was a sociology major in college, with a history minor- Damn The Man), tomatoes, mushrooms, sports (unless they are the Olympics), waking up from a too-long nap, wimpy heroines, gore, bullies, judgmental people of any faith system, grocery shopping and douchecanoes that get too much media attention (ie:Donald Trump)

Okay. You've made it to the end. If you are a fellow Writerly, come by my twitter and introduce yourself. I adore talking shop and want nothing more than to see all of my talented friends' names on a book shelf someday.

If you are a Mentor with #pitchwars, "Hi." Thanks for reading. I will work my ass off for you if chosen, and will respect the hell out of you either way because this business is hard and if we don't stick together, it's damn near impossible. :)

Erin out.