I need your help! Does anyone know me better than I do? I'm trying to write a bio for my publisher. It also asks why I wrote SMITTEN KITTENS. Anyone? Heather?
Okay, here's what I've come up with. Any advice????
Okay, here's what I've come up with. Any advice????
Suzanne Young is an author, wife and mother of two. Originally from Utica, NY, Suzanne moved to Arizona to pursue her dream of not freezing to death. After nearly eight years in the desert, she and her family moved to Oregon where she continues to live a completely random life.
Suzanne writes novels for teens and earned a BA in Creative Writing before becoming a middle school Language Arts teacher. Visit her blog at www.suzanne-young.blogspot.com to learn more about her daily life as a hyperactive YA author.
SMITTEN KITTENS is not based on any of Suzanne’s life. Although she was a cheerleader for a short season in eighth grade, she wasn’t very good. Suzanne’s main goal in her novel was to break stereotypes and bring depth to an otherwise light-hearted tale.
SMITTEN KITTENS is her debut novel.
Suzanne writes novels for teens and earned a BA in Creative Writing before becoming a middle school Language Arts teacher. Visit her blog at www.suzanne-young.blogspot.com to learn more about her daily life as a hyperactive YA author.
SMITTEN KITTENS is not based on any of Suzanne’s life. Although she was a cheerleader for a short season in eighth grade, she wasn’t very good. Suzanne’s main goal in her novel was to break stereotypes and bring depth to an otherwise light-hearted tale.
SMITTEN KITTENS is her debut novel.
10 comments:
Personally, I like the second one.
I haven't read your ch 1 yet, have I? Oops... trying to get my chapter written first. Will do it soon.
yep. The second one :-)
You gals are right. I might have to keep the SK comment at the end of one, but otherwise one is just a little TMI. I might even take it down. haha.
THANKS!!!!
I don't get what people mean by "the second one"...isn't this all one bio? I think it's great. This is super hard to do for yourself!
Hey Christy! I actually had two up, but then realized the first one was pretty bad. hahahaha
But thanks! Who thought summing up your life into two paragraphs would be so hard???
Now I'd like to know what was in that first one that had TMI!!! Something about your love of ham? Hahaha.
You know it, Robin. Those ham sandwiches saw me through some dark days.... haha
I hate the whole bio thing. It's hard!
I also like the second paragraph - if you have something teaching related in your background and/or a degree that's relevant, I think you should mention it. I don't, so I have to come up with stupid random stuff and try to make it sound good.
Is a reader allowed an opinion here? I hope so. Yes, I do write; very unpublished and only write short stories, so I think I still am what you call "a reader". A strange one perhaps, yet a reader, I am.
This may scare you, shock you, amuse you or whatever reaction you get from this, but "I actually read author bios!" Without trying to be funny or amusing---tempting as it is---I want to know something about the author whose work I am reading. I am never sure exactly what it is I wish to know but I am counting on you to help me out with a little information on yourself.
I do like the born here-ville live in there-ville--I am a Ville'n myself these days. If you actually get to write your own bio, then you have that rare gift to speak to the world, even if limited to your small part of it. I know you are more than you will say, but in the here and now what would you want me to know about you or your life?
I once tracked down a writer of a best selling biography about a scientist 15 years after I bought the book, because his own brief bio mentioned the University he taught at. This led to me receiving additional information I was interested in. Next month the same fellow is coming out with a follow-up on the biography he wrote and I hope to get an autographed edition of his book. Had it not been for this one clue about him and the creation of the internet, this almost minor miracle would never have been. Your bios are important to many in your audience.
Please take the time and try to learn to love sharing a little of who you are in your bio. Your next publisher might even be reading your bio and decide to publish you based on what was read in your bio. Mostly though, you are telling the public probably all they will ever know about that great person who wrote the wonderful book they are about to read, are reading, or have read. You should really hope they go to your bio.
Hope to be back later with other thoughts. Lisa, it is nice to know you don't need a degree to be a writer. I don't have one either. That "stupid" stuff may be just what I need to inspire me as a reader. Thanks and sorry about my words. I am sleepy at the moment. Hope I make sense.
Before I lost my mind above, I had meant to say, it might be good to consult what many other authors have said about themselves. It might be possible to come up with original ideas that way or borrow from someone's different approach to their bio. You should try to realize you are now "important"; you are "somebody" to people. No matter how small that sphere of fame may seem to you, your fame will loom large to the reader. You want them to feel they have chosen wisely. Think of the writers you admire and their bios.
Thanks again for allowing me to spout more on this subject. I hope this is a little more sane than my last thoughts.
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