Have you ever noticed how hard it is to write things like resumes and author bio’s? I mean its easy to talk about things you’re going through, but praise yourself? Put yourself in a good light?
Come on!
I mean who am I?
I asked for help with writing an author bio and most of the advice I got was on how I should write about how I’m the EXPERT on my topic.
I’m
a fiction writer for crying out loud!
The closest I come to being an expert on the topic of my story is that I wrote it. That isn’t to say someone else can’t write something similar. Fiction is made up; anyone can do that.
Okay, not everybody can do it well, but that doesn’t mean someone else can’t come up with a story similar to mine. It wouldn’t be exactly the same obviously, because no one else can think the way I do, not even Konnie. She didn’t come up with this story, I did.
Though if my mirror twin can’t concoct a similar story,
then maybe I am the expert on this story. Who knows?
Then again, Konnie and I have never come up with similar stories, unless you count that so many of our stories are romance, and usually YA.
However, one of Konnie’s stories is a fantasy and I promise you; I am never going to write fantasy.
Yes, I like The Chronicles of Narnia, but it took Konnie a few years to finally convince me to read them, and she never got me to read anything by J.R.R. Tolkien. I’m not much into fantasy, and she enjoys it.
Though I admit we both write sci-fi as well as romance. I’m frankly just shocked she wrote a sci-fi before I did, unless you count Mathias’ Dilemma as sci-fi. He is an alien from outer space, but it is also a contemporary romance, still I definitely wrote the rough draft of that before she started what she calls her opus.
However,
there is another fact, Konnie’s favorite author write’s fantasy, while my
favorite author writes mysteries. Note, I do not write mysteries.
I have come to realize mystery writers are not pantsers — I am. I guess I’ll never figure out how to write a mystery or even a romantic suspense. Though I read quite a bit of both.
All I’ve actually written is sci-fi and romance, Konnie has both those and fantasy.
Maybe I should try harder to branch out into mystery.
And all that doesn’t get my bio written.
I think the only good advice I got was to mention how long I have been writing, my attendance at the Snake River Writer’s Conference last year, all the years I’ve participated in Nano, and my membership in the Pocatello and online writing communities, showing me to a serious writer despite not having any novels published, yet.
All good.
But would it help or hurt to mention the various club newsletters I’ve either contributed to or edited? I’m guessing it wouldn’t. I’m also guessing that one poem which was published in a local magazine that is now defunct wouldn’t help me either. By the way, it went belly up because they promised to pay for the works they published and didn’t.
I’ve actually had two poems published, but the second one was only published in small group newsletters or bulletins.
Yeah, I’m not much of a pro.
Another thing I’m not sure about mentioning is my blog, or rather our blog, since I do share it with Konnie. Do I mention it? Do I mention being a mirror twin and my sister writes too? Do I mention all the family I have who writes?
Our big sister once upon a time contributed to her local newspaper, and I’m not talking letters to the editor, which I have done on several occasions. As I’ve mentioned before, writing is in our blood, and I traced my line clear back to William Shakespeare’s grandfather. I sure wish I could mention that in my bio! But I doubt that would help.
How does this sound?
Bonnie Le Hamilton started writing in sixth grade when her teacher assigned short stories to the class. From there she branched out into writing plays and poems before she started writing romance novels in high school, but she didn’t start writing seriously until 2000, after she finally got online and joined an online writing community.
Today she is a member of both Pocatello Writer’s Group and PokyWriters as well as several online writing groups including National Novel Writer’s Month, which she has participated in since 2003. She’s also attended the Snake River Writers Conference. Plus, she is the co-author of lifeasmirrortwins.blogspot.com.
Does that sound okay?
Happy writing everyone!
