Hello!

Today is my BIRTHDAY! Huzzah!

I know lots of adults think birthdays are meh, but I love them. A whole day dedicated to me and no one else. Well, everyone else who shares my birthday and (some years) Labor Day and lots of other things. But it's fun to be queen for a day, and I enjoy celebrating milestones like anniversaries and birthdays. Making it through one more year alive is pretty awesome!

Anyway, in honor of my birthday, I decided I would finally properly introduce myself with an "about me" vlog. So...hello!

All About Nora: A #PitchWars Mentee Bio!

Helloooooooooo!

I wasn't going to do one of these, but then I wanted to procrastinate, so here we are.

My name is Nora, and I am a pre-published author. I am currently sitting on my couch in pajamas eating iced animal crackers and watching HGTV. And that right there pretty much sums me up. It's noon and I pretty much look like this:

I am creeping closer to 30 than 20 (when the hell did that happen?). In fact, I'll be ticking another notch on September 7th—I will be accepting early gifts on September 3rd in the form of mentor picks!

Oh, and I should probably mention that I'm 6'4". But since this is the internet, don't worry, you won't have to have me looming over you! And nope, I don't play basketball/volleyball/whatever. I am determinedly uncoordinated!

So, what else about me? I was born in Wisconsin and grew up in Iowa, but I escaped the Midwest via the Navy. I went to college at the Naval Academy in Maryland where I got a B.S. in Astrophysics with a minor in Spanish. After that, I spent the last five years in the Navy. Luckily I was able to get four of those years in San Diego, where I stayed after getting out in June. Among all of these upheavals, moves, underways, and duty days, my writing has remained a constant.

I write science fiction and fantasy. I blame my parents! My dad started reading The Hobbit aloud to me when I was little, and I haven't looked back since. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Heinlein, Asimov, Ender's Game, Star Wars, Doctor Who...well, you get the idea. Magic? Space? Lasers? Give me it ALLLLLLLL!

The manuscript I submitted for #PitchWars, Anna's Stars, is the fourth full novel I have written. I love Anna, I love science fiction, and I love my kickass story! The book deals a lot with grief and loss, seasoned with galactic politics, Imperial machinations, and space adventuring. I can't wait for one of the mentors to fall in love with Anna and her story, too!

Well, that's me! Check out some of the other mentee bios over at the Contestant Hop!

Hello, Internet...

Not that I think anyone is interested, but more for my own benefit, I am starting a dedicated WRITING BLOG. Whee! Just another distraction from actually getting any writing done? Probably. But hopefully also an incentive to keep those creative juices flowing, to remind myself what I have accomplished and what more I will accomplish in the future. There are hundreds of people who are doing this, and I believe that I can too. I just need to dedicate myself to actually getting words down on the page. I can't even contemplate agent searching yet or anything.

I guess a current breakdown of my WIP is in order as a starting point.

Novel 1, fantasy, almost completed first draft. Currently clocking in at around 50K, not quite done yet. Needs a lot of work, as I took nearly a four year hiatus from writing this. Am very excited to get started on the second draft.

Novel 2, sci fi, barely started first draft. Toying with the ideas and where I want to go with them. Thinking a multi-book series on this one, but given my difficulties making even ONE book (all my drafts tend to be a bit on the short side), we'll see.

Novel 3, fantasy, barely started first draft. Like this one, but have run into a brick wall as far as the plot. As in, it has a plot, but there is no REASON for said plot. So stuck.

Short Story 1, halfway done first draft (869 words). I'm not usually a big short story writer, but this idea struck me one day and I've been enjoying writing it so far. Also the only thing I'm working on that isn't SF/F.


So that's it so far. My big push is finishing the first draft of Novel 1 and then working a strong re-write. My hope is to do a chapter a week once I get to the re-write, which would be awesome. My husband is going to be a beta (and swears he'll be honest, but isn't much of a reader, so will be a first-stage, rough idea beta), as well as working some Scribophile/writing board excerpts to make sure I'm headed in a good direction.

Everything seems so possible right now, even when I'm struggling to get 200 words a day, and I hope I can hold on to that feeling!