Pimp My Bio

There is a writing contest beginning on August 2nd called Pitch Wars . The prize is to receive two months mentoring and guidance in revising a manuscript and pitch to be seen by participating literary agents. Mentee hopefuls are doing a Pimp My Bio Blog Hop. That's when they tell about themselves on their own blog. Editors and other participants hop from blog to blog reading everyone's posts to learn more about each other. It's a good way for the mentors to discover if a mentee hopeful is someone they would enjoy working with.

Problem for me though. I’ve been reading other #PitchWars hopefuls' bios, and I think I am the uncoolest kid in the class. I’ve tried to come up with some fascinating things to tell about myself to convince the Pitch Wars editors that they want to work with me. Um. . . .

Oh, I'm stubborn.

My husband has called me relentless.

It was a joke growing up that if you wanted me to do something all you have to do was tell me it was impossible and I would do it. Someone once told me that solving Rubik's cube was impossible. 

“You think so? Well, I’ll show you!”

This is my fidget basket. Notice the solved cube? When I am editing, or listening to a text-to-speech recitation of my manuscript, or following a contest twitter feed, I tend to fidget.  If I didn't have something to keep my hands busy, I'd probably eat too much. This basket is my solution to my fidget problem. My daughter gave me the mug when one of my characters started quoting her.

I dated a guy whose hobby was caving; he liked crawling around underground, in the dark, under tons of rock, with a light strapped to his head. I realized that if I wanted to spend time with that guy, I would have to learn to like crawling around underground, in the dark, under tons of rock, with a light strapped to my head. Like I said, I’m stubborn. Put a challenge in front of me, and if it is within my physical abilities, I am likely to try. Crawling is within my physical abilities. The rest of it is just dealing with the mental challenges of facing darkness, mud, wildlife, closed-in spaces, and tons of rock over head. Easy.

This is the last cave I went in with that guy. It’s called the Sinks of Gandy. It's in West Virginia. Gandy Creek runs through the bluff  ending into a meadow pasture. Watch out for the cows. Physically, it is a fairly easy cave to do. Just follow the creek. There is no crawling in tight passages involved. When we went, our four kids went with us.  Yeah, I married that guy, muddy boots and all.

As a family we do primitive camping, sometimes along Gandy Creek. Primitive camping is when you bring your shovel and water filter because where we go there are no bath houses, electricity, or plumbing. There is running water in the creek behind the campsite. It's a challenge. I like being challenged.

One of most challenging tasks I've taken on in my life is homeschooling my four kids from kindergarten through high school. I'm almost done, my youngest is a senior in high school. The oldest is in grad-school studying to become a pharmacist.

I've faced physical challenges in my life, and I've faced the challenge of being learning disabled.

I've lived with chronic, almost daily, pain for over twenty years now. I am sensitive to most of the food on the planet and I have a rare disfiguring disease called Neurofibromatosis . Because of my learning disabilities, without technology, especially spell check and text-to-speech software to help me, I probably couldn't be a writer.

So, what does all this have to do with #PitchWars and #PimpMyBio? Because, I’d make an excellent mentee.  If you put a challenge in front of me, I’m going to take it on. I will find a way to succeed. Dark holes in the ground don’t frighten me, not even when there are bats flying past me in a tight passage*, the intimidating prospect of educating four kids through high school didn't stop me. No indoor plumbing or electricity? No problem. Not even puzzles with 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible combinations  or eating another meal of rice, beans, and chicken (some of the few foods I can eat) or facing another day of pain can discourage me.

Facing a  marked up manuscript is nothing. Bring it on!


*A note about bats flying around you in a cave. Just stand still, and they'll go around you. If you wave your arms frantically, they will have a harder time judging where you are and how to avoid you.