I thought it might be fun today to do a post about myself rather than writing or my book. I’m sure I’ll be posting lots more of that stuff on a later date but for now, why don’t you take a look at the ten things I could think up about myself.
10) I’m a super nerd.– From D&D to Doctor Who to Harry Potter to anime, if it is considered “nerdy”, I probably like it. I’ve always been drawn to stories and my favorite poison is anything fantasy. Some of my favorites included the three I named above, The Princess Bride, Sword Art Online, Attack on Titan, Kingdom Hearts, DIVERGENT series by Veronica Roth, A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY series by Libba Bray and much more.
9)…But I don’t like Star Wars.– I know, I know. But I have to watch them all! I have. I promise. I’ve watched them in order, out of order, started with someone’s favorite. I’ve seen every single episode, including the new ones. However, I just can’t get into them the way other people have. I know why I don’t like them and maybe one day I’ll open up that can of worms but for the purposes of this short list, I’ll just say that I didn’t see them when I was young enough for it to impact my life and I’m not wild about space stories in general (there are exceptions to this rule, for instance, I love ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis).
8) I’m a self-proclaimed escape room addict.– We decided to try escape rooms with a few of our friends about a year ago and have since then done about 20. We’re pro-level at this point! If you’re unfamiliar, an escape room is where a group of people are “locked” in a room and must escape in a given amount of time using clues provided. They are all themed. Some of my favorites have included prison break (where they put us in separate cells to start), zombie outbreak and art thief.
7) During my 3 week trip to Singapore, I completed my major edit of GARDEN OF THORNS.– My husband’s work sent him to Singapore for three weeks last year and I bought my own ticket and tagged along. During our stay there, my first round of edits (which are the largest, story altering type) were due. I spent every day of the week waking up at 6 with my husband and writing all day until he got back to the hotel so we could go out for dinner and sight see. I was a little nervous about how well I’d be able to focus writing in a foreign country but it turned out that all that time there really helped me.
6) My “other” job is a papercrafter.– About four years ago, my husband and I started a side business building all manner of nerdy things out of paper and layering them into a shadowbox frame to create a 3D image. It allowed me to quit my job and travel across the US to attend conventions. I love it!
5) Before that, my only “serious” job was a 911 dispatcher.– That “other job” happened to be answering 911 phone calls and dispatching officers to crime scenes. I worked at my local police department for four years and boy, does it give you some great party stories! While I liked some aspects of the job, I was relieved to put it behind me. Especially since the phone would ring every time I was in the middle of writing a particularly grueling sentence!
4) Some people like coffee, I run on Diet Coke.- This one’s pretty self explanatory. What can I say, I got my love for this silver can from my momma!
3) The only man I’ve loved longer than my husband is Brandon Boyd from Incubus.– I’ve always been a pretty big music fan. My house is rarely ever silent. Heck, I even attended a music high school and sang in the chorus. And the one thing that has been a constant through high school (I found Incubus in 9th grade and started dating my now-husband in 10th), college and “adult” life afterward has been Incubus. Their lyrics have always been so beautiful and I’m instantly drawn into the story of every song. Bonus fact: My guilty pleasure has always and will always be NSync. Don’t bring no Backstreet Boys into my house. 😉
2) GARDEN OF THORNS is my first novel to be published but it’s the 7th book I’ve written.– I’ve read it a lot everywhere but I just want to restate this, writing is hard. If you’ve sat down to write a book, short story or poem, then you know. It takes a ton of practice and a fair amount of luck to get a book published. It took me six other completed novels to finally write GARDEN but I’m thankful for each of them. I learned so much with every other fantasy, paranormal and supernatural book I wrote!
1) I write because I must.– At one point in my life, when I kept getting rejection letters, one of my friends asked me why I even bothered to write. I was taken aback by this question, not because I hadn’t thought of it before, but because I’d never taken the time to consider it. I’d always written because I didn’t see how I couldn’t write. But as I was thinking about it, I realized that it goes so much deeper than that. Creating characters and stories has always been a part of me. When the world looked too dark to face, when I felt so sad my bones shook, writing relieved that. I write because my world would be colorless without it. So even though writing novels is difficult, it’s a pain I could never live without.
So those are a few things you should know about me!
Amber Mitchell 