Wednesday, February 23, 2011

May I introduce myself?

Aloha! It's me, Andrea!

Thank you, Sarah, for inviting me to join Authorial Moms as a regular contributor. I've been a fan since we met in 2008 at Chicago North's RWA Spring Fling Conference. It was the first public appearance as writers for both of us, and I fondly remember much mutual hand holding as we practiced our first pitches. I've loved traveling this crazy publishing road along with you. Thanks for your support and cheerleading!

My body of work consists of a small handful of contemporary romance manuscripts. An agent in NY has a revised copy of my latest, Baltimore Heat, literally sitting on her desk. (I know because she requires hard copies snail mailed to her.) She has promised to read it as soon as she finishes with her clients' work.

My fingers cramped long ago from keeping them held crossed for so long, so I've shaken them out and only keep them crossed in my mind now. Waiting for agent responses is an excellent exercise for building the patience muscle. After three years of submitting, I'm pleased to say my muscle is strong and healthy. I hardly remember anymore to check my inbox for 'her' name. ;D

On a personal note, I'm a mother of three boys, ages 12, 9 and 7, and the wife of a math professor. I'm blessed with lots of time during the day to write as the three kids are off at school, but the irony is that I get more writing done on days when I'm pressed for time than on the days when my schedule is wide open.

Oh yeah, in regards to my opening salutation. Nope, I'm not writing from Hawaii (only in my dreams). Instead, I'm sitting here at my kitchen table, looking out at a very snowy, but sunny backyard in West Michigan. (Yep, we capitalize the 'w' in west here!) It's great to be only 12 minutes from the beaches of Lake Michigan in the summertime, but in the winter it means LOTS of lake effect snow and at least four snow days off school every year for the kids. I love those snow days.

5 comments:

Therese said...

Hi Andrea! It's nice to meet you. Sally and I are "neighbors" and I've always enjoyed reading her blog. (I'm a daschund owner too, so I love posts about her little guys!) I write women's fiction, and I am a mom too. I have a 15 year old daughter (very soon to be 16...YIKES!) and a 10 year old son. I look forward to reading your work!

Sarah M. Anderson said...

Hi Andrea, thanks for jumping in! Isn't it funny that you and I both write faster when the clock is ticking rather than when we've got all the time in the world? I'm sure our readers are looking forward to stories of how you manage imaginary people and three real, live boys at the same time!

Unknown said...

Nice!! Glad you are on the ride!!

lucylucia said...

Welcome Andrea! I'm looking forward to reading your posts!

Blythe Gifford said...

Andrea - Welcome! You're in very good company. I'll look forward to hearing about your journey. (And it's not a "small handful" of manuscripts. It is "several.")