Please introduce yourselves

[Sunny Irene Roth]

Hi all,

Since we have a few new members in this mentoring group, please introduce yourselves. This is an important way for all of us to get to know each other.

Just post your introduction under this thread.

In your post, please mention if you have been part of my mentoring group or if you are new.

Take care, and let's make this your very best writing year yet!

Irene S. Roth

 

[Cynthia Capley]

Hi,

I’m Cynthia Young writing as Cynthia Capley. I write Victorian romance.

I’m new to the group. I’ve been working on trying to finish a manuscript for five years and am hoping being in this group will help me work through my blocks and help me to finish.

I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone.

 

[JDP]

Hi,

I'm looking forward to being a part of this group! I write Middle Grade and Picture Books. I have a manuscript on submission and an MG Paranormal WIP that needs more attention than I'm giving it - hoping to improve my time management this year for sure!

Julie Patton

 

[Allison Kelsey]

Hi!

I'm Allison, and I'm new to the group.

I'm a non-traditional college student, majoring in journalism, and it's been nothing but college for the past five years, from sun up to beyond sundown. The last time I wrote romance was July 2014 before the school crazies kicked in. I've plotted out and sketched scenes since, but nothing major. I've always been an "all or nothing" girl, i.e., if I don't have hours to write, then I'm not going to write at all.

I have two classes (Spanish I and II) left to take before I graduate, but I have a $947 balance (surprise!) on my fall tuition, which means I've got a registration block. Pro: I'm taking this semester off while I gather up the money, so now I have time to focus on getting my campus newspaper's website ready to be turned over to my replacement (I'm the digital editor at the paper; this is my last semester on staff), finish up my editorial residency at my internship, get things ready for my Big Girl Job Hunt, and get back to romance writing. (No specific order there; I do want to make the website and fiction writing my priority.) Con: I'm now stuck taking Spanish I and II in the summer where the semester is divided into halves. It's not a big deal; I started college as a quarter student, and my school finally switched over to semesters like in 2012. I've always hated semesters; they drag on soooooo long, so the half semesters feel like quarters to me. It's just that overdosing on Spanish is not how I planned to spend my last summer of freedom before going back out into the real world.

As for what I write? I write chick lit, medical romance, and the occasional weird romance.

 

[D.L. Gioe]

Hi All,

I'm new to Irene's mentoring group, and late to the party. I registered for the class on Wednesday and it feels like this is the first time I've had to sit down and engage with it since. The chaos of my scheduling lately aside, I'm very happy to be here and excited to get to know you all.

I've written a YA dystopian trilogy and am working on an MG contemporary fantasy, but have nothing published. I'm looking forward to finishing up these second round revisions in the next month or two and then starting the agent hunt, again. Then I have to decide whether to do another round of revisions on the YA novel, which has had a few longer looks from agents but no commitments in the end, or to put it away to work on one of the other stories pushing around my grey matter. I signed up for this course with the hopes that it would help me sort through my priorities and come up with a game plan that I can live with, hopefully with less second guessing.

Oh, and I write (and signed up with Savvy Authors) under the name DL Gioe but please call me Thea.

 

[Mel Corbett]

Hi,

I'm Mel and I'm also new to Irene's mentoring group. I registered, but couldn't figure out how to access it. I've bookmarked the page now, so I shouldn't get lost again. I swear, I get lost on this site.

I write spec fic, mostly SF&F lately. Right now I'm working on a super hero series and am stuck in the middle of book 2. Muddy middles, right?

I've got a couple books indie published, including the start of an alien invasion series, but I can't seem to get traction anywhere. I'm trying to level up my craft and get better at story structure. I'm hoping to start connecting with readers and start getting traction and rapid release said super hero series later this year.

@Allison Kelsey, if you've got any Spanish questions, I'm your girl. I just gave up on finishing my dissertation to take a Masters in Spanish instead of the PhD. As of December I'm done with grad school. I've taught Spanish 1 & 2 a bunch of times (on the quarter system as well, no less. Quarters suck. They're so quick.)

 

[Allison Kelsey]

Okay... so things are kinda a hot mess right now, but I wanted to be accountable and show that I didn't go MIA. (I've had a bad habit in the past where... when college would flare up and I'd be trying to get involved in my romance writing circles again... I'd just disappear from the romance writing circles.)

The senior assistant dean in the arts and sciences college at my university emailed me a couple weeks ago. She said that if I'm interested in returning to school this semester, she might be able to provide financial assistance, so I could return. (I think I mentioned that lingering balance from fall semester in my intro.)

Welp. The balance is paid off -- AND she looked at my academic record. She's waiving my foreign language requirement (due to my age, don't ask, but you can... it's actually a funny ageist story), and wants me to take six credit hours of culture classes this semester, and then I'll be done. Done like in I can graduate in April with my campus newspaper and internship friends. (The original plan was me graduating alone in August.)

So I'm re-doing/taking another look at my writing schedule and fitting these two classes in. Although with the amount of work involved, I'd have been better off taking Spanish. I'll get last week's homework, and goals, and Irene's email, and all that soon... this week. I promise.