I did a GIF Bio for those who need a smile and encouragement while learning a bit about me. But here are just the facts (for #PitchWars and #BoostMyBio and #PWPoePrompts and You, of course):
BACKGROUND:
Lawyer, 25 years plus
Writer, 25 years plus:
*Briefing Attorney (Clerked for a Judge)
*Writing Lawyer (write appeals and other documents for Judges, attorneys and clients)
*Columnist (monthly local magazine, book review, over 10k readership)
*Fiction, since 2009, three manuscripts, plus
*Lone Star Book Blogger, promoting (mostly) Texas books, authors and publishers
Business/Motivational Speaker, (2005-present)
Actress: A number of name roles including Madame Thenardier (LES MISERABLE), Mame (MAME), Baker's Wife (INTO THE WOODS), Truvy (Steele Magnolias)
Director: INHERIT THE WIND, FIVE WOMEN WEARING THE SAME DRESS, VAGINA MONOLOGUES
Narrator:
*THE BIG INCH, by Kimberly Finch (Audible, iTunes)
*TIME AND AGAIN, by Nancy Fraser (soon to be available on Audible)
Oral Reader: Years, including for 2nd grade classes in Lamar County, once a week
Awards (Recent):
I AM HOUSTON, Second Runner Up, General/Literary Fiction (2017) Permian Basin Writers' Workshop Manuscript Contest
Inner Landscapes, WRITERS RESPOND TO THE ART OF VIRGINIA DEHN, 2013 (Contest Publication)
Memberships:
Historical Novel Society
Historical Writers of America
Writers' League of Texas
Writers' Guild of Texas
Conferences Attended:
Historical Novel Society- North America, 2017
Permian Basin Writer's Workshop, 2017
New York Pitch Conference, 2018
A Few Good Books I Love, in no order, and this is hard, I love many:
Wolf Hall
The Heart's Invisible Furies
A Gentleman in Moscow
Cold Mountain
Lonesome Dove
News of the World
Circe & The Song of Achilles
The Hate You Give
To Kill a Mockingbird
All Sherman Alexie
A Game of Thrones Series, etc.
Outlander Series, etc.
War & Peace
The Iliad
Gone with the Wind
True Grit
Pride and Prejudice
Born a Crime
Just One Damn Thing After Another (Chronicles of St. Mary's)
Angelique (needs to come back in print and Audio!)
American Wolf
The Name of the Wind
Out of Africa
All Tana French
Memoirs of a Giesha
The Beast's Garden
(Ok, so basically anything about war/politics/social change and people, lol, with a little magic mixed in.)
What I do for fun:
Theatre :)
My husband and I host good parties :)
Travel :)
Love on my Fur Babies :) and my Grown Babies, too ;)
Sit on the backporch swing :)
Manuscript: I AM HOUSTON (Here is a start on a dream cover)
In 1809, Cherokee Territory faces obliteration within the heart of the Louisiana Purchase. Troubled teenager Sam Houston faces another kind of demise: that of the fatherless boy crushed by humorless brothers. He runs to the Cherokee, where they transform him into a man, warrior, and statesman. Better, they capture his heart, including young Diana Rogers. Still, he remembers his heroic father and craves more. Then the War of 1812 erupts, propelling Sam to near suicidal glory while breaking his tribe under General Andrew Jackson’s post war removal treaty. Helping them remove without loss of life, Sam rises in glory until he is Governor of Tennessee and disaster descends. There is only one escape: to his tribe in New Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma), where he fears they’ll reject him due to his role in their removal.
In fact, their fate after removal is far worse than he imagined. But as he fights to save his tribe and make a life among them with Diana, enemies question Houston’s true intentions, such as debating why Houston, a General, is so near chaotic Mexico’s Texas. As external and internal pressures escalate, he must finally stop running and declare who Sam Houston is and for what he stands.
Based upon the true story of a hero who first failed, I AM HOUSTON is a call to the down and out to still fight to make a difference for others, even when the world makes no sense. Shedding light on Houston’s forgotten Cherokee tribe and the unpopular stand he took for them, it forecasts Houston saving Texas from Santa Anna with the war cry ”Remember the Alamo” and later resigning as Governor rather than bowing to the Texas secession vote.
Complete at 104,000 words, I AM HOUSTON is a multi-voiced mix of heroic military epic (BENEATH A SCARLET SKY) and classic Native American tragedy (THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS), emanating the south of Charles Frazier (COLD MOUNTAIN/VARINA) and magical realism of Isabel Allende (HOUSE OF SPIRITS). I AM HOUSTON is a standalone adventure historical/magical realism novel with series or spin-off potential.
I AM HOUSTON, won Second Runner Up in the Odessa/Permian Basin Writer's Contest, General/Literary Fiction (September 2017). Author Sydney Young is a lawyer who writes for judges and clients. Along with her monthly book review column, Sydney promotes books via Lone Star Lit Bloggers. She is also an audiobook narrator.
Just for fun, here is the emoji story, see if you can't make sense of it now, based on the above:
For more fun on telling, see Fun Bio here.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for reading this, or the other Fun (GIF) Bio. Would love to hear your thoughts.
