Friday, April 4, 2008

Introduction from Deadly Vixen Gracen

My turn to bite! I am Gracen Miller the last of the Vixens’ trio. Welcome, welcome, I am glad you came to read my rambling thoughts and bio.

I’ll begin by giving you a taste of my insanely neurotic life. I have three boys (the third being my husband of 16 years—truly, he’s nothing more than an adult-sized kid), all of which are involved in TaeKwonDo. For those of you unfamiliar with karate, it can consume your life. We have made some really great friends along the way, however. And honestly, I spend more time with the karate family than I do other members of my own blood relatives. Aside from karate, my boys participate throughout the year in soccer and football.

Next to my husband, writing is my passion. I have been spinning tales since I was in sixth grade, when my English teacher forced us to write a play. Yes, I said “forced” because that’s what it initially felt like when she gave us the dreaded assignment. I mean seriously what could she have been thinking to ask us to write? Write! Use our imaginations! Oh, the horror of it! I quickly discovered, however, that writing was powerfully inspiring and rather drugging in its deistic type-creation. There was no horror in writing, except for the horror elements I wove into the plot lines. For that particular project, I wrote about Atlantis rising from the sea with its evil citizens having supernatural powers. I laugh about it when I think of it now. It was horrific stuff, but that one project gave me the love of writing to last a lifetime. Now, I jokingly say the “voices in my head” won’t allow me a moments peace unless I give breath to their lives by writing about them.

I live in Alabama with my very active family. I have a cat and a dog that jointly own me and spend hours together doing nothing more energetic than lounging in my lap. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Troy University and an Associates degree in Paralegal Studies from Huntingdon College. Presently, I work from home as a full-time shuttle-bus for my two sports inclined boys.

We would love for you to come join our Deadly Vixens Yahoo! Group. Come tell us about yourself, your family, do you write (and if so, what do you write), who is your favorite author, and anything else you can think of. Start some topics and hopefully make some friends.

Firedrakes Weyr Publishing has taken a chance on me and published my first book, The Devil’s Den, on April 1, 2008. It is a paranormal romance set in the present day. The hero, Six, is a 3,000 year old vampire and one of those characters that you will love to hate.

Don’t forget to join Sarah Mäkelä and me today (Friday, April 4, 2008) for a Love Romances Cafe Yahoo! chat from 12pm - 7pm EST.

4 deadly screams:

Desirée Lee said...

Oh my! Forced in to writing! The terror! The dread!

The plot bunny perhaps? *giggle*

Congratulations on your first book release! Each and every subsequent one will be exciting of course, but there is always something magical about your first!

Carpe Noctem,
Des

Sarah Mäkelä said...

Great blog, Gracen!

I'm with you on the "forced writing." I had an English teacher in the 7th grade assign us to write a children's story or something along those lines. I wrote one and the teacher entered it into the school's contest saying it had potential. It won for the school and ended up going to districts. It didn't win, but I got an Excellence in Writing Award from it, and encouragement from the teacher to keep writing.

I guess I've never been the same! lol

Sarah Mäkelä

Sierra Wolfe said...

Excellent job Gracen. I loved your post today. It's so interesting to hear how each person came to love the writing life. I was also encouraged in grade school with my writing by several teachers. I wonder if they know today how much their encouragement has shaped us.

Sierra

Gracen Miller said...

Thanks, gals, for the comments.

Thanks, Desiree. I don't doubt that there will always be something magical about publishing my first book. I keep thinking even if I only sell 2 copies, it's more than I would have sold with it sitting in my computer.

Isn't it funny how we have the same experience, Sarah. I wish I could have told my teacher how much she had changed my life. Unfortunately, she died about 10 years ago.

Sierra, I agree. I love to hear how each writer got started.