Just Beginning

Happy Sunday everyone! I'm Carrie Hinkel-Gill and I am excited to join fellow Deadly Vixens Sarah, Gracen, Margay and Ashley!!

Let me start by telling you some things about myself and how I got to be a Deadly Vixen. I have been writing stories and poems for as long as I can remember. I grew up on Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein but later came to appreciate poets such as Walt Whitman, Galway Kinnell and Sharon Olds. I wasn't sure how poetry would help me, I just knew that I needed to study it, understand it as best as I could. Equally important to me, was creative writing. Even though I was studying electrical engineering in my early academic years, I didn't feel balanced unless I had an English class of some sort.

After ten years of classes and no degree, I began to reassess my life, try to figure out why I wasn't advancing and not even close to graduating. The answer was not something I wanted to admit, but once I admitted it, I was able to move on. After a lot of soul searching, I realized that no matter how smart I was and no matter how hard I tried to study, I was never going to get any farther in engineering because I didn't want to be an engineer. I had the smarts, just not the heart or the drive.

Okay, so all this time going to school and no degree to show for it. What did I really want to do? I wanted to write but at the same time I didn't want my engineering to go to waste. I wanted something that would make all those years of academic study useful to some degree, but above all, I wanted to write. So, I chose to be a Professional & Technical Writer. When I get my paperwork in order, I will have a Bachelor's Degree in Letters and Science in English with a specialty in Professional & Technical Writing with a minor in Electrical Engineering.

So, what made me decide to pursue the creative side of writing?

The characters in my head. During the summer and fall (my last semester of college) of 2008, I would have periods where I couldn't concentrate or get anything done unless I took time to listen to the voices in my head. The voices were characters with stories to be told and they were tired of being ignored and began making more and more noise until I put pen to paper and/or fingers to keyboard.

Brandon Brandelbuck has been the loudest character so far, while the purple-cloaked warrior has been most patiently waiting for me to get back to his story. One weekend, I was supposed to study for an exam on some of Shakespeare's plays, but Brandon was making so much noise that I had to get some of his story down so that he would be quiet so that I could study. He wanted me to do it old school, that's right, pen and paper, so pen and paper it was. After a few hours, I had written enough to satisfy him and he let me have some quiet time to study. It was mid-September at this point and I figured that writing would just be a fun hobby and still wasn't quite serious about pursuing a career in creative writing. However, by the end of the semester, I knew that I wanted to write novels and nothing else would do.

After I finished my last semester, I began to immerse myself back into the online writers' blog I was paying attention to before my last semester of college. One thing led to another, and I found myself following the Deadly Vixens. Then I discovered the Wisconsin chapter of RWA and attended a meeting. Soon after that I saw the request for new DV's which brought me to you today.

Currently, I am in the process of becoming an official RWA member and learning some history of the the planet on which Brandon and Cleo live. In my free time, I read, build my website and try to get some remodeling done in my condo. This summer I will be traveling to ride some roller coasters and drink some good craft beer.

While I do not have any book or story to promote at this time, you can find my Genres column at:
The Leader

Unfortunately, I don't have any control over the editing process at the student-run magazine, so some of my transitions and personal touches don't end up in print and they can read somewhat awkwardly, but it still is a way to practice my writing. For this reason, I am working on getting the originals posted on my personal website (another work-in-progress for me) which can be found here:
My Genres Columns

Since I am a new Deadly Vixen and not familiar with all of our followers, I would like to open the floor for questions. Is there anything that's not here you would like to know about me?

I look forward to answering any questions you may have!

Carrie

P.S. - Be sure to check out Margay on Monday!