New author biography

Most writers would consider themselves skilled at describing a person, but when it comes down to writing an author biography, it is suddenly difficult to decide what's important and what isn't. We are not used to writing about ourselves, especially not in the third person. 

Do you stick to the cold hard (boring?) facts or do you add something more personal?

I had a go at writing an author biography the other day and to my surprise, enjoyed it. I even found out about the correct spelling and original meaning of the word mother lode.

Then I thought about my love of Italy and how that rubbed off in my writing in Tom's character, and I got distracted wondering how many types of pasta I could name from the top of my head. (Oh, the writer's brain, it's so marvelous and so irritating...)

Despite all of these distractions, I managed to finish my author biography. Here it is, without further ado:

Annie loves coffee with a mother load mother lode of milkfroth on top, she loves the scent of the native bush that surrounds her home in the hills in South Canterbury/New Zealand, and anything Italian, especially the food and the language, will delight her.

Not surprisingly, her main character Tom happens to be a great cook of Italian dishes and can correctly identify and pronounce nine different types of pasta. (How many can you list?)

Being an eternal romantic, Annie loves writing the type of novels that she loves to read – love stories that make you laugh and cry, love stories that make you pine for and cheer alongside your main characters as they negotiate their way through the ups and downs of new, old and second-chance love. Her favourite characters are ones that are strong and independent, but when their flaws and vulnerabilities are exposed, they have to suffer so much more than others.

Annie shares her home with her not-so-romantic husband (she doesn’t hold that against him any longer) and their teenage daughter as well as a bunch of pets: two dogs, two cats, one noisy African Grey parrot and a couple of donkeys.

During the day, Annie is lucky to be teaching a class of nine and ten year olds the joys of reading and writing as well as all the other exciting subjects in primary school. Depending on the time of day, you might see her wearing an apron while cutting up fruit for the children, an art shirt while having a go at printmaking (one of the many benefits of being a teacher – you get to do all the fun stuff you used to do when you were at school) or some weird book character costume during a special book week.

In the evenings, weekends and school holidays, you will find her sitting at her laptop, looking out the window, thinking, and typing. 

If you want to find out more about Annie’s books or want to compare your pasta list with Tom’s, please get in touch.  She’d love to hear from you.

What do you think?