WrittenWord

Author bio:

WrittenWord, a.k.a. Bre, "published" her first book at the age of six, a story about a girl named Alexandra and her cat Shadow who got lost in a rather extensive garden, called "Under the Lilacs". She wrote the story for a spelling exercise in first grade, edited it, organized it, typed it up with the help of her mother on a Macintosh computer and "The Amazing Writing Machine" software, did what she laughingly calls "artwork", printed it on hot pink paper, bound it in plastic sheet protectors tied with rainbow yarn, and presented it to her teacher/principal. That copy still resides at The McLea Day School, where she attended at the time.

Today, Bre is a college graduate, with a B.A. in what else but English with a concentration in Creative Writing, and would be perfectly happy to do nothing but write for the rest of her life. She is a geek, an obsessive reader, a New Yorker by birth, a Virginian by the infinite wisdom of the US Navy. She is a slightly overweight person (in the sense that the Pacific Ocean is a slightly damp area) who likes wolves, Broadway musicals, and bizarre mixes of country and oldies music. A former Girl Scout, she does her best to be honest, to be fair, to help where she is needed, to be cheerful, to be friendly and considerate, to be a sister to those around her, to respect authority, to use resources wisely, to protect and improve the world around her, and to show respect for herself and others through her words and actions. (She still says the Girl Scout Law the way it was in 1994, when she joined Daisy Girl Scouts, and refuses to accept any later revisions.) She is a singer, a flautist, a writer, a United Methodist, and a child of God.

Bre is an alumna member of the Epsilon Sigma chapter of the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority and enjoys spending time with her sisters, whether they are watching movies, playing card games, going on midnight beach runs, or just sitting around in someone's dorm room surfing the Internet and reading at one another. Aspects of her sisters can be found in her writing, not on purpose (usually) but because certain characters take on certain aspects of people she knows. She has a skewed sense of humor, as shown by her personal motto: Laugh, and the world laughs at you; cry, and the world laughs harder. On occasion inside jokes slip into her writing, rarely getting explained because she likes watching people's minds struggle with casually thrown-out statements like "That is NOT my banana". She still writes on a Macintosh computer, although it is a MacBook Pro liberally adorned with stickers, which she claims is named Siobhan. However, she is a proud member of NaNoWriMo's Typewriter Brigade and has seven typewriters, five of which see service during NaNo: an Underwood 450 named Carrie (pun intended), a Corona Silent named Tacey, a Remington Quiet-Riter named Remy, a Facit named Felix, and a Royal DeLuxe (she thinks) named Henry. She also has a Smith-Corona Coronet Automatic 12 electric typewriter, Cornelius, and a Royal #10 desktop manual, Justinian, but neither get much use because a) they are awkward to carry to Write-Ins and b) they are both in need of repair. She says she enjoys doing this because she likes not having to rely on outlets, and also because she enjoys the looks on people's faces as they pass by.

Besides writing, Bre's hobbies include numerology, tarot and rune stones, and she has made birth charts for a number of her friends. She also enjoys crocheting and counted cross-stitch. She is a member of the National Forensics League and lettered in Forensics (public speaking, not digging up dead bodies) in high school. A former IB student, she missed getting the diploma by one point because of a 3 in Higher Level Physics, which is two more than she feels she deserves. She recently accepted a job as an Administrative Assistant at a local United Methodist church, where she works twenty-five hours a week primarily engaged in banging her head vigorously on her desk. Much of her time outside of this is spent correcting the pronunciation or spelling of her name. She is half-Norwegian on her mother's side and very proud of that fact. Her favorite colors are grey, purple, and blue, which makes for an interesting color scheme in her room. Bre collects quotes, sweatshirts, hymnals, rosewood boxes, typewriters, and baby dolls.