My Personal Pep Squad

Inspired by Amy Christine Parker's  blog post about her writing cheerleaders, I decided to give a shout out to some of my own.

Ruth Lauren Steven

Anyone following my blog has heard of Ruth Lauren Steven. She’s an author of ridiculously amazing books for teens, and is represented by Julia Churchill of The Greenhouse Literary Agency. She’s also my critique partner. But way before all of that, Ruth and I were just a couple of newbie authors on the writing website Writersbeat.com. After a brief online fisticuffs initiated by me (Seriously, I am such a bitch), Ruth and I began exchanging chapters of our books. Not long thereafter, we became the best of friends. Over the course of two years, Ruth has read Every. Single. Word I have ever written, from the hilarious beginning, when I thought it was a good idea to start a book describing weather, to the twelve versions of The Witch Hunter’s Bible, and yet somehow seems to want to read more. Even though she has 4 kids and her own books to write, she always happily critiques every thing I send her way, as soon as I’ve sent it her way. Her advice is completely invaluable, spot on, honest, and effing hilarious.

Writing aside, I can (and do) email Ruth about anything and everything, without ever having to worry about censoring what I say because it’s horribly politically incorrect and just plain horrible, because I know that Ruth will never judge me, and will likely respond with at least two f-bombs to my one. I’ve never even met Ruth, but she’s one of my closest friends. I’m so lucky to have her, and back off she’s mine.

Brandy Allard 

Like Ruth, my twin sister Brandy has read every single word I’ve ever written. But unlike with Ruth, I have Brandy’s phone number and therefore can harass her about my books via phone calls and text message, in addition to email. You’d think she’d get annoyed of me begging for help fixing plot issues or forcing her to hear my ten thousand New Ideas, but if she does she’s very good at hiding it with squeals and happy clapping. From Day 1, Brandy has always been my biggest writing supporter. She read my first book, and even though I trunked it, she never once wavered in her belief I’d be a bestselling author one day. Every new chapter of The Witch Hunter's Bible I sent her way got sent back within twenty minutes time, along with an amazing, detailed critique. She has an astounding ability to spot plot holes and areas of weakness big and small, as well as a talent for making me feel good with her various exclamations marks, LOLs, LMFAOs, and ‘this is totally getting published’.  She also plotted my whole novel. 


Have I mentioned Brandy’s my biggest supporter? She arranged a family dinner to celebrate my first publication (a short story in a obscure magazine). Yet another dinner, this time with a gift basket of, like, a zillion bestseller books, along with a card that said my book would be in there soon, after I’d landed my agent. And got my whole family to pitch in for a freaking MACBOOK PRO when I got my book deal. I know, right? I couldn’t ask for a better cheerleader, sister, or friend. 

Brandy’s also a talented author of YA fiction. You’ll be hearing more about her soon, and not just from me. I’m sure of it.

Adriann Ranta 

I’ve loved my agent Adriann Ranta from my very first communication with her, when she requested to see my full manuscript if it was still available. If it was still available! As in, she thought it might not be. But I knew Adriann was the agent for me during our first telephone conversation, when she gushed profusely about my book much in the way that I would about a book I loved. Which is to say, a lot. She has a talent for finding just the right thing to say to both warm my heart and make my ego grow twelve times its size (which my family and friends don’t thank her for). Adriann strikes a perfect balance between serious and fun. She also has an impressive editorial eye, a sound business mind, and an insane work ethic. Plus she got me a book deal with Random House. So yeah, love her.  

There are others, of course. But they’ll have to wait to read the acknowledgements page of The Witch Hunter’s Bible, because this post is long enough already. Speaking of the acknowledgements page, I just finished a solid chunk of mine with this post! Hells yeah! 


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