Greetings from Tennessee

Since I sort of introduced the blog itself last week, I thought this week I would introduce myself.

I'm Sonya, and I write urban fantasy and am interested in branching out to other genres eventually. I've been writing and telling stories for as long as I can remember but it wasn't until three years ago that I made a serious effort to write a novel. A year later I finished it, and within a few months had to face the reality that it would never see the light of day. So I put it away - I have a folder on my laptop labeled "trunk" - and moved on. Trunking that first novel didn't discourage me. Just the fact that I finished the thing was enough of a triumph to get me through. By this time I'd been reading a lot of urban fantasy, a genre that seemed tailor-made to suit me. For 2008's National Novel Writing Month I set out to try my hand at it. The story didn't make it to the fifty thousand word goal of NaNo, and it didn't get done in November, but it did get done. I called it Bring On The Night.

In late October 2009 I submitted my novella to Lyrical Press and it was accepted in November. I had no idea what I was getting into, and it's been a fantastic learning experience. Going through the editing process taught me more than any class or workshop or how-to book ever could. In April of this year I got proof that my first acceptance wasn't a fluke or an accident in the form of a second acceptance, this time for a full-length urban fantasy novel titled Mojo Queen. With Bring On The Night's release in May, I went from writer to author, though I'm still more comfortable with storyteller.

As for personal stuff, I grew up in various military installations all over the world and now live in Tennessee. I'm married to an amazing man and we have the World's Cutest Smartest Cuddliest Yorkie ™,  Captain Jack. Some of my favorite books are Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice, Death Is A Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury, the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, and the music histories and biographies by Peter Guralnick . I miss Buffy, am addicted to Supernatural, and think The Princess Bride is the most perfect movie ever made. My greatest passion besides writing is music. For example, I've been to all three of Robert Johnson's gravesites.

I love to talk about books and writing and publishing, so that's what I'll be doing here on Fridays.