#AMMConnect Bio! <3

March 5, 2018March 25, 2018 ~ britneyshae ~ 1 Comment

I was both poked and inspired by @RacheleSmit to put together an #AMMConnect Bio so here I am! I am hopeful this bio will let you all get to know a bit more about me and my story, and I look forward to checking out everyone else’s bios! 🙂

about me

My name is Britney and I like to think of myself as a part-time attorney, full-time writer (but we all know in reality it’s the other way around). I was born in Michigan, had a short stint in Illinois (which is, interestingly, one of my favorite places to write about), and mostly transformed from child to adult in southern Minnesota. Now I live in Ohio and I still don’t know how I feel about that.

I’m a relatively boring person with a lot of interests that I’m super passionate about, so I’ll just kind of make a quick list of the first 5-10 non-writing things that come to mind: tea, bullet journaling, traveling, hockey, Hamlet, ballet, and Batman. Plus a lot of other super random stuff.

I’ve been writing fiction for as long as I can remember. The first “novel” I remember attempting was in the fourth grade. I had just read a book with dual POV so I tried a dual POV novel. I also made up stories for my action figures and Barbies and to this day I want to write their stories up for real. In the sixth grade, I had a teacher who taught writing and even started a little club for writers and that was the first time I realized I could be a “writer.” I wrote all throughout Junior High in a notebook, and I wrote my first “complete” novel at 15 (of course I’m sure it was total crap, but to be honest with you the computer I wrote it on crashed and it’s lost forever – but don’t worry, I rewrote that novel when I was 18 and I still have that one… *cringe*). Also, we won’t mention all of the Final Fantasy X fanfic I wrote (I was very, very obsessed with that video game).

The first time I seriously sat down to write a novel was for NaNoWriMo 2006. I wrote a historical fiction YA novel that took place during WWII basically featuring a boarding school student who fell in love with her Japanese music teacher. (*ahem* the Japanese music teacher may or may not have been modeled after the love of my life of that time, Japanese rock star Gackt; when I grew out of my Final Fantasy X obsession, I fell madly for dear ol’ Gackt, who I was fortunate to see in person four times – sadly, it didn’t work out between us.)

But let’s fast-forward. Throughout college I wrote novels. Many, many novels. Most, if not all, were horrible. After college, I went to law school, where I continued to write novels. And then I passed the Bar Exam, where I really learned how to properly study! (Some of us are just slower learners, okay?)

In Ohio, the Bar Exam is a grueling, three-day exam that starts on the last Monday of July and goes from 9 AM – 5 PM (or something like that). Then it’s all day Tuesday. And finally, a half-day on Wednesday. Yeah. It’s a really long, horrible, stressful exam.

So what did I do to give myself a mental break while studying, you ask?

I wrote, of course. I wrote FEARLESS, a novel about a female MMA fighter with an upcoming title match at the end of the summer. As she battled her own self-doubt about her ability to win, I battled my own self-doubt about passing the Bar Exam.

And yes, my friends, that brings me to why I’m here now…

fearless

My entry for Author Mentor Match is titled FEARLESS, and it’s a young adult contemporary novel that does, indeed, feature a female MMA fighter named Annie Armani. Annie is a 17-year-old MMA fighter who has just won the title in a fluke-y manner: she got into the title fight after a last-minute cancellation and then knocked her opponent out in a single punch. All of a sudden she’s a star and she has no idea if she can win again.

Photo Mar 05, 1 28 26 PM

Still, Annie pushes forward. She’s given a reality show documenting her journey to the next title fight. She’s also assigned a new, hot young trainer (*wink*). But Annie’s got a lot going on outside of the gym. At school she’s been bullied, and while her title fight has earned her some respect, she’s convinced it could disappear in a second. At home her mom is failing to make ends meet and needs Annie’s reward money to help take care of both Annie and Annie’s 8-year-old half-sister, Margie. Not to mention Margie’s dad is in jail.

But above and beyond everything else, Annie’s brother and idol, Marc, recently died in a car crash, leaving Annie all alone to deal with it all.

As Annie pushes through her grief and trains for her upcoming title match, her self-doubt spirals out of control and she doesn’t even feel like she’s living her own dream anymore. Maybe MMA stardom isn’t what she wants. But if that’s the case, what does she want? MMA is all she has left – all she has left of Marc.

The title match speeds closer and Annie has to decide – does she find the courage to fight and risk losing everything, or does she give it all up, even if it shatters her family?

my journey so far

FEARLESS has gone through tons and tons of changes from the draft I originally wrote back in 2014. I didn’t actually finish the first draft until 2015. And then I didn’t want to touch it. And I didn’t touch it until the beginning of 2016. That’s when I printed it out all nice and neat and started going through it with a red pen.

But, just like I had to learn how to study for the Bar Exam, I also had to learn how to edit and revise. That was quite a journey (and a long one). I’m one of those writers who finishes a draft and either thinks it’s THE WORST THING EVER or OH WAIT THIS IS ACTUALLY GOOD?! and basically I didn’t realize that, I, uh… needed to edit and revise.

I worked through that, though! With the help of many, many lovely CPs, I learned how to pinpoint what worked and what didn’t. From about March 2017 – present I have been revising and revising and revising. The cool thing about FEARLESS is that so far I haven’t gotten sick of it (other than that initial period when I first finished it…). I love working on it and I am amazed by the improvements I’ve made.

why i’m entering author mentor match

I wouldn’t be where I am with FEARLESS if it wasn’t for my critique partners. For me, writing isn’t so much an independent activity anymore. I love working with beta readers/critique partners. Reading works by other people has also helped me improve my own craft so much. I love being a part of the writing community and feeling like I’m truly *a part* of something.

That said, I’ve been querying FEARLESS off and on and I’m just… not getting anywhere. I’m not to the point yet where I feel like I need to give up on this project (at least I hope not?) but I feel like it might be missing something. I’m hopeful that through Author Mentor Match maybe I can find that missing something…

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Thanks everyone for reading! 🙂 I look forward to connecting with all the Author Mentor Match hopefuls!

Britney’s Bullet Journal Extravaganza!

October 21, 2017April 2, 2020 ~ britneyshae ~ 1 Comment

Hi everybody! Today, I wanted to take you through my most recent obsession, theBullet Journal (BuJo). And no, the BuJo itself isn’t really my obsession; rather, I’m obsessed with putting stickers in my BuJo. Keep reading to see how I set my BuJo as a hybrid between a traditional Bullet Journal and a Happy Planner/Erin Condren style planner! Continue reading “Britney’s Bullet Journal Extravaganza!” →

Seven-Night European Cruise!

August 18, 2017April 2, 2020 ~ britneyshae ~ Leave a comment

Hi all! I won’t give too much introduction and just jump right into this post because I have a lot to cover. So back in May, my boyfriend and I were able to take a trip of a lifetime on board the Disney Magic (Disney Cruise). From May 28 through June 4 (seven nights!) we were on board. Our destination, you ask? Why, the Baltic Sea ports, of course!

We boarded the ship in Copenhagen, Denmark (one of my favorite cities in the world!) and proceeded as follows: Copenhagen, Denmark, Tallinn, Estonia, St. Petersburg, Russia, Helsinki, Finland, Stockholm, Sweden, and Copenhagen, Denmark.

This trip is hard to write a short, concise report on because it was kind of half-cruise, half-European city exploring. So, for this post, I’m just going to talk about the “Ports of Call” and maybe someday I can do a post more on the Disney Cruise part of the trip. I will say that this cruise was wonderful and magical (of course—it’s Disney!) but the downside of the trip was the fact that while we got to see A LOT in a short amount of time, we didn’t always feel as though we properly got to explore the cities as much as we would have wanted (basically it was like a “sampling”). And, on sort of the flip-side, we didn’t really get to enjoy the cruise amenities as much as we would have wanted (the temperatures stayed in the 50s and 60s, thus making the temps a little too frigid for the deck pools and the awesome looking waterslide). So, if you’re considering doing a 7-night Northern European cruise like we did, do be aware that you might feel like you don’t get the full experience—not of the city tours OR of the ship amenities.

BUT, if you want a sampling of both, this is the right cruise for you. 🙂

So, without further ado, here is a relatively quick breakdown of the trip.

Saturday, May 27, 2017

We arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark at around 9:00 in the morning. Let’s just say neither my boyfriend nor I slept at all on the flight from Detroit to Amsterdam, but then we (of course) passed out on the entirety of the short flight from Amsterdam to Copenhagen. So, we were a little bit tired when we reached Copenhagen. I have to throw out that we stayed at the Tivoli Gardens Hotel and we super, super enjoyed our stay. Because they had an immediate room available if we upgraded to the sort of business class, we opted to do so. Included, we got an updated view AND access to the business lounge where we were able to grab free snacks and wine. I highly recommend both this hotel and this upgrade!

We tiredly made our way throughout Copenhagen (which is a super walkable city!) and stopped at a 1920s Café, which, wasn’t really all that 1920s… but let me tell you, the food was AMAZING. Two quick things about Copenhagen’s restaurant scene: (1) at least where we went, there were ALWAYS English menus available, which was very much appreciated and (2) THE SERVING SIZES ARE HUGE. Seriously, you can almost always share. 🙂 Both my boyfriend and I ordered this chicken sandwich, which was almost more salad than sandwich but amazing nonetheless.

Next we made our way to Rosenborg Castle, which we spent some time exploring. Then it was back to the hotel for some much needed R&R. Once we were hungry enough for dinner, we asked the concierge at the hotel (these people were very, very helpful and informative) for a place to try a “local” restaurant experience. She directed us to a “hip” area that used to be a meat market, but was now transformed into sort of mini restaurants. Think food trucks in America, only these were small restaurants. There were so many to choose from, though! We ended up at a BBQ place (I know, I know, so American but my boyfriend’s a picky eater). But seriously, the food was AMAZING. (I love Copenhagen.)

Sunday, May 28, 2017

We boarded the Disney Cruise on this day! I can’t fully remember what we did (it’s all sort of a blur, and we were definitely jet-lagged for the beginning of the trip). We walked around the ship and signed up for a lot of things that were very costly and my sweet boyfriend still wasn’t sure what was included already and what wasn’t (*cough cough* alcohol was not included and I’m not sure he knew that on this first day… or even the second). I think my boyfriend also got a beard trim on this day. He looked dashing.

Monday, May 29, 2017

This was a day at sea. I got my hair done. We did some wine tasting (we never learned the sommelier’s name, which is a shame because he was WONDERFUL). I believe we went to a couple of shows. Stuff like that.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Welcome to Tallinn, Estonia! This was a very interesting country to visit. There are still a lot of remnants of the Soviet control (which ended in 1991, I believe) and unlike the Russians, the Estonians are not afraid to share their disdain for the Soviet control. Which was incredibly interesting (and a little sad). We saw the city highlights. There’s the Old City, which is sort of medieval, and it’s really beautiful.

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Welcome to St. Petersburg, Russia! I have to say, Russia was one of the reasons I most wanted to do this trip. We did an all-day tour which started with the Hermitage before it was opened (my boyfriend loved it—I was there because it was Catherine the Great’s palace and I love palaces). Next we did some sight-seeing on board a bus, which was nice because it was cold and rainy. In fact, perhaps you will remember the lyrics from Anastasia: “St. Petersburg is gloomy; St. Petersburg is bleak.” It was kind of true. But I feel bad judging it this way, since it was, well, cold and rainy.

Anyway, we stopped at a restaurant and had a traditional Russian meal, which was pretty good. It included caviar, which was not so good, except they roll it up in a crepe(?) with yogurt(?)—I’ll admit we didn’t have a lot of direction—and when it was rolled up with the crepe and yogurt, it was actually really delicious. No joke. We, of course, finished off our meal with a shot of vodka. When in Russia, right?

Next we did some more sight-seeing and stopped at a tourist shop where my boyfriend and our Canadian friend bought some… less than flattering items of the Russian ~~dictator~~ president. Ahem.

We finished the trip with some last-minute sight-seeing of this island where the tsars were all buried and our tour guide told us some true Anastasia stories, which I was THERE FOR.

And that about covers St. Petersburg. Barely any mention of the Soviets, unlike Estonia.

Thursday, June 1, 2017

Helsinki, Finland! Now, it rained in Finland, too, so my Finnish souvenir is a cute umbrella. Unlike Estonia and St. Petersburg, we didn’t do a tour in Finland. We just kind of wandered around. The highlight for me was eating dinner at a “traditional” Finnish restaurant (it was a little touristy, but that was fine with me). I enjoyed this AMAZING potato dish and my boyfriend had reindeer soup (which was actually quite good, even though I felt bad for the reindeer!).

This was our shortest time on shore so between ducking for the rain and me wanting to shop at this cute stationary store (oh, and also me accidentally giving my boyfriend the wrong address for the zoo), we didn’t do a whole lot.

Friday, June 2, 2017

Stockholm, Sweden! It was supposed to rain in Stockholm, but of course it was incredibly sunny and gorgeous and I left my new Finnish umbrella on the bus. (We found it later at lost & found though!) We also didn’t have a tour scheduled in Stockholm, but the bus dropped us off right at all of their royal palaces and castles, so we did a tour there. Then we wandered upon a food festival and had some crepes and I had some sparkling rose-type drink that was pretty tasty. From there we wandered around a bit and stumbled upon a cute cafe that I thought might be a cat cafe, but unfortunately it wasn’t. We ate some Swedish treats and I had some tea with a lot of old people. It was pretty wonderful.

Saturday, June 3, 2017

Another day at sea. Our last day. We did a couples massage and my boyfriend’s trip ended on a devastating note because he wanted to watch some Irish dancer/singers and instead a soccer game was on. Typical Europe.

Sunday, June 4, 2017

Back to Copenhagen! We were a little bit bummed because there was some holiday going on, so a lot of things were closed. We ended up finding a restaurant to eat at where the server told us he loves Americans (that’s a first, right???) and the food was soooo good. I got this brunch burger that was unlike anything I’ve had before. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. (And again, my boyfriend and I could have split it – it was huge!)

Next we went to the Carlsberg Brewery which was really, really cool. I kind of like their beer, too. But maybe I’m biased and blinded by my Copenhagen love.

We walked back to the hotel, which took forever. And that pretty much wraps my trip up. (In a nutshell – I definitely could have gone into a lot more details, but that might bore you all to sleep.)

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#PIMPMYBIO

August 5, 2017August 5, 2017 ~ britneyshae ~ Leave a comment

A little bit late to the game, but now that my sub is in, I have a little bit more time to…

(Does anyone still use glitter text? No? Oh, okay then.)

A Little Bit About Me.

Anyway, HI! My name is Britney Shae and I’m so happy you stumbled on this page!

First, just a little bit about me. I guess I’ll start with the boring stuff and tell you that I’m an attorney. I work in a medium-sized firm with a lot of lovely people (honestly!) and I do civil litigation, but really I mostly do personal injury. But in my head…

But that’s my boring day job. By night, I’m a superhero.

Okay, okay, so I just wish I was a superhero. In reality I’m a Minnesota transplant living in Ohio. Like all good Minnesotans, I love the lake and hockey. I live and breathe hockey. I grew up a Detroit Red Wings fan but in 2010 I was an intern for the Philadelphia Flyers during their cup run. To this day, it was the most amazing time of my life. I wrote a weird novel during that time… it was about vampires so I’ve tucked that away, waiting for the Twilight hangover to end. Assuming it ends.

Anyway, my other interests include quoting The Great Gatsby, drinking tea, and browsing the local humane society for a cat to adopt. I’m not sure I’m responsible yet to care for a living thing, though. But I like to dream.

My Writing Journey.

When I’m not working, drinking tea, browsing through available cats, or quoting Gatsby, I spend my evenings (and some of my lunch breaks) writing. [Insert cliche about how I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember.] But honestly! I started typing my first “novel” when I was in the fourth grade, a multi-perspective YA novel and no, I do not remember what it was about. Throughout elementary school (and middle school and fine, high school too) I wrote down stories in a notebook when I was supposed to be paying attention in class.

For most of my life, I wrote because I loved it and I always felt compelled to. I wrote because I couldn’t not write. And for a long time, I told myself that was enough.

I’m not really sure when that changed – when I started wanting more. I started researching literary agents as long ago as my senior year in high school, which was 10 years ago (I skipped my 10-year anniversary just last week, if anyone was wondering). I kept writing. I kept researching. I kept writing. But I never dodged the bullet and tried to get published, although I always knew I wanted to go the traditional route.

This past year, I started actually trying. I had a finished manuscript and the first step was taking the plunge and exchanging with critique partners. After some success in finding some GREAT critique partners, I took another plunge and participated in #PitMad. This garnished some interest, which forced me to get my query letter and manuscript in order. I queried. I got a few requests. And I ultimately got rejections. But the experience was really great, because it showed me that I can do this.

And now, here I am, hoping to be a Pitch Wars mentee.

But here, have a brief(ish) timeline of my manuscript, Fearless, and what it’s gone through:

Timeline:

Summer 2014 – Started drafting Fearless while simultaneously studying for the Bar Exam. I set a timer to study for two hours, and then allowed myself 15-20 minutes to write, and continued this nearly every day during June. When July rolled around, I had to bookshelf Fearless, because, well… that Bar Exam was pretty hefty.

November 2014 – After a long break* and a failed NaNoWriMo project, I picked back up on Fearless. I beat out the writer’s block and made some substantial progress on my first draft.

Summer 2015 – Finished first draft of Fearless.

Early 2016 – Began editing Fearless. Had the manuscript printed and bound at Staples, and proceeded to carry it around with me everywhere. This was a rollercoaster time filled with lots of self-doubt. I even tossed it into the waste basket at one point.

Summer 2016 – Finalized pen and paper edits and began transferring edits into the actual Word document.

December 2016 – After “winning” NaNoWriMo, I got a discounted membership on Scribophile. Began uploading chapters of Fearless for critique.

Early-March 2017 – Participated in #PitMad and received two “favorites” from agents.

Late-March 2017 – Began querying agents. Sent five queries total and received “full manuscript” requests from two agents.

Early-April 2017 – Received the kindest, most thoughtful rejection from an agent who had requested the full manuscript. While she did pass, she provided fantastic suggestions to make Fearless better.

Spring 2017 – Stopped the query process and began making hefty revisions following the agent’s wonderful advice and suggestions. Swapped revised chapters with critique partners.

Summer 2017 – Began readying my manuscript for #PitchWars!

*A long break from Fearless. I have two other manuscripts I have worked on throughout this entire time. 🙂

And that’s about it! So far my experience with Pitch Wars has been AMAZING. I’ve been talking nonstop about it to every writer friend I have. I have made SO MANY fantastic connections through the community and have some new CPs and I’m just so excited about everybody’s work and everybody is excited about mine and I could just gush forever.

I hope you all enjoyed your stay here on my #PimpYourBio page!

July 13, 2017April 2, 2020 ~ britneyshae ~ Leave a comment

I haven’t posted in a long, long time, and that’s partially because I spent the first part of June travelling, then catching up, and then the first part of July travelling, and then catching up! As we’d say in Minnesota, where I grew up and where I just returned from visiting, OOFDA!

I do want to make a blog post compiling a few pictures and notes from my absolutely fantastic 7-night Baltic Sea cruise through the fabulous Disney Cruise line, but before I do that, I thought I’d put together yet another Goodreads YA list, courtesy of my e-mail newsletter featuring the “can’t miss” YA reads for July!

The first book on the list is Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody.

The Gomorrah Festival, a traveling carnival of debauchery, is probably not the most appropriate place for Sorina, but it’s her home. When an impossible crime shatters her world, she descends down a dangerous rabbit hole to save her family.

Carnival? Debauchery? I’m in! I’m especially intrigued because this one has to do with a girl saving her family. Not, you know, saving a boy.

Next up on the list we have What to Say Next, written by Julie Buxbaum:

Lunchtime at Mapleview High is all about sitting with the right crowd. Unless you’re David, who sits alone every day. That all changes when Kit, struggling with a recent tragedy, abandons her popular friends to see what the quiet boy has to say.

Guys, I am seeing this book everywhere. I would say this is probably the absolute “must read” on this list.

Third on the list is Little Monsters by Kara Thomas:

New girl Kacey’s charmed life in Broken Falls takes a drastic turn the night fellow student Bailey disappears. As the town turns to Kacey for answers, she realizes she can’t trust anyone, not even her stepfamily or friends.

I love the Pretty Little Liars vibes going on in this synopsis! Reserving this one at the library ASAP. (Disclaimer: I have like 5 of the Pretty Little Liars books but I’ve only read the first one. Loved it, but forgot what happened and had already sold the first one to Half Priced Books so couldn’t re-read it… ughhh. But I loved the show!)

Alright, moving onto number four – Words on Bathroom Walls by Julia Walton:

The people Adam sees aren’t always there. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, he uses a miracle drug to help him stay focused and hide his symptoms from his crush, Maya. Then the drug starts to fail, leaving Adam to grapple with his secret alone.

I would LOVE to see a book dealing with mental illness done well. I have super high hopes for this one!

What’s next? Ah yes, The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell:

Magic is all but extinct. To save her fellow Mageus, the few men and women who have an affinity for magic, trained thief Esta travels back in time to 1902 to steal an ancient book from an enigmatic figure known only as the Magician.

This months’ Goodreads list is full of contemporary YA (which is fascinating and also wonderful for me—I’m a contemporary kind of girl), but here’s our fantasy pick. Normally I scroll past the fantasy picks, but this one has a historical element to it and time traveling… so my interest is piqued! I probably won’t pick it up right away, but I do think it sounds interesting.

And finally, we have Solo by two authors, Kwame Alexander with Mary Rand Hess:

Juggling his father’s ruin with his mother’s absence, his forbidden love for a girl with his family’s darkest secret, 17-year-old Blake travels the globe to find meaning and truth in this bewitching novel told in poetic verse.

This sounds seriously beautiful. A little nervous about the poetic verse because poetry is not my strong point, but I love the family elements and I’m always a big fan of the forbidden love theme!

And there we have it! The top-5 can’t-miss YA releases per Goodreads’ July Young Adult Newsletter. The newsletter doesn’t include release dates, but if you’re interested, just click the links I’ve provided and you’ll find the information you need. Happy reading!