So, who the heck is Amalie Jahn... for real?Like everyone else's, my twitter bio consists of a mere 140 characters: Award-winning #YA author. #TED speaker. #HuffPost contributor. #Ironman. Cancer survivor. Laundry folder. Berry eater. Skinny jeans opponent. Here to serve & <3 When Pitch War mentees were asked to pimp our bios here on our blogs, my gut reaction was just to expand on those 140 characters. I mean, they do a super job of reflecting the accomplishments of Public Amalie Jahn, the person who's on display for the whole world to see. The bio's perfect. Maybe a little too perfect. The truth is those 140 characters represent the shiniest 8x10 Glamour Shots version of myself. Elegant lighting, mild retouching, and the Mayfair filter. In real life, I am about as far from perfect as one person can get. So maybe that's what I should be explaining here instead. Who is Amalie Jahn? The Unfiltered Private Amalie Jahn? Okay. That might be going a little too far. But you get the idea. Much like my manuscripts, I see myself as a work in progress. I remember when I was younger I assumed becoming an adult meant having All The Answers. When I reached some magical age of maturity I would have it All Figured Out. I could not have been more wrong. When I started my publication journey five years ago, I didn't know what I didn't know, but somehow I thought I would be able to lone wolf myself onto the New York Times Bestseller list. That dogged perseverance would see me through. And I quickly discovered that was never going to happen. Being an author is a terribly isolating profession. You sit at a keyboard alone, talking only to the imaginary people inside your head. I should not have been surprised when the depression set in. But I was. I learned eventually that I needed other authors. And editors. And beta readers. At first, I thought I needed them to make my books better. What I discovered was that I also needed them to make ME better. So, that's why I'm here doing Pitch Wars. Would I love to land a mentor and even an agent? Absolutely. But over the years I've learned success isn't measured by what you can cram into a 140 character bio. It's measured in growth. Growth of my craft. Growth of my community. If I come out of this with a more polished manuscript and a bunch of really great new friends, I'll be thrilled. Because if I'm ever going to make it in this industry, I won't be doing it on my own. I'll be doing it with a whole lotta help from all of you. Everything Else...So what's left to tell you? I could probably write for another day, but perhaps in the interest of getting the laundry done I'll share just a few more bullet points.
That's about it for my bio. I can't wait to learn about my fellow mentees through their own bios in the weeks to come. Wanna read more about them too? Head over to Twitter and check out the #PitchWars and #Pimpmybio hashtags. Thanks so much to the amazing Brenda Drake who started it all! <3
10 Comments
6/30/2017 12:56:11 pm
Your book sounds super good and important for today. Wishing you the best of luck with it. And love that it was inspired by real life :-)
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Amalie
7/1/2017 07:53:33 am
Thanks, Rachel! Every English professor I ever had told us "write what you know" so that's what I do. ;)
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Amalie
7/1/2017 07:54:30 am
Thank you!!! There are a lot of amazing ones out there! This is a fantastic group.
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Amalie
7/1/2017 07:55:16 am
Me too! And right back atcha! <3
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Branwen OShea-Refai
7/6/2017 06:34:28 pm
Your book sound awesome. Timely issue, but more importantly, from the heart. And from the heart is always timely. I hope to read it some day. You also inspire me, because I have a deserted MS on racism that I'm too chicken to finish.
Reply
Amalie
7/6/2017 08:23:10 pm
Thank you so much, Branwen! Writing about racism as a white woman is risky, but we can't be afraid to have these conversations with one another. We need to talk about race. We need to acknowledge the differences and we need to find the common ground to build the foundations of friendship. :) So maybe it's time to finish that MS of yours.
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11/14/2022 12:34:31 pm
Third majority hold enough.
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My BlogThis is were you get to read about what's going on inside my head. I apologize in advance - the place is a wreck. Archives
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