Today was my oldest daughter's first day of kindergarten.  I swear, I was more nervous than she was!  She was cool as a cucumber, reassuring me with a wink as we were walking out the door

while I've been a nervous wreck leading up to this.  Last night, I was tossing and turning, although I almost never have insomnia.  Maybe it's because I write until all hours, but when I'm going to bed at 3 am and getting up with the kids at 7 am, there really isn't room for not sleeping.  Sleeping is as great as eating a huge slice of chocolate cake with ice cream on top.

But despite all my worries, everything went off without a hitch.  She gave me hugs and kisses as the kids were lining up, then skipped off to class with a wave.

Hope all the parents out there also have great first days of school for their kids.  Hard to believe it's almost September!  Best time of year.  :)

Hello, I'm Alison, and I entered #PitchWars.

Since I am a bit of a non-techie person, I don't have lots of flashy pictures.  Just regular pics.  This is what I generally look like.

More often, I'm behind the camera.  My 4-year-old daughter, Mackenzie, likes to copy her dear old mum, so here's what she looks like on any given day.

And my younger daughter, Sabrina, likes to copy mum in other ways - she's in my profile pic above, typing madly away at my laptop.  She will probably be submitting to #PitchWars in a few years!

A few things about me:

1) I love to read anything.  Fantasy, sci-fi, literary, mystery, romance, history, memoir, YA, poetry... if it's good, it's probably on my shelf.  Some of my writer heroes that I grew up reading: Tanith Lee, Ray Bradbury, Langston Hughes.  Some other favorites: Elizabeth Moon, Guy Gavriel Kay, Kristan Higgins, Margaret Atwood, Terry Pratchett, Nadine Gordimer, Adam Hochschild, Maya Angelou and oodles more.

2) I try to write anything.  I have a few publications, some poetry and some short stories.  My book manuscript is a YA fairy tale retelling, heavy on the historical and a little on the darker side.

3) Born in Edmonton, Alberta, my family moved to California before I turned one.  I grew up in the Santa Cruz Mountains next to a national park.  It might be strange little thing to recall, but one thing I miss most about California is seeing redwood trees out my window.

4) I love lists, can't you tell?  Being very absent-minded, I had to force myself to get organized in college when I couldn't even remember what class I was supposed to be going to on any given day.  I ended up graduating with honors and a double major, but I owe it all to lists.

5) My husband is a professional chef who I met while living in New York City.  We met in a bar (apparently, I stole his pool cue without realizing it, although I don't remember doing so - thank you, long island iced teas) and we both played APA pool on the same team.  I've captained pool teams and also worked in a pool hall as an assistant bar manager, one of my many odd jobs.

6) While I've enjoyed working in bars and restaurants, one of the favorite jobs I've ever had was working at a ballroom dance studio.

7) I like to draw - normally all over the walls of my house.  My kids like to help, too.

8) I love including smiley faces all over my email messages, but have restrained myself in this blog.

9) My mother is Japanese-American.  I have a Japanese middle name which means "autumn," since I was born in September.

And that's all my sentences beginning with "I."

Thanks for reading!  Good luck to everyone in #PitchWars, mentors and mentees alike.  Keep on with the blog hop by going here.

I have a new story published today at Flash Fiction Online called "On the Fly."  My husband is a chef who started his career years ago as a dishwasher.  He is first reader on most of my stories, and he turned to me one day a few months ago and said, "Why don't you ever write a story about a chef?"  Well, this one's for him.

I also have a new poem published at Abyss & Apex called "Undone."  Both story and poem are free to read online, so please check out these wonderful magazines!