ABOUT BRIDGET

BRIDGET'S STORY

Bridget won her first writing contest in second grade with a story about a day in the life of a little spot of air. (Who says you need a good hook?)

She hasn’t stopped writing (or talking) since then, although she was briefly derailed by her pursuit of a legal career. Ultimately, boring words, well, bored her. She quit her job to spend less time counting gobs of ill gotten gains and more time writing stories.

Bridget knows she should pick one genre and write within it, but she can’t seem to choose. With her love of all words, she imagines stories set on Earth as we know it, stories set on Earth as it might be, and stories set on Earth as it might become. She imagines teens ready to take on the world, adults ready to throw in the towel, and everything in between.

She loves her husband and all five of her kids (most days). She has a Border Collie with boundless energy, three amazing quarter horses, backyard chickens, lion’s head rabbits, and two demanding cats. Every day is a balance between playing with kids, riding her horse Leo, helping legal clients, and writing. If her publication speed has slowed down, you can blame the kids and the horse.

She makes cookies all the time, and thinks they should have their own food group. In a possibly misguided attempt at evening the scales between over-consumption and exertion, she kick boxes every day. So if you don’t like her kids, her cookies, or her books, maybe don’t tell her in person.

BOOK REVIEWS

Feedback from my readers

5/5

MARKED

A story that grabs you from the start

My only complaint is that I’ve lost a bit of sleep over the last few days because I wasn’t able to put this down. It really sucks you in. I found myself saying ‘just one more chapter’ until I passed out unable to keep my eyes open. I’ve bonded with the characters already and I can’t wait to see where the next book takes them. I love Ruby’s mix of stubbornness, cockiness and insecurity. She did a great job capturing the essence of a teenage girl in a volatile situation where she needs to make decisions that effect the outcome of many.

5/5

UNFORGIVEN

Amazing Read!

WOW! This book kept me on the edge of my seat from the beginning. We conducted a family read aloud of this book; otherwise, I would have completed this book in one sitting! I find this genre interesting, but I am definitely hooked! I can’t wait to read the next two books! The plot was well-designed with several unanticipated twists and turns. I liked how the “romance” and the “violence” was family friendly and safe for my kids. Characters were believable and well developed with everyday qualities and feelings. I felt like I could relate to the characters’ feelings and actions. The protagonist was “real” with regard to her insecurities and feelings; I liked her! She touched me in that at times, I was laughing with her, yelling at her, and feeling the same things she often felt. I definitely immersed myself in this book. It was greatly written and moved quickly. It did throw me for a few loops, and I did foresee one twist, but it was not exactly as I had anticipated. The ending left me wanting more…not necessarily a cliff-hanger, but rather, it left me in a good place just wanting to continue reading. Very well written!

5/5

DESTROYED

This series was everything!

It’s hard to sum up just how much I loved this book and series. I was so so sad to see it end but it was amazing. This world was built in such detail and with so much creativity. There are moment of sadness, excitement, anxiety, thrill, love- okay basically it gives you all the feels. So glad I found Bridget and her writing, it is fantastic to step into an imaginary world and love every piece of it. If you are on the edge take it from me- READ it, you won’t be sad you did!

BRIDGET'S THOUGHTS

WHERE I GOT MY START

I wrote my first novel in 2003. It was amazing, beautiful, creative, unique… and terrible.

I didn’t realize that for quite some time, sadly, and I tried to query agents with it. I received enough rejections I could have fashioned them into a respectable doorstop. At that time, queries were still sent out via US Mail, and a SASE, or Self Addressed Stamped Envelope had to be sent out so that the agents could shove a photo-copied rejection paper into it and mail it back to you.

I wrote my next novel when my son was a baby, predominantly at Panera Bread, and thanks entirely to a supportive husband.

If possible, it was even worse.

I should have quit writing.

I should’ve given up.

But if you’re a writer, you can’t do that. Your fingers itch, and your mind dings you over and over until you try again. It’s like my neighbor’s parrot who kept plucking its own feathers. You can’t help yourself. Over and over, head against a brick wall, you keep writing.

My third book was markedly better. (And, incidentally, titled MARKED.) It got me an agent, and I thought I’d made it. Because we all know that with as amazing as our writing is, it’s just the gatekeepers standing in the way of our fame, money and accolades.

Except that book wasn’t quite good enough either. It went to something called “Acquisitions” at a publishing house, but ultimately wasn’t purchased.

I wrote two more books, and shopped them too. They also went to the cursed “Acquisitions”, and were also ultimately not purchased.

I wrote three more books. Yes, you heard me right. Three more. And then I lost my agent. She left her agency and left me back at square one: querying.

Except this time, I had met some friends. People whom I admired, and they were… *gasp* self publishing. I decided that although I had eschewed it for a long time, perhaps I should look into it some more.

I queried while looking into self publishing. I received 32 full manuscript requests off of 75 queries on the same novel. (Book Six, if we’re keeping track, a book my agent never even saw.) And then the glowing rejections on the book began rolling in. They’d sold a book that sounded too close to mine. They loved the first 95%, but hated the ending. They loved the voice, the characters and the plot, but didn’t love my structure. They liked the ending, but didn’t connect with the character. No consistency, no rhyme or reason. They all asked to see anything else I’d written. I should have jumped on sending them one of my other SIX books.

I didn’t.

By the time I’d heard back from half of them, I was kind of done waiting. Even if I sold one of my books to a traditional publisher, I’d be hard pressed to do two books a year. Most traditionally published authors only do one a year. I’d also have no control over my cover, my blurb, or my marketing. Someone else would do it for me, but if they didn’t do a good job… I was stuck. With only 10% of my book’s sales coming back to me, it wouldn’t make monetary sense for me to spend much time self promoting.

Self publishing was starting to look better and better. I began making friends. The process is time consuming and scary. Hard and risky. Expensive to do right. I recoiled in horror! What do I do?

After a lot of thought and prayer, I decided to give this a try. I’ve been working on books two and three of my first release (you only ever write the first book in a series before you shop traditionally because they’ll always want significant changes and you won’t want to overhaul book 2 & 3 until you know what those are!)

I’ve paid for three rounds of edits on book one, and I’ve drafted book two. I’m working on book three, and waiting on the first edit for book two. It’s an exciting time and I am moving forward to prepare for releasing my new book babies into the world. If you’d like to hear about my new releases and developments as they arise, please join my newsletters. Thanks!

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