Many of you know that in my professional life, I work as an emergency medical technician. The nature of this job connects us closely to our brothers and sisters in law enforcement and firefighting, and inevitably, each year, a community close to us seems to loose a member of the emergency family. Having the opportunity to remember and praise the life of someone dedicated to helping the lives of others is an honor.
When I crossed over into the role of career author, I never imagined I'd have the same opportunity to remember and honor the life of a fellow author.
Bridget Zinn isn't here to celebrate the release of her debut novel,
POISON, but my friends. that's what we are here for.
Who knew she'd be a Wisconsinite like me?
When I look at Bridget Zinn, I see a vibrant, beautiful woman who seems like someone I could have been friends with--like someone who was a friend to many. There is no doubt in my heart that she touched the lives of many, and that she had the gumption to put her dreams of authorship out there, to GRAB it, is honor-worthy in itself.
Bridget grew up in Wisconsin. She went to the county fair
where she met the love of her life, Barrett Dowell. They got married right
before she went in for exploratory surgery which revealed she had colon cancer.
They christened that summer the "summer of love" and the two
celebrated with several more weddings. Bridget continued to read and write
until the day she died. Her last tweet was "Sunshine and a brand new book.
Perfect."
Bridget wanted to make people laugh and hoped readers would
enjoy spending time with the characters she created. As a librarian/writer she
loved books with strong young women with aspirations. She also felt teens
needed more humorous reads. She really wanted to write a book with pockets of
warmth and happiness and hoped that her readers' copies would show the
watermarks of many bath time reads.
Enter POISON:
Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is
the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means
she's the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to
do what she does best: poison the kingdom's future ruler, who also happens to
be her former best friend.
But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart…misses.
Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game
of hide-and-seek with the king's army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At
least she's not alone. She's armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and
Fred, the charming adventurer she can't stop thinking about. Kyra is determined
to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and
defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?
Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she's certainly no
damsel-in-distress—she's the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic
novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.
There is no question that this book will be on my kids' shelf very soon!!!
Honor Bridget with us. Grab a copy of POISON for yourself.
As part of this book tour, we were asked to share our "first" of something. Keeping in the author vein, the first time I opened my email to a full manuscript request from an agent, I jumped up from my rolling office chair, and the back wheels caught on the rug and tipped the chair back, sending me and it and my full, hot coffee cup backwards onto the floor. I sent that full request off with a bad headache and first degree coffee burns on my arms and neck. Man, the dangerous of being an author!!!
