Hey there! This is my first blog post, like, ever and I'm nervous. Very nervous. I've never done anything like this before, so let me know if I'm doing it wrong. But say it nicely because I'll cry. Just kidding! ...mostly.
But enough about that, let's get to the important stuff: Me! Or specifically, you getting to know me as an author because I think it's important for writers to build connections with their readers.
I was born in Ohio and raised there for half of my life. To this day, I feel a little strange whenever I can't see the sky for miles around me in all directions. When I was 12, I moved first to Florida then to West Virginia within the same year and I've been here ever since. I have family in both states and I travel back and forth a lot to visit them. Ohio visits are when I get to see Taylor, the other voice behind Payton Taylor, who will be doing a Meet the Author post soon. My family is extremely important to me, I love them with all of my heart. They are big and loud and messy and dysfunctional, but they are also loyal and supportive and fun and always there when I need them. When I say my family is big, I mean huge. Seven aunts and uncles on my mom's side and thirteen on my dad's. That's over 60 cousins and over 100 second cousins. I know. Family reunions are LIT.
My family inspires me a lot when I write, and I rely on those bonds and close forms of interaction to inspire me when I'm not sure how characters should speak and interact with each other. A lot of my characters have big families because it's hard for me to imagine living in a world without the color and chaos of a dozen aunts and cousins (at least) at every graduation or birthday party.
That brings me to writing. Taylor and I have written a book called Crown of Sunlight and you should read it because I think you'll enjoy it. How do I know? Because it has a little bit of everything: romance, tension, suspense, action, magic, sword fights, dragons, sisterhood, and strong female characters to name a few things. We poured our hearts and souls into CoS trying to make it everything we desire in a book and we think we did a pretty damn good job. We're writing the sequal right now and shew son, it's a doozy.
Sometimes people ask me what it's like to write a book with another person. "Don't you fight? Does one of you do more work than the other? Don't you have disagreements?" The truth is, Taylor and I click. We're not only cousins, we're best friends. We talk every single day, hyping each other through parent teacher conferences and essays that make me want to crawl in a cave and never come out. Do we fight? Not yet, and I hope we never do. We agree on almost everything when it comes to our book and when we don't agree we both spaz out a bit because we're so indecisive we never know which route to go. We're too busy panicking at all of the options and we're both so supportive of each other's ideas that neither of us really has any brain cells left to worry about who's is better. We both want the writing to be as good as possible, and that means that sometimes we go with my idea and sometimes we go with Taylor's and that's cool with both of us. And sometimes life gets in the way and Taylor will write for three nights in a row while I lay in bed with a migraine because she knows I'll pick up the slack when she needs a rest. Are we perfect? Nooooo. We're both weird and sometimes we get so excited about a random idea for book four that we forget to work on book two, but we get it done eventually. It's teamwork. That, or the copious amounts of ice cream we eat keeps us too satisfied to fight. One of those.
Writing with a partner is great, but sometimes I do write alone and so does Taylor. I'm currently working on a paranormal book and an urban fantasy and she's writing a thriller. I also write the 8,000 papers I get assigned for class. I have a BA in English from Marshall University and I'm planning to go to grad school next year, so wish me luck. I want to major in English lit and possibly teach it one day. As much as I love books, I also love analyzing them, especially Victorian and Medieval lit. My little heart sings at a good psychoanalytical reading of Frankenstein or a Marxist reading of Chaucer. Give me a feminist theory or give me death. I stress over these essays and complain until I'm blue in the face, but I do like them and I want to torture- I mean inspire- English students one day the way my professors have tortured- I mean inspired- me. Or maybe I'll be a librarian and thrive on the power high that shushing people gives me. One or the other.
I should probably end this soon, I don't want to bore you. Aside from what I've already said there are only a few other things you should know about me. I love hiking and the smell of leaves when it's about to rain. My idea of a wild night is playing Cards Against Humanity with my friends, the louder the better. I have a dog named Bruiser and I love him with all of my heart even though he's a stinky bastard man. And one day, whether it be tomorrow or twenty years from now, I WILL own a Victorian house with a library and a pond with a willow tree outside out in the country. It's written in the stars.
Thank you so much for reading and if you've read any of my writing then thank you for that too. Leave a comment or shoot me a message if you want to know more and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Have a great day, a lovely week, and a fantastic year.
-Payton Salmons
You're awesome!
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