About Me — Sharon Mitchell
Goal-oriented Writer. Mom. Wife. Daughter. Sister. Aunt. Tallawah.
I got you, huh? I’m sure when some of you saw the word Tallawah you were lost. As a woman of Jamaican descent, the word Tallawah means powerful, strong, or tough. Adjectives that I completely relate to as an Aries and blackbelt. But it doesn’t make posting a giant picture of myself any easier.
I am new to Medium, and so far, it has been a reaffirming experience. Though I’ve been writing for years, I haven’t always been sure about my voice and how it affects those who read my words. The positive responses I’ve received thus far have confirmed my writer’s journey (though rough at times) is meant to be. If someone asks me about my writing style, I can now confidently call it conversational, witty, and informative.
Who Am I?
Let’s see. Where should I begin? I hail from Virginia but grew up in the Boogie Down (Bronx, New York, to be exact). I am a mid-aged (you won’t be getting that number) alum of a popular university in Queens. Daughter to two hardworking, caring Jamaican parents, I was steeped in Caribbean traditions. I would have been shocked if there wasn’t something stewed or curried on the kitchen table during Sunday dinner. My favorite beverages as a child were homemade carrot juice sweetened with condensed milk, sorrel, or soursop juice.
I loved mangos, guineps, and pomegranates (I still do). Saltfish fritters, bammy (cassava), breadfruit, and fried dumplings were easily accessible if you asked my mom nicely. And when I was old enough, I would go to the West Indian Day Parade/Carnival on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn to represent and revel in the sounds, sights, and tastes of my culture. It was almost like a rite of passage! As the motto goes, “Out of many, one people!”
Bitten by the Writing Bug
When I think back to when the writing bug first bit me, my earliest memory was from the fifth grade. It was then that my overactive imagination presented itself on paper. My teacher asked the class to write about something we saw over the weekend. Instead of writing about flowers, the park, or my neighbor’s dog, I wrote about a car dangling off the George Washington Bridge. Of course, nothing like that happened, and my mom received a concerned phone call from my teacher. But it was then that my writer’s path began.
My second memory was my obsession with Scholastic, Weekly Reader, and Highlights magazines. I enjoyed the colorful pictures and reading the stories. But I loved it most when my spanking new books were delivered to my class. I still remember the smell and feel of the pages. Books like Where the Wild Things Are and A Wrinkle in Time ignited a love of fantasy that followed me into adulthood.
Fast forward many years later, and I have written a YA Fantasy influenced by West African culture. Getting it published is at the top of my list of goals. I guess my ‘writerly’ bug bite is still fresh.
Interesting Facts:
- Octavia E. Butler’s Wild Seed was the first seed that started my journey to writing my novel Amachi’s Hope. The second seed was planted after binge-watching Harry Potter in 2002. The idea started as a preschool book for my boys and evolved into a full-fledged novel.
- C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia is currently on my bookshelf. There are over 700 pages in that book and it’s still one of my favorite reads. Aslan the Lion is my most loved character.
- I also enjoy reading Nnedi Okorafor, Amanda Joy, Natasha Bowen, Stephanie Meyer, and the occasional Amanda Quick or Nora Roberts. I wish I had more time to read.
Thanks for taking the time to find out About Me. If you’d like to know more, check out my first piece on Medium: https://medium.com/new-writers-welcome/my-content-is-gone-e6744faafa21 or visit my website at: sharonlmitchell.com.
Sharon-
