I’ve been resisting putting up photos of myself on my website for two reasons. Number one, I look younger than I am. Okay, so I just turned 26 last month, so I’m not on my way to the retirement home just yet, but apparently I still look like I’m 15. Seriously, I was in the bookstore one day and this man gave me a funny look and said, “Shouldn’t you be in school right now?” This was only two years ago, when I was 24. I’ve finished high school and college, thank you, and have no desire to go back through that again. (It wasn’t the high school experience itself that I hated, it was the sitting in classrooms all day and being BORED OUT OF MY MIND. In college, I took as many internet courses as they offered in my program and tested out of as many classes as was possible just to avoid having to sit in all those classrooms all day.) I’m constantly surprised when the convenience store clerk doesn’t ask for my ID when I buy lottery tickets. (But the clerks at Wal-Mart always ask for ID whenever I buy mature rated games or R rated movies.)
The second reason I’ve been avoiding putting up a photo is because my face suddenly takes on weird curves and shadows and dimensions in a picture. I’ll look at myself in a mirror and smile to make sure everything looks normal, but every time the photo is taken, my face has suddenly changed from what I saw in the mirror. My nose gets fatter, my head rounder, my eyes get deep dark circles under them. Obviously, cameras hate me because I don’t think I look that bad in the mirror, but the pictures always bring out the worst.
But I love looking at other writers’ websites so I can see whether or not they look like what I thought they would. And maybe it’s like my writing–I’m my own worst critic and see all the bad things magnified ten thousand times worse than they actually are.
So I put a picture up, although I cheated and used one from last year. I am NOT taking any pictures right now until I get my hair fixed. I got it cut last weekend and I’m not very happy with it. I am not immortalizing this hair in pictures.
Your picture rocks. And trust me. There is nothing wrong with looking young. Especially when you’re writing YA!!
Janet
Thanks! I figure if I ever run out of ideas for stories, I could go to all the places teens hang out and look like I’m one of them. 😉
Yes, I am always quite happy when people ask if I’m out of high school yet. It seems like people always think I am 18…but 20somethings really don’t look that old! Usually.
Your picture is just fine, m’dear! Yes, cameras do bring out the worst.
I love your website — very funny! And honestly, the pix you put here don’t do your humor justice — I assumed you were a more dreamy type (as in ‘head in the clouds’) — you don’t look *that* young. Of course, I have graduated students who are your age 😉 (In fact, the two oldest just turned 26 this summer)…I won’t go into how old I am, LOL — there’s a reason most of my pix are of my children, he-he!
Thank you! My husband tells me I’m a joke-killer, so it always makes me feel good when someone else says I’m funny. 😉 I am a bit head in the clouds, but not as much as I used to be. I’ve been thinking about changing my livejournal icon to something silly, but I just can’t find one I like, lol.
Pictures of kids are great too–they’re always so cute, just like yours. 😀
Join the no-really-I’m-not-a-teen-any-longer club. I’m not very photogenic, either. I come across like a snub-nosed blob most of the time. 😉
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