Author bio: Who am I, really?

            I recently read a quick article on the importance of writing a catchy author’s bio and it got me thinking about the person I’ve been and the one I’ve become.  When I was young, I thought of myself in relation to the people around me.  I was the second born and only girl of my parents’ four children (although when we're all together now, I claim to be the baby.)  As the sole sister among three brothers, I stood out in that small crowd of ours. 

            In elementary school, I was neither popular nor outcast.  I was more inclined to be a follower than a leader.  The fact that I defined myself by all the people around me caused me to freeze up until someone else made the first move.  Needless to say, I did not stand out in that setting and that was more than fine with me.  Like my character Frankie, I just wanted to mind my own business and get through the day. 

            When I became a mother, I had to be responsible regarding all my own stuff and the kids’ stuff too.  And of course every parent knows that 24/7, you are always “on.”  So, up until the time when my grown children moved out on their own, I was always “Mom” with all that that entails. 

            Now that my children no longer live with me, I don’t have to navigate each day under their watchful, impressionable, expectant young eyes.  Nor do I have to be responsible just to show how it’s done.  This leaves me free to be lazy, afraid, or super silly if that’s what I’m feeling.  I can eat cookies for dinner, leave dishes in the sink, cry out loud when I’m sad, and go out in the pouring rain without a jacket when I feel like it.  When people ask how I’m doing with my empty nest, I love to give them a sly smile and say, “I don’t have to set an example for anyone anymore.” ( My own mother gives me a stern look and shakes her finger at me when I say that, which makes me enjoy saying it even more.)   –sorry Mom-   What I mean by that is, I can just be myself now.

            So, back to my author’s bio.  I guess it should say Elizabeth Schart has grown up to be herself.  She spends her time exercising at the gym to offset her childish eating habits.  During her summers off, instead of keeping up with her housework she writes stories that may never be read, just because she likes to.