by Alycia W. Morales     @AlyciaMorales

We have an amazing faculty lined up for you this year at BRMCWC. Because I was once a newbie conferee, I understand the jitters and queasiness one experiences when you have to sit across from the published writer, editor, or agent for a fifteen-minute appointment. Your tongue gets tangled, you forget the perfect pitch you could rattle off ten minutes ago, and you fear you’ll spit when you talk. Maybe you sweat and fear your deodorant will wear off. Yeah. We’ve all been there at one point or another.

What we want you to know is this:

And we’re all human. Just like you. We get nervous, tired, disappointed, excited, overwhelmed, and all those other emotions that can occur at any moment of any day. And to show you that, the leadership team has asked our writers, agents, and editors to share a few fun or interesting facts about themselves. We hope this will give you something to talk about – an icebreaker of sorts – when you need to relax enough so you can pitch your story.

Today we’ll start off with Michelle Medlock Adams (she has a bubbly personality) and Bethany Jett (she’s Michelle’s twin – even though they aren’t related). You can look forward to more BRMCWC Faculty Five posts every Friday between today and the conference.

Michelle Medlock Adams:

1. Right after Jeff and I got engaged in 1990, I wrote a love poem about our relationship and sent it to famed DJ Casey Kasem, along with a letter explaining how the song “After All” by Cher and Peter Cetera had become our song. Casey read my poem and letter on air and dedicated “After All” to Jeff and me as part of the “Long Distance Dedication” during the Top 40 Countdown that week.
2. I love to fish—especially when I get to fish with my hubby. In fact, we love fishing so much that we bought a new bass boat to celebrate our 25-year wedding anniversary last year, and this summer we’ll be competing in couples bass tournaments. So excited!
3. Early in my journalistic career, I so badly wanted to scoop the other area newspapers that I tried out for a cheerleading role in the movie Blue Chips so that I could mingle with the actors and actresses in an area where reporters were forbidden. I made it past the first two cuts but I didn’t get chosen for the cheer squad. As I left the gym floor, movie director Bill Friedkin called me over and said, “Hey, you want a part in my movie? You look like you’d make a good reporter.” He was right.
4.  I am a diehard Doris Day fan—always have been. I once wrote to Doris Day and told her how much her movies and music meant to me, and she wrote back in green ink on the most adorable doggie stationary. I cherish that letter, and I still watch her movies on a regular basis. (My favorites? Pillow Talk, Move Over, Darling, The Thrill of It All, and That Touch of Mink.)
5. I am a lifelong, loyal Chicago Cubbies fan so when we won it all in 2016, I cried like a baby. (We hadn’t won since 1908 so it was a longtime coming!) When I was a little girl, we used to spend our summers traveling around the country, following the Cubs from ballpark to ballpark. My dad would quiz me on all the players’ stats. No wonder I became a sportswriter!

Bethany Jett:

1. I’m not allowed to give blood because of a Mad Cow Disease “threat.” Thanks, England.
2. I may or may not have a Betsey Johnson purses and “bows” obsession. #TotallyDo
3. I was in direct sales for over a decade.
4. I cried at the 4th grade Spelling Bee when I misheard “boil” and spelled “b-o-w-l.”
5. I love people, but have a tendency toward “hermit-ness.” So naturally, I married an extrovert and became a public speaker.

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