ABOUT ME
Oh, this is the place where I'm supposed to talk about myself. I'm good at that!
Just kidding.
My name's Eleni McKnight and I'm a Murfreesboro, Tennessee native (as in, I'm so local to Murfreesboro, everybody points new residents to me when they need directions). I graduated from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville with a degree in Theatre with an emphasis in Literature and a wild passion for creating clothes and doing make-up. I've always been an avid reader and I love music and theatre, even though I've only been paid for dinner theatre, but not for performing music. I started writing at age eight when I had read all the Baby-Sitter's Club books that were out and wanted something new to read. It's never quite left me over the years
These days, you can usually find me reading a book, crocheting, cross-stitching, at a concert, drinking a craft beer with friends, or taking a dance class. In July of 2021, I finished my Master's in Marriage and Family Counseling/Therapy at Trevecca Nazarene Univerisity in Nashville and I couldn't be prouder of myself. My day job is now working in Drug Rebahiliation, which is where you can find me.
FAQ
- How do you say the name ELENI? It's just "Lenny" with an "Ah" in front of it. It means "Helen" in Greek, so it's a common name there. Yes, I am half Greek.
- What are you writing? See here and here.
- What do you like to write the most? YA Paranormal Fiction
- What do you like to read the most? Paranormal Fiction mostly, I don't care what genre as long as it's fun and engrossing.
- When did you start writing? Age 8-9. I got bored and my Mema gave me her typewriter, so I started writing my own stories on it, my version of "playing." I was also the little girl who would read during recess and had my books taken away by my teacher.
- What is your favorite book? That's like asking me which one of my cats is my favorite. But if pressed, I'd say To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee or The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I know. Neither of these are YA Paranormal.
- Who is your favorite writer? Again, like asking me which one of my cats is my favorite. Above mentioned writers, but I also love JK Rowling for the Harry Potter Series, Bram Stoker for Dracula. I love horror a lot, so I also have to include Edgar Allan Poe. Also, I grew up on Ann M. Martin's books as well as RL Stine, Christopher Pike, Judy Blume, and Beverly Cleary. I want to see more juvenile books of girl gangs doing cool sh*t together series books again. That was what I grew up on. I love series books as a kid, not stand-alones.
- Is writing the only thing you do? Alas, I am an indie writer, which means I'm not with the Big 3 Publishing Houses (not yet, at least). So I have a day job. I don't mind, it's gotten harder and harder to be a full-time writer, and even then, full-time writers don't make much money. But at the same time, writers with the bigger publishing houses oftentimes have more restrictions and bigger deadlines, so I get to write/publish whatever I want. I don't do this for the paycheck, I do it because otherwise, I'd go nuts without this outlet. I also love performing, but I hung up my character shoes. I retired from acting so that I can finally get a grown-up career in counseling. I did some professional on-camera acting in summer of 2017, and while it was fun, it was tough to get more than just a job as an extra. I'm too old to really make a living in acting, although I do get the itch still from time-to-time.
- What TV/Movies were you in? I've appeared as an extra on Still the King, Nashville, Our Very Own, and a Lonestar music video. I appeared in a student film called Dream Come True, which I have a copy of, but I don't have one up on the internet for public viewing, so I can't link you to that right now. I have also been in a Kid Rock music video called Podunk. That's me in the pink plaid top handing beer to the rednecks in the truckbed swimming pools (yes, I am super pale). My brother down in Louisiana was super-excited that I was in the video and showed it to all his friends! No, I did not get to meet Kid Rock this time, he filmed his part of the video on a separate shoot from mine. But I can technically brag about having "worked with" Jonathan Jackson, Hayden Panettiere, John Corbett (dreamy sigh), Billy Ray Cyrus, Jason Ritter, Hilarie Burton, and Autumn Reeser (although if you asked them, they wouldn't know me from Adam). I wrote a blog post about appearing on Nashville and Still the King here (even though they don't want us blogging about our experiences as extras, but I tried to be positive about it and not give away too many security details). No, I do not have an IMDB page, either. Some jobs I was paid for, others I was only paid in Craft Food service cookies, juice, and "experience" dollars, but the electric company doesn't accept that for currency (a blunt truth). I did a lot of community theatre as a volunteer, but I don't do it any longer. I do qualify for SAG, though, although I will probably never join it. But never say never.
- What do you want to do with your writing career? Like I stated above, I want to write a book series or two, maybe one day write something good enough to be a film or TV show. I always wanted to get into writing for TV or movies, but that's a long shot.
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