Mitzi & Oz

Two high school misfits who hate each other. One music competition where they have to work together. Can their love of classic 80s rock unite them?

High-school junior Mitzi is determined to hate Oz from the very first day she meets him, after he steals her cool nickname intro. She has a hard enough time fitting in with her fix-it hobby, her asexuality, and her love of 80’s rock. When Mitzi manages to make friends with the popular girls, Mitzi must hide who she really is and figure out how to still pass voice class without outshining them. Oz is too busy channeling Axl Rose to care whether Mitzi likes him or not. When his newly-formed band, The Flaming Pickles (NOT his name choice), starts pulling a Fleetwood Mac, Oz sneaks into the student vocal competition auditions looking for a new lead singer, and discovers that Mitzi’s voice is exactly what he needs.

With the competition fast approaching, Mitzi and Oz find they’ll have to work together to win, and learn the power of being their true selves.

You can read this novel online via Wattpad!

Writing Process

November 27, 2018 – May 26, 2019

I used this writing prompt for my teen writers group at the library and found myself curious about the two characters I created. Even though I did the character sketches at the tail end of Nanowrimo 2018, I quickly finished writing We Live in the Dark and immediately started on Mitzi & Oz. Since I began doing Nanowrimo in 2006, I’ve never wanted to start a new project in December. In fact, most Decembers I don’t write at all. But this year I couldn’t stop myself!

It’s been a long time since I wrote a novel completely outside of the constraints of Nanowrimo, and I loved getting familiar with my old method of writing again. I didn’t tell anyone anything about my novel (I referred to it as my “super secret WIP”), did not create a cover, and though I kept track of my word count, I didn’t put myself on a deadline to finish. It was lovely!