My agent requested my bio and photo for the agency Web site, and I need your help! Take a look at my extensive portrait portfolio below and think about which one would look best on my bio and book jacket. Vote on your favorite!
1) Hard at Work… Yawn. This one really showcases my Puritan work ethic. My agent, publisher, and readers can clearly see that I’m a real go-getter with upper management potential. Watch out, world! Here I come!
2) Mornings are Hard! Professional and pleasant, I’m a real people-person. Especially between the hours of, well, night time.
3) Santa’s Little Helper. A true Renaissance girl, my talents on the page don’t end with words. As an artist, it’s important to open myself to all creative pursuits, and this piece from my 1979 collection (the magic-marker-on-construction-paper period) says it all. And more. And maybe too much.
4) I Can Soooo Relate! I write about teenagers, for teenagers. Nothing like a peek into my own dreadful adolescence to bridge the generational gap.
5) Childhood Trauma? Check! Nothing inspires great writing like a horrible childhood. This photo, also taken during the magic marker period, illustrates the poverty we endured as poor suburban children. See that wooden wagon my roly-poly brother is stuck in? Yeah, that was our car. Imagine how difficult it was for Dad to get to work! Aforementioned roly-poly also ate all the food in our house, while the rest of us starved. And Mom had to sew all of our clothes (exhibit A, red and white striped jumper paired with Dad’s old bowling shoes). And see that brown plaid couch in the background? Same one I tried to set on fire with the hairdryer when I was 10. I just couldn’t take it anymore! Believe me, folks, I’ll get some real page-turners out of this childhood!
6) Life is So Much Better in 2D! Maybe my Yahoo avatar will do the trick. She’s much cuter than me, and skinnier, with better hair and shoes. A little flat, though…
7) I’ll Do Just About Anything to Sell That Book! Naughty veil, feather boa, cleavage, you name it! Just like at my bachelorette party, there’s nothing I won’t do to draw inappropriate attention to myself. Just imagine what I can do at a book signing event! Fun and classy!
Loyal readers, I need your help deciding on my official author photo! Will it be…
1) Hard at Work… Yawn.
2) Mornings are Hard!
3) Santa’s Little Helper.
4) I Can Soooo Relate!
5) Childhood Trauma? Check! or
6) Life is So Much Better in 2D!
7) I’ll Do Just About Anything to Sell That Book!
You decide! Vote early and often in the comments section below!
Sarah Ockler 
“4) I Can Soooo Relate!”
It makes me want to listen to Cyndi Lauper and dance The Running Man while sipping a New Coke.
2, 6, then 1. I like the kid’s unfiltered attitude; the 2d that sums you all up, and then 1 though it makes me think of fear and loathing in lv….but it’s a very cool shot!
It’s so hard! Well, maybe not. Hard… hard… not… not… Santa’s Little Helper. Primarily because he’s not hard and this decision is. Your agent might not like that though… this is agony. Go for the teen shot, then switch it up with every book. Keep the masses guessing.
I vote mornings are hard. Did I read pleaseant????
Spell check aisle 1. That was pleasant, still with the ????
The best part about the Santa’s Little Helper drawing is that someone, most notably probably your mom, thought it was funny enough to keep for all these years. This says VOLUMES about why you are the way you are!
My vote is for the mornings are hard one. That’s me most days.
I’m compelled to tell you all that apparently, after I turned in the Santa’s Helper masterpiece to Mom, I told her that he was “just squeezing the toothpaste, Mommy.” I think that says volumes about why I am the way I am, too.
And also why I don’t like the dentist. Hmmm…
I vote for number 2. That can-do look of certaintude (certaintude?) will tell your readers that this is a no frills autograph line and that a $5 donation will get more than a scrawl in their favorite book. After all, it takes money to look that good.
Also, I’d like to buy the art work to hang in my library.
They are all soooo good, it is hard to choose. I like number one a lot. I wish I was there. And number seven? Any kind of cleavage pretty much mesmerizes me.
But the main blog photo you’re using (with the glasses) is seriously good.
2. Cranky kids kill me. No seriously. My cranky kids are killing me.
I think you should use the b/w one. You have the sexy librarian look.