Writer. Editor. Speaker.
Writer:
Southern Fried Wiccan, a YA Contemporary, coming in March from BookFish Books!"Lighting the Sacred Way," a short story set in ancient Ephesus, in Journeys of Wonder, vol 2, from Fuzzbom Publishing, Fall 2012.
"Running Raw," in the Belle Books' collection Sweeter Than Tea.
Click here for a full listing of my publications.
Editor:
I have worked in the industry for many years as an editor and marketing consultant for both small traditional publishers as well as electronic. I most recently worked as an editor for Musa Publishing in their YA line, Euterpe.I continue to freelance edit for promising writers wanting to ensure their story is the best it can be before submissions. You can find more info on my services here.
Speaker:
Here's an article on the history of my Harry Potter workshop:
My fascination with Harry Potter began as a result of a recommendation from a local bookstore owner. He had a small new/used store near my house that I would visit frequently with my young son to pick up stories to read to him. One day the owner pointed out Sorcerer's Stone to me and said, "This one's gotten very popular with a lot of the kids. I sell out of them as soon as I get one in."
However, as my son was only about 6 at the time, I thought it a bit old for him and didn't buy it. Still, it had caught my attention and I noticed it prominently displayed when I visited the next two times until I finally decided to give it a wave.
I took it home and began reading it to my son, and we were both hooked! As soon as we finished Sorcerer's Stone, we immediately began Chamber of Secrets and then flew into Prisoner of Azkaban. At that point, we had to wait a bit for Goblet of Fire to be released.
It was after we'd devoured Goblet of Fire and had no idea when the next book would come out, that my agent, also a Harry Potter fan, recommended a companion book that might prove interesting while we waited impatiently. Wizarding World Press' Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter took my fascination with the series to a whole new level. My son and I delighted in delving back into the stories, reading them again and again, to hunt out the clues that had escaped us before. He'd come up with the wildest theories of what was forthcoming that I'd have to counter until we were each trying to outdo the other. Reading Harry Potter together was a special time for us that soon began to include my younger daughter as well as she grew older.
It was during this wait for the release of Order of the Phoenix that my involvement with Harry Potter took an interesting turn. Mugglenet, the fansite I'd become fond of visiting, posted an article about a new, exciting venture -- a book of theories of the series to be put together totally by fans and to be published by Wizarding World Press. Here was my chance to combine my passion for writing with my fascination with all things Potter. With my background in religious studies and my love of ancient mythologies, I'd quickly become engrossed in ferreting out links I saw between JK Rowling's analogies to Egyptian mythology and alchemy. I submitted two articles that were accepted and printed in The Plot Thickens...Harry Potter Investigated by Fans for Fans.
"The Chamber of Thoth" and "Geomancy and Alchemy Gems in Harry Potter" received wonderful feedback and generated great discussion on online forums. I'd been bitten again by the Harry Potter dragon and couldn't stop analyzing and commenting. I worked with Wizarding World Press through the publication of their Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter, Book 5 while continuing to write articles and present workshops. I attended fan conferences, writers conferences, release parties, and everywhere presented workshops based on analyzing the Egyptian mythological references and analyzing JK Rowling's craft techniques -- which quickly became my most popular workshop.
After Half-Blood Prince had been released, my article "One Last Memory" was published on Mugglenet, again with exciting feedback. Then, right before the release of Deathly Hallows, I published a series of three connected articles on Mugglenet analyzing the Egyptian Myths within Harry Potter. Unfortunately, they were posted the day that all comments went silent to avoid spoilers before the release.
I couldn't be too disappointed, however, as I was heading to London to present a couple of workshops at a Harry Potter conference held to coincide with the release of the last book. Talk about excitement! Being in London for the release while presenting at a conference was something I'll never forget -- as well as the lines that snaked around the Waterstone's in Piccadilly. I didn't feel like staying up all night to join that line, especially as I had to present the next day, but I did enjoy walking along it with my sister and seeing all the costumes.
Since 2007, I've continued to present my workshop when requested as well as pursuing my own writing. I've had a few short stories published and am deep in the middle of a young adult fantasy series. Now, I'm impatiently waiting for the publication of JKR's encyclopedia to see if some of my theories of her mythological source material holds up to reality! If only my theory of Ginny as an animagi had come true... :-)
