Meet the Mods
Updating, monitoring, and maintaining this community takes a lot of work. Six dedicated individuals are responsible for keeping this journal alive and kicking.
deviousgeke
Jen has a degree in English Literature and is a full-time editor in the Chicago area. She currently works for National Geographic School Publishing, but has also worked for an imprint of Houghton Mifflin. A borderline recluse, Jen spends her days writing material for textbooks and usually spends her nights curled up with loose manuscript pages and an embarrassingly large amount of pens.
Jen first teamed up with Courtney Wells in December of 2004 to revise the rough draft of Woven. Since that auspicious day, she has edited five full-length novels, two screenplays, one novella, countless short stories, and whatever else has fallen into her lap. Jen also dabbles in writing, and is currently developing her own YA novels, Life on Dead End Lane and The Isle of Wiles.
ellajobberknoll
Lauren is currently a senior in high school and has her sights set on an English or Creative Writing degree to further her quest to become a published author. She is an editor for her school newspaper and the youngest of the mods, a fact that she takes a great deal of pride in.
Lauren tried her hand at two rather terrible young adult novels, but she banished them to the depths of her computer forever after realizing what plotless horrors they were. Through stubbornness of will, Lauren's novel Azalea and the Art of Snaring a Prince was born. Time management problems, writer's block and sheer laziness have stretched Azalea out to a two year project. However, a two week stint at the Iowa Young Writers' Studio has renewed Lauren's determination to finish her first draft once and for all. She has made considerable strides toward that goal over the summer and hopes to keep up the pace through the school year.
missoccurs
Kate has duel B.A.s in English and Art History and teaches English just outside Osaka, Japan. Thus far her attempts at professional writing have netted her $335.80 and a Tamagotchi, and her work will soon be seen in the anthology So Fey: Queer Faery Fiction (ed. Steve Berman) and the magazine "Abyss and Apex." Her first novel, which she lovingly describes as "a YA tale of white trash with magic," is currently being shopped to agents.
Kate also serves as the NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison for the Kansai area and delights in cracking the whip over would-be novelists.
oy_angelina (Our Fearless Founder)
Courtney Wells has always been a writer in some sense of the word, but it wasn't until college that she finally got serious. After spending a year developing the as-yet unwritten series Purgatory, Courtney decided to try her hand at fanfiction, where she gained notoriety for her story Pensieve. She stumbled upon the idea for a fantasy called Woven around her 21st birthday, and spent another year developing the premise before finally committing to write.
The momentum hasn't let up since, resulting in two books for the Woven series-the first of which having been formally considered and formally rejected by a mainstream publisher (a fact which Courtney takes strange relish in). In addition to Woven, Courtney is in various stages of development with many other projects: Off-Key Chanties, Happenstance, The Braon Well Series, and The Practical Magick of Solace Baker. She is currently rewriting the first installment of Woven, and meeting with varying degrees of success along the way.
princesslo
Sara has a closet full of finished and half-finished stories that will never again see the light of day. Luckily, she also has manuscripts that she hopes will be published soon. Sara primarily writes commercial fiction and most recently, she's completed a novel about a supper club that brings an unlikely group of women together, and a novel about a blogger trying to get over his ex. Her own work is constantly undergoing edits, but in her spare time, Sara somehow also manages to edit the work of others and read published novels.
siriusly7
Melissa graduated from Millersville University in May 2007 with a major in English and double minors in Psychology and Sociology. She then moved to New York City to begin working as a full-time editor for Tor Books, the number one publisher of sci fi and fantasy in the US. She has worked on many projects at Tor, including Halo: Contact Harvest by Joseph Staten, Blasphemy by Douglas Preston, and The Thief Queen's Daughter by Elizabeth Haydon.
Melissa's other love is writing. She has many works in progress, mostly YA fantasy, but is currently focusing on her seven-part fantasy series The Amorwood Chronicles (cowritten with vivianne_rhyen) and her pet solo project The House on Climbing Vine.
deviousgeke
Jen has a degree in English Literature and is a full-time editor in the Chicago area. She currently works for National Geographic School Publishing, but has also worked for an imprint of Houghton Mifflin. A borderline recluse, Jen spends her days writing material for textbooks and usually spends her nights curled up with loose manuscript pages and an embarrassingly large amount of pens.
Jen first teamed up with Courtney Wells in December of 2004 to revise the rough draft of Woven. Since that auspicious day, she has edited five full-length novels, two screenplays, one novella, countless short stories, and whatever else has fallen into her lap. Jen also dabbles in writing, and is currently developing her own YA novels, Life on Dead End Lane and The Isle of Wiles.
ellajobberknoll
Lauren is currently a senior in high school and has her sights set on an English or Creative Writing degree to further her quest to become a published author. She is an editor for her school newspaper and the youngest of the mods, a fact that she takes a great deal of pride in.
Lauren tried her hand at two rather terrible young adult novels, but she banished them to the depths of her computer forever after realizing what plotless horrors they were. Through stubbornness of will, Lauren's novel Azalea and the Art of Snaring a Prince was born. Time management problems, writer's block and sheer laziness have stretched Azalea out to a two year project. However, a two week stint at the Iowa Young Writers' Studio has renewed Lauren's determination to finish her first draft once and for all. She has made considerable strides toward that goal over the summer and hopes to keep up the pace through the school year.
missoccurs
Kate has duel B.A.s in English and Art History and teaches English just outside Osaka, Japan. Thus far her attempts at professional writing have netted her $335.80 and a Tamagotchi, and her work will soon be seen in the anthology So Fey: Queer Faery Fiction (ed. Steve Berman) and the magazine "Abyss and Apex." Her first novel, which she lovingly describes as "a YA tale of white trash with magic," is currently being shopped to agents.
Kate also serves as the NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison for the Kansai area and delights in cracking the whip over would-be novelists.
oy_angelina (Our Fearless Founder)
Courtney Wells has always been a writer in some sense of the word, but it wasn't until college that she finally got serious. After spending a year developing the as-yet unwritten series Purgatory, Courtney decided to try her hand at fanfiction, where she gained notoriety for her story Pensieve. She stumbled upon the idea for a fantasy called Woven around her 21st birthday, and spent another year developing the premise before finally committing to write.
The momentum hasn't let up since, resulting in two books for the Woven series-the first of which having been formally considered and formally rejected by a mainstream publisher (a fact which Courtney takes strange relish in). In addition to Woven, Courtney is in various stages of development with many other projects: Off-Key Chanties, Happenstance, The Braon Well Series, and The Practical Magick of Solace Baker. She is currently rewriting the first installment of Woven, and meeting with varying degrees of success along the way.
princesslo
Sara has a closet full of finished and half-finished stories that will never again see the light of day. Luckily, she also has manuscripts that she hopes will be published soon. Sara primarily writes commercial fiction and most recently, she's completed a novel about a supper club that brings an unlikely group of women together, and a novel about a blogger trying to get over his ex. Her own work is constantly undergoing edits, but in her spare time, Sara somehow also manages to edit the work of others and read published novels.
siriusly7
Melissa graduated from Millersville University in May 2007 with a major in English and double minors in Psychology and Sociology. She then moved to New York City to begin working as a full-time editor for Tor Books, the number one publisher of sci fi and fantasy in the US. She has worked on many projects at Tor, including Halo: Contact Harvest by Joseph Staten, Blasphemy by Douglas Preston, and The Thief Queen's Daughter by Elizabeth Haydon.
Melissa's other love is writing. She has many works in progress, mostly YA fantasy, but is currently focusing on her seven-part fantasy series The Amorwood Chronicles (cowritten with vivianne_rhyen) and her pet solo project The House on Climbing Vine.