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Name: Devon Ellington
AKA: Annabel Aidan, Cerridwen Iris Shea, Jenny Storm, Christiane van de Velde, and Christy Miller.
Devon Ellington publishes under a half a dozen names in fiction and non-fiction. Her plays are produced in New York, London, Edinburgh, and Australia. Her Jain Lazarus Adventures are published by Solstice, and she has a paranormal romantic suspense novel (as Annabel Aidan) with Champagne Publishing. She’s published hundreds of articles and short stories, and teaches writing both online and in person. She was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Cape Cod Writers Center, and is part of the writing team for the National Marine Life Center (www.nmlc.org).
I work from character first. The character starts telling me the story, and I trust the character to take me through the first draft. In subsequent drafts, I pull it all apart and re-structure it, so that the structure supports the story I want and need to tell. What makes people tick fascinates me, and everyone has a story. You just have to care enough to find it. I’m a big believer in writing every day, no matter what. If “life gets in the way” and you constantly make excuses not to write, you don’t want it enough. There’s nothing wrong with that, but own it, and stop blaming external elements because you’re not writing. If you want to write, you put your butt in the chair and write every day, no matter what else is going on. You meet deadlines and keep commitments. If that means the occasional all-nighter, that’ s what you do to get it done. Writer’s block is a luxury that those of us who pay the bills by the pen don’t have.
Follow me on Twitter: @DevonEllington
My almost-daily writing blog on the ups and downs of the freelance writing life is Ink in My Coffee: http://devonellington.
Main website: www.devonellingtonwork.com
The Jain Lazarus Adventures: http://hexbreaker.
Ink in My Coffee: http://devonellington.
Education:
BFA in film and television production from NYU. Spent over 20 years working backstage on Broadway, and in film and television production.
Studied sustainability with Dr. Jonathan Tomkins of U. Illinois Urbana/Champaign, World History with Professor Jeremy Adelman of Princeton University, and Greek/Roman Mythology with Professor Peter Struck of U. Penn.
Likes:
I’m interested in almost everything except math and anchovies. The world is a fascinating place.
Dislikes:
Deliberate cruelty.
Anything else:
If you want to do something, go and do it. No excuses. Don’t wait for things to happen -- MAKE them happen.
--Assumption of Right (written as Annabel Aidan. Published by Champagne Books. Cover artist Trisha FitzGerald).
--HEX BREAKER: A Jain Lazarus Adventure. By Devon Ellington. Published by Solstice Publishing. Cover art by PJ Friel.
--OLD-FASHIONED DETECTIVE WORK. A Jain Lazarus Adventure. By Devon Ellington. Cover art by PJ Friel.
--DEATH SPARKLES. The story “Sea Diamond” by Devon Ellington is included in this anthology by Draconis Enterprises. Cover art by PJ Friel.
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