"The end of reading is not more books, but more life." George Holbrook Jackson

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A More Personal Note

Trawling the web to find someone to help you with your book, whether you need an editor or a ghostwriter, whether you've been working on fiction or non-fiction, can be a difficult task. Beyond the professional qualifications and the recommendations, what leads you to choose one over another; to trust that particular professional with the precious writing you have spent days and months honing? It can be a tough call. I thought I'd share a little bit of myself beyond the professional, so you have a slightly fuller picture of who the 'bookshaper' is.

When I was six years old, my form teacher sent a report card home to my parents. "When Deborah is reading," wrote Miss Sommerfeld, probably somewhat sardonically, "she is blind and deaf to everything around her."

Not much has changed in the three decades since, to my husband's occasional chagrin.

I'm an editor and writer because, simply, I love books. I love the feel of them and the smell of them; I love the promise and anticipation as I open to the first page of a new purchase; I love the welcome an old favourite bestows on me as I re-enter its world. I find books miraculous for where they can take me, and have done for as long as I can remember.

My very first love - that I can remember - was Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox. Then Enid Blyton. Then Narnia led me through a wardrobe and literally opened up a new world for me. On my seventh birthday, my parents bought me a set of children's classics, most of which I still have. On my eighth birthday, they bought me The Hobbit, little knowing what they were about to unleash. Family legend has it that I finished the book in an afternoon, so my mother (herself an English teacher) determined to get me something I couldn't finish that fast, and presented me with a 1,077 page, one-volume edition of Lord of the Rings. It may have taken me a week. I was overwhelmed, completely conquered. For the next decade, I was a Tolkien fanatic.

Although C.S. Lewis and Tolkien (and Diana Wynne Jones, and George MacDonald, and E. Nesbit, and Alan Garner, and Lloyd Alexander, and Susan Cooper, and Madeleine L'Engle) turned me into a lover of fantasy, I've always been interested in pretty much every genre there is. And now that I'm an adult, I'm still a voracious reader in all genres, including non-fiction, particularly anything related to history or health. Some favourite authors: Guy Gavriel Kay, Stephen Donaldson, Diana Wynne Jones (still), Ann Patchett, Barbara Kingsolver, Anna Quindlen, Dorothy Dunnett, Donald Harington.

One thing that would be remiss of me to leave out would be Bright Weavings. Nothing to do with looms or embroidery. Way back in 1998, when everyone was just beginning to discover the joys of the internet, I would search for any and all information on Guy Gavriel Kay, my favourite author. One day, I stumbled across a website that included his email address. I had once started writing a letter to Mr. Kay, care of his publishers, but I never completed it. Finding an email address spurred me to action. I wrote a long email. A couple of days later he wrote back - and invited me to continue emailing. A correspondence developed, then a friendship, and then, ultimately - I'd been dabbling in website building - we developed and I created the authorized website on his work - which you can still find at www.brightweavings.com.

What else to share? I'm a Londoner born and bred, but I've made my home in Jerusalem since 1996. My husband is an amazingly talented teacher. We have two very adorable sons, born in 2008 and 2013. I'm the oldest of five children. TV shows I love: West Wing, Slings & Arrows, Justified, Doctor Who, Friday Night Lights, Buffy. I sing in a women's a capella group. Although I'm British, I worked according to American standards for eight years at Toby Press, so I spell both ways. And my husband is American, so there's that, too. My favo(u)rite colo(u)rs are those I've used in the design of this website (which I put together myself). I revel in spring and autumn, but I live in a country that doesn't really get much in the way of either. And, I am one hundred percent dedicated to my work, and to getting any book I work on, whether I'm editing it, writing it, or just proofing it, into the best shape it can possibly be.