Greetings!
My name is Avily Jerome. I’m a wife, a mother, a writer, and an editor.
I’ve been writing stories for about as long as I can remember. My favorite course in college was a creative writing elective. I always enjoyed writing stories, and I have a huge folder of stories and pieces of stories that I started dating back to high school. I never really did much with them, though, until about eight years ago when I decided to see if anyone besides my mom was interested in reading my writing.
So, I finished my first full-length manuscript, a historical romance, and submitted it to agents and publishers.
And I got rejected.
And rejected.
And rejected.
The form letters rolled in and kept rolling in.
I can’t tell you how many tears I shed as yet another hope was squashed beneath the heel of some faceless entity with whom I had shared my very soul. And the most frustrating thing was, I had no idea why no one was interested. Why couldn’t I get anyone to look at my work? I knew I was doing something wrong, but I couldn’t fix it when I had no idea what “it” was.
Then, one day, a kind and benevolent agent rejected me in the nicest possible way. With a personal note. He told me I had some elements of good writing craft, but others begged for fine tuning.
And I said to myself, “What in the world is writing craft?”
The rest, as they cliché, was history. I started attending writing groups, finding critique partners, attending conferences, and really studying the art and science of writing craft.
About five years ago, I hired my first editor to do a manuscript review of my novel, and I learned a lot from the process. Then, three years ago, I joined Splickety Publishing Group. At the time, SPG only had one flash fiction magazine imprint, and I ran the blog. A year later, SPG launched two new lines, Havok, a speculative flash fiction magazine, and Splickety Love, a romance flash fiction magazine. I applied (see: begged) for the position of editor of Havok and I got it. Since then, I have had the opportunity to learn how to produce a magazine from start to finish and have interned under some of the finest authors and editors in the business.
I have had multiple short stories published, in various ezines and anthologies, both print and digital. I recently published a short story collection, The Heir, (available on my Books and More page and on Amazon). I regularly judge writing contests, both for short stories and for novels. I teach at writers’ conferences and for writers’ groups.
Which brings us to today, and the official launching of this website. As I pursue my own writing goals, I also want to help others who are where I was eight years ago, wondering “what in the world is writing craft?” Through my work with Havok and my own personal interactions both online and in person, I have developed a love for finding what’s missing in a story and teaching newer authors some of what I’ve learned.
One part of that will be posting regular articles on the basics of writing craft. I’m also developing a series of ebooks about writing craft. My first book, a Handy Handbook of Common Homonyms, will be available on Amazon soon. Or, if you sign up for my newsletter, I’ll send you a copy of Common Homonyms for FREE!
Stay tuned for my next post, in which I’ll tell you all about what I can do for you!