BY SARAH-BETH WATKINS
I am delighted to be a new assistant editor for the mad world of Xchyler, so I thought I’d better introduce myself and let you know a little bit about me before I attack your work!
I began writing many moons ago—fantasy stories to utilise my creative side and articles to pay the bills. I ended up writing hundreds of articles on things as diverse as the benefits of buying a remote controlled car for your son’s birthday gift to how to start dating in your fifties—I know, exciting stuff!
I had several fantasy short stories published including The “Apples of Sol” and “Woodland Born”, but then, needing to earn a steady wage, I started teaching in community centres and colleges, working with women’s groups and community activists.
I wrote a fantasy novel, Altora, during this time and shoved it in a draw as my career changed and morphed. Working in the community sector is a tough call, but I was delighted to be chosen to document the work of African women’s groups in 2007, and was sent over to Tanzania to meet the women and record the journey.
Then I lost my job—the funding was cut—poof! Gone! But I knew I now had time to do what I loved most and that was write. Altora came back out of the draw and was self-published as a Kindle book.
Over the past few years I’ve also written four how-to write guides for Compass Books and two history books, Ireland’s Suffragettes and Lady Katherine Knollys: The Unacknowledged Daughter of King Henry VIII. As a lover of history, I also work for John Hunt Publishing managing Chronos Books, their history imprint, copyediting and proofreading for them too.
I’m outlining a book on Charles Brandon, Henry VIII’s best buddy at the mo. I grew up close to Hampton Court Palace in the UK and spent my childhood running around palaces, manor houses and ornate gardens. There was a 17th century manor house just down the road where I grew up, and when I wagged from school, I used to head there and talk to the guards about the ghosts that haunted the buildings, pretending I was doing a project for school. I didn’t know then but my love for history and fantasy was combining to give me the interests that I love today.
But, as well as history, my other main love then is fantasy. My mom used to read me Tolkien for bedtimes stories and I was hooked from an early age. Now I’m working on an urban fantasy story set in Ireland with all its myths and legends. I’ve made Ireland my home and find inspiration from living in the countryside close to the beach and a bird-filled estuary. I live in a little stone cottage up a long muddy lane that’s named after a place in Jack Vance’s Lyonesse trilogy, Thripsey Shee—meaning fairy glen.
I’m dabbling with a horror screenplay, teaching creative writing, working with an author services company to help local writers and now helping out with Xchyler. I look forward to reading all your stories and novels. Bring ’em on!
We folks (wee folks?) at Xchyler are delighted to welcome Sarah-Beth and can’t wait to see what magic emerges from her fairy glen. She is currently working on several fantasy projects with Xchyler authors.