Local author gets her wish come true

By Megan Blank, Staff Writer

Joanna Hughson’s advice to aspiring writers: Don’t wait, just do it.

That’s what she did, and now Hughson has become the recipient of an honorable mention in the Teenage category of the 2008 DIY Book Festival for her first book, “Be Careful What You Wish For…,” written for young adults under her pen name, Stef.

Hughson, who lives in North Wales, wrote her first story at age 8.

“It was called ‘The Whimsical Lion,” she said with a laugh, “though I have no idea what happened to it. I was always fascinated with words – like whimsical or gigantic or gargantuan. And I was an avid reader.”

Originally, Hughson had a career in advertising working for a large firm in the Washington, D.C., area where she had grown up. She then pursued a second career as a therapist, working in Hatboro-Horsham at a mental health institution when she and her husband moved to this area in 2001.

Despite these successful careers, writing was always in the back of her mind.

“Writing was really eating at me,” she said, “I was missing it. Advertising allowed for writing, but not what I wanted to write. I had a filing cabinet full of ideas and stories I had started.”

One particular story, begun about 10 years ago, the eventual “Be Careful What you Wish For,” Hughson said was just eating at her.

“It was asking to be written, “Hughson said. “I had been working on it on and off when I had some down time. But then life got in the way, as it does.”

“So I decided to just get it done, and get it out there.”

She quit her job in Hatboro-Horsham to focus on writing full-time, in addition to caring for her parents, who still lived in the D.C. area.

“Be Careful What You Wish For” tells the fantasy story of Gwendolyn, a 10-year old girl who lives in Idleburg, Pa., and discovers she might be the long lost daughter of Queen Filanthropi of Idlebury in Dimension XIII. To prove she is the princess, Gwendolyn must undergo a series of harrowing events, including being thrown into the thirteenth dimension, surviving tests of moral fortitude, life-jeopardizing adventures and meeting a large cast of characters undergoing similar journeys of personal discovery.

Hughson said it was written in a year, “in fits and spurts,” after actually scrapping most of what already had been done – “all except the first chapter,” she said – and when the editing process was completed, decided to self-publish it through XLibris Publishing.

“It looks like self-publishing is really booming. It’s really a viable way to go, if you want to get your book going,” she said.

The book was entered in the DIY contest quite late in the year, as it was published at the end of 2008 and “I didn’t think it would make it,” Hughson said.

After returning from a family trip over the holidays, Hughson checked her e-mail on New Year’s Eve, and found a list of the winners.

“It was eight pages long of categories – and I was thinking ‘no way I won anything’ – and on the very last page in the second to last category was the one I entered and I saw I had received an honorable mention,” she said.

“I was really excited to be noticed for my first book, and thought, ‘well, maybe I have something here,’” she said.

Future projects include turning “Be Careful What You Wish For” into a trilogy series, focusing on Gwendolyn’s siblings, and Hughson said she may write a fourth book “to tie all of them together.”

Hughson said she is also beginning another story of historical fiction, set in the South during the Civil War.

“It’s about a mother whose son decides to fight for the North. It’s her only child, so she decides to disguise herself as a male soldier and joins as well,” she said. “A lot of women actually did this, and I have a lot of books around for research.”

“Anyway, the mother sees her son at Gettysburg, but the son doesn’t recognize her. I won’t say how it ends,” she said with a laugh.

When asked her advice to aspiring writers, Hughson said, “One thing is to not give up if you think your writing is bad. The more you write, the better you get.

“Also, it’s important to not be in love with your own work,” she continued. “Be extremely judgmental. You can’t be sensitive, not everyone is going to like your work. Just know that you’ve done your best.

“If you have a dream, you have to go after it. [Writing] is not as mysterious as people think.”

Interested readers can find Hughson’s book at www.gwenstef.com, www.amazon.com, and at www2.xlibris.com. The book can also be purchased online at the Barnes & Noble and Border’s Web sites.

“I just hope people enjoy the book,” Hughson said.

Article Source:  www.zwire.com

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