SHEILA ENGLISH

I can't recall a time in my life when I didn't want to be an author. I finished my first full length novel at the age of 10 (though I'd just die if someone ever tried to read it!). It was over 250 pages and handwritten.

I took journalism all through high school and have had many articles published world-wide.

I've had poetry published and find poetry to be very intimate.

I worked in the medical field for 18 years. 15 of those years I worked in the clinical laboratory, and the last three I was a teacher at Ohlone College in Fremont, California.

I worked as a lobbyist for the American Society of Clinical Laboratory Science and was politically active both as an advocate of changing state laws and as the President of the California Society of Clinical Laboratory Science organization.

After lecturing all over the world and initiating a cooperative alliance with our English counterparts during a talk at Oxford, England, there seemed little more to do in the health care field for me.

I wanted to get back to writing, but I didn't know how to get published. I wrote three books; Circle of Seven, The Gemini Keys and The Vampire King, all a part of a series I created. I made a website for my series that included "sound scenes", which was the precursor to podcasts. Then, I thought I needed something special to get a publisher's attention. And I came up with the idea of Book Trailers.

So, in 2002 Circle of Seven Productions was created. Some will say that going from the medical field to the entertainment field is a big change. It was. Other than some amateur stuff, I'd never created videos or written scripts. So, I bought books, took any online training I could find for free and set out to ask people with experience what I should do to make videos.

I enlisted Mike Miller, who is my uncle, but we were raised like brother and sister. Mike and I created videos in the past for fun. Then I hired a professional actor, Isaac Woofter, to help with talent and Isaac became on my best friends.

To make a long story short. We make Book Trailers even though we were told by industry professionals that it would never work.

We now have over 60 videos under our belt, over 20 of which went on television and 10 to movie theaters. And, in 2005 we won the prestigious Telly Award. Now, book videos have become the marketing craze of a billion dollar industry!
Still, I wasn't a published author yet. So, no rest for the weary, wicked or unpublished!

Luckily for me, I was used to rejection. After sending in my Circle of Seven manuscript to agents and publishers just to have it rejected time and again, I became a bit disheartened. I kept working on COS Productions helping authors promote their books, while putting my own on the back burner.

I wrote Shadows Across the Moon as a short story I had planned to submit to an online magazine. It was during a difficult time in my life, and like other difficult times in my life, I found refuge in my writing. And so the short story began to grow.

The heroine in Shadows Across the Moon (SAM), Grace Sullivan, was a reflection of me during that time. I felt that I was a servant to my work and that it was getting me no where. I felt that I lacked the courage to really put myself out there and submit my manuscripts again after editing them. But, like so many women before me, I found courage because I had no other choice.

My family has always been so supportive of me and I love them dearly for that. But, sometimes it is the most unlikely person that can motivate you. For me that person was a client, Linda Campbell. She and Bobbye Terry wrote a book called The Craig Legacy and I was hired to make a mini teaser for it. Linda was a wonderful and encouraging person. She'd been a judge in many writing contests including the Rita Awards. During a conversation she found out that I'd always wanted to be a writer. When I told her that I had a scifi I had just completed (I have to admit that I hadn't completed it. I was three chapters away from completing it...shhhhh...don't tell Linda! lol). She told me that she would love to read it and see if she could help me with my craft. How could I refuse that?! Linda encouraged me in so many ways and I will always be grateful to her for that.

I needed to work on my craft. No doubt. Luckily, I had a wonderful opportunity to work with a woman named Ann Peach. I went to the Romantic Times convention where I took classes. I ordered RWA tapes to learn even more. And then I met Sara DeWylde who is a professional editor and things started to work for me. Sara is one of the most wonderful, honest and educating editors ever! She has made a huge difference in my getting published. Thank you Sara!

I sent my manuscript of SAM to a few online publishers. Some of them rejected it saying that it still needed work. Some of them said it didn't fit what they were looking for. But, New Concepts Publishing said, you need to work on this, but this is a WONDERFUL story! We want it! Thank you to NCP for taking a chance on me!

I hope to have my Circle of Seven book published in 2009 and things are looking great for that to happen!

What I've realized on my journey throughout my life is that I have a lot to be grateful for and a lot of blessings. I know that I could never have gotten where I am without those wonderful people who came into my life to help me.