Welcome to the Inkspot blog. My name is Thea, and I’m the Inkspot Publishing Assistant Intern.
I’ve been with Inkspot for about two months, and it’s been an adventure so far. This is great as there’s nothing I like better, and I’ve come all the way across the pond to find it. I’m from the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and last year I got my master’s at Queen’s University Belfast. My degree was not in publishing or English but in conflict transformation and social justice, and I wrote my dissertation on the depiction of Ireland’s mother and baby homes in fiction, as I believe novels can increase awareness and create change.
After my dissertation, I did the Columbia Publishing Course at Oxford University, where I met many amazing people, and it was through CPC that I connected with Cathy. However, CPC wasn’t my first experience with publishing, as I’ve been familiar with the world of self-publishing for over a decade: when I was thirteen, I wrote the first book in the Transcendence Series. Begun during the height of the Twilight era, the series follows a reluctant young vampire named Ide (EE-duh) and her supernatural friends as they navigate middle school, relationships, and controlling their powers. The books are still available on Amazon, and they have their own website (https://transcendence4.weebly.com).
While I always joke that the first book, The Thirst Inside, is terrible, I know it holds its own for something written by a middle schooler. It’s a little like a time capsule: it reminds me of who I was a decade ago. Ide’s friends are my friends, and lunchtime conversations and sleepover inside jokes found their way into the text. My friends were my editing team, and they watched me write in real time on Google Docs, adding comments like “I remember this!” or “I would never say that!” I felt compelled to add a disclaimer for poetic license just so they would stop complaining about actions they deemed out of character.
As we grew, so did my writing. Book Two, Night Crawlers, followed seven months after Book One, but I like to think my eighth-grade creative writing class paid off. Book Three, The Flame at the End of the Passage, is my favorite. It adds a second perspective, and it takes place over the course of one day. Finally, What Remains of White Sands closed out the series with a long-awaited bang: I published it on my last day of high school, more than three years after its predecessor. A decade on, I recognize how unusual this is—not only the writing and the publishing but that I still call my editing team my friends. Although they’re far away, I text them in our group chat every day. I wouldn’t be half the writer or the person I am today without them … proof you need a solid team behind every book.
With these books behind me, I’m excited to see what’s ahead. Inkspot’s lineup for this year does not yet include any vampire novels, but there’s plenty of drama, action, romance, and adventure—everything I look for in a story. I’m a fan of fantasy, Shakespeare, and historical fiction, and there’s a special place in my heart for middle-grade fiction. Books shaped me as a child, leading me to pick up the pen myself, and giving other kids a chance to do this too is important to me. I read all the time, and I’m still writing too. To keep up with what I’m reading and with our upcoming titles, follow our Instagram: @inkspotpub.
