behind the scenes

I want to introduce you to the behind-the-scenes people who enrich your Sean McPherson reading experience.

CHRISTINE DESMET (upper left)
Christine has been my writing coach for over a decade. Her eyes are the first pair to see what’s happening at Pines & Quill. As I complete each chapter, she reviews it and then lets me know what’s working (and why) and what doesn’t work (and why). Then, she suggests how I might fix it.

CANDACE JOHNSON (upper right)
Candace is my copyeditor. Once the manuscript is finished, she finesses my prose to observe the conventions of good writing, verifying proper syntax, word choice, spelling, punctuation, and adherence to The Chicago Manual of Style.

REBECCA STERN (lower left)
Rebecca is the voice of the Sean McPherson novels. As the audiobook narrator, she embodies then speaks for each character, breathing three-dimensional life into them until they rise off the page (almost flesh and blood) for the reader’s listening pleasure.

LAUREN WISE (lower right)
Lauren is my project manager at SparkPress. From orchestrating book cover artwork to retail distribution and everything in between—page layout, in-house proofing, and final edits—she sets the deadlines I must meet to ensure an annual Sean McPherson spring release.

THANK YOU
Thank YOU for your readership and for posting reviews that bring new readers to the Sean McPherson novels.

My friend, Canadian artist Terrill Welch, periodically gifts her readers with step-by-step photos of a painting being born. So revealing, those posts are among my favorites.

With that in mind, I’m sharing with you the behind the scenes “magic” of what took place to capture a photo of me — Mary Poppins style — for an up-and-coming event.

Using the camera in my iPhone 5S, Len was the photographer. As you know, we have loads of fun together. Sometimes we even get carried away; in my case (almost) literally: