|
Putting the Right
Words in the Write Places
|
|
|
|
Meet the Nashville, Tennessee team of ghostwriters, editors, proofreaders,
and virtual
assistant for Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services.
Our multi-talented team is able to do an excellent job on just
about any type of writing project.
Our editors are also writers. Our virtual assistant works with authors and
businesses to enhance online publicity.
|
|
| You may contact any of our team members through our
Contact page. |
|
|
The Writers in the sky team |
Nashville resident Yvonne Perry is a full-time freelance writer, editor, published author,
public speaker, and the owner of Writers in the
Sky Creative Writing Services. As a highly sought after
ghostwriter, she enjoys helping people get their thoughts into a
well-written book. She has authored, ghostwritten, edited or
assisted authors with more than thirty books.
She is the author of six children’s eBooks, a humorous book about
mid-life crisis, and
More Than Meets the Eye: True Stories about
Death, Dying, and Afterlife, intended to comfort those who are
grieving the loss of a loved one. Her latest book
Right to
Recover, Winning the Political and Religious Wars over Stem Cell
Research in America, is an Award-Winning Finalist in the Current
Events: Political/Social of the National Best Books 2007 Awards.
See Yvonne's books. Yvonne is also an active member of
Tennessee Writers Alliance.
Perry is a graduate of American Institute of Holistic Theology where
she earned a Bachelor of Science in Metaphysics. Naturally, her
writing expertise and interest lies in the new age, spiritual, and
metaphysical genres, but as an editor of both fiction and
non-fiction, she is able to provide assistance on any book or
document.
With her wide variety of writing experience that includes impressive
résumés, personal and professional bios, high-quality press releases
and articles, as well as books, Yvonne is
ready to work with you on your next project.
Read Yvonne’s Full Bio
|
|
Ghostwriter and editor Sarah Moore has written and edited
numerous high-quality bios, articles, media releases, resumes, query
letters, and book proposals. She works as a developmental editor,
copy editor, and proofreader to help authors get their books ready
to publish.
As a former public high school teacher and academic advisor for
campus students at University of Maryland and Boston University as
well as a former research and writing instructor at Middle Tennessee
State University, Sarah assists college or high school students
seeking a writing tutor or needing expert help with academic papers.
In her work on Congressional, gubernatorial, and local council
campaigns (including her own run for the District 14 seat on the
Nashville Metro Council), some of her primary responsibilities included
writing Web content for the candidates, writing editorials and
policy papers on behalf of the candidates, and doing policy and
opinion research (Internet, newspapers, blogs, etc). Naturally,
Sarah enjoys writing political pieces and penning editorials on
current event topics. However, she is also an avid sports fan, so
call on her when you need a sports writer.
Moore received her Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Government and
Politics and Russian Area Studies, as well as a Master’s Degree in
Secondary Education from the University of Maryland at College Park.
She is a Phi Beta Kappa member who graduated with departmental
honors in Government and Politics.
Contact Sarah
|
|
Barbara Milbourn is our Nashville-based freelance writer and Grammatika-certified editor focused on
developmental and copy editing and proofreading.
She is a member of Tennessee Writers Alliance, Toastmasters International, Tennessee Native Plants Society, Frist Center for the Visual
Arts, Cheekwood, and a local book club. As an officer and member of Toastmasters International, she writes and delivers contest-winning
speeches. Barbara is a frequent book reviewer and author interviewer on Writers in the Sky podcast, and an
articles contributor to Writers in the Sky newsletter. She’s minutes-writer and newsletter contributor for her homeowner's
association, and participates weekly in a small writing group with other Natalie Goldberg students.
Barbara is able to serve as copy editor, proofreader, or
book shepherd to those needing assistance with a preparing a book to
be published.
She has edited or proofread more than a dozen books for WITS clients. She is also a fantastic and honest book reviewer.
See the
book reviews she has written and posted on Amazon.com.
Contact Barbara
|
|
Y. “Vonnie” Faroqui is our author's assistant
in charge of helping authors with online book promotion such as arranging virtual book tours
and writing book reviews, author bios, media kits, and sell sheets. She also provides project management for online book publicity
campaigns. As the WITS Podcast coordinator, Vonnie schedules interviews for our writing show,
creates
promotional pieces to feature authors on our blog, writes media
releases, and serves as one of our podcast hosts.
Vonnie was born in Saginaw, Michigan and raised in Dryden, Ontario, Canada.
She is a freelance writer, actor, director, poet, storyteller, workshop facilitator, and artist. She holds a Performance Arts Degree from Lansing Community College.
She has held positions as a computer and Internet technical support specialist and as a software master administrator, technical writer, and insurance benefits
specialist with the State of Tennessee.
As a child, Vonnie used creative writing to cope with an abusive home life. As an adult employed in civil service, she found herself in a work relationship that mirrored the emotional abuse of her childhood. As her health took a rapid downturn, she realized she was not fulfilling her soul purpose. She took a leap of faith, let go of her job, placed herself into the creative flow of Spirit, and asked for a life of creative fulfillment. Within days, the opportunity to begin a writing career with Writers in the Sky opened and she joyfully leapt into it.
As a medicine woman, spirit warrior, djembe drummer, coach, circle facilitator, and all around creative, Vonnie uses her gifts to the enrichment and fostering of healing, self-expression, and empowerment in self-recovery, through her writing and many creative projects. Her latest adventure in healing is shared with husband Irfan,
as the two lead and facilitate
Awakenings: a Creative Self-recovery Project in Nashville. Vonnie’s dream is to own and operate a creative empowerment spiritual retreat center/campground, to write and speak in an effort to lead others in a healing path of creative self recovery, balance, and empowerment.
Contact Vonnie
|
|
Dianna Calareso is a writer, editor, and teacher. Her creative nonfiction essays have been published both online and in print, and she recently received an Honorable Mention from
New Millenium Writings for her short-short story, “And in Five.” Her memoir,
At Ease, recounts her experience caring for a relative with Alzheimer’s,
and is currently under agency review. Her published work and recent essays are
posted to her blog,
dcalareso.blogspot.com.
Dianna earned her B.A. in English from UNC Chapel Hill, and her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. She has experience writing and editing in a wide range of fields, from a nonprofit folk music e-zine to custom college textbooks. Dianna relocated to Nashville from Boston, MA with her husband and two cats, Lucca and Bella.
Above all, Dianna loves the challenge of writing, whether a scene in a mystery novel or the opening paragraph of a cover letter. She is eager to help people become strong and confident writers, and approaches each project with respect, creativity, and a sense of humor. Her project interests include: fiction, nonfiction, business writing, proposals/queries, blogging, and any project from a client who will help her master the art of Southern cooking.
Contact Dianna
|
|
Karen Reddick is an award-winning freelance book editor specializing in fiction and nonfiction developmental, content, copy editing, and proofreading.
As an avid reader and writer, Karen took her passion for the written word and spent the last
ten years writing industry articles, short stories, and a mystery novel.
She has two published books (Hub House Publishing 2008, 2006):
Grammar Done Right! A
Clear, Commonsense Approach to Grammar, Usage, and Style and
The A-Z Guide: The
Best Ways to Work With a Virtual Assistant.
In March 2009 and March 2010, respectively, two of Karen’s author clients won 1st place gold EVVY awards from the Colorado Independent Publishers’ Association in
the categories of memoir and self-help. In March 2007, Karen was featured on the
NBC Today Show.
She lives in colorful Colorado where she serves on the Board of Directors for The Colorado Independent Publishers Association helping authors walk through the
independent publishing maze—from concept to finished book.
Contact Karen
|
|
Martin Smith is a retired small-company president who writes on business, management, and senior and health issues as well as business humor.
He is the author of sixteen nonfiction books and six published novels, two of which were optioned for film. He has written articles for such periodicals
as Quality Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Maximum Fitness, and
INC.
Post-retirement he wrote a company history for Robinson-Humphrey, the investment banking arm of Sun Trust Bank, and worked as a ghostwriter for Wordworks,
a book packaging firm where he wrote three business/management books. He also worked (again post-retirement) as a career advisor for senior-level managers,
preparing resumes, portfolios, and press kits for executives seeking to change jobs.
During his career he was president of SCMI, an Italian-owned machinery company, and lived in both Italy and the US. Previously he served as vice president of
manufacturing for Dynapac, a Swedish-owned construction equipment machinery. He started his career with Ford Motor Company and spent several years with them in
a variety of management positions.
Smith graduated from Clarkson University with a BBA and did graduate MBA studies at Seton Hall. He is a former member of the board of directors of
two companies and a former member of the editorial board of Quality Magazine.
Contact Martin
|
|
As a published writer and long-time member of several critique groups, Rachelle
Burk has critiqued literally hundreds of manuscripts.
Many have gone on to publication. She also served for three years as
a creative writing critiquer for a teen arts festival.
She specializes offering manuscript evaluation for children and teen literature, including fiction, nonfiction, and rhyming stories.
Rachelle's fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for children has appeared in national magazines such as
Highlights,
Scholastic Scope, and Pockets. She is the author of
Tree House in
a Storm, a picture book published by Stemmer House Publishers (2009).
Her nonfiction story, "Blind Ambition," was awarded Highlights Magazine
Author of the Month award in January 2009.
Minimum charge is $75 for a manuscript of up to five double-spaced pages.
Additional pages of the same manuscript (beyond five pages) are $10.
This includes feedback on formatting, choice of title, target age
length, opening paragraph and conclusion, dialogue, believability,
character development, voice, rhyme and meter (if applicable),
illustrations (if applicable), as well as line by line comments
within the text, including feedback about grammar, word choices,
sentence length, and structure.
Read more.
Contact Rachelle
|
|
Serving as the virtual administrative assistant to the entire WITS
team is Tennessee
native Katie Perry, who now lives and works remotely from
the Charleston, South Carolina area. She is responsible for much of the
online distribution of articles, media releases, podcast guest info, blog posts,
blog tours, and social
marketing pieces written by WITS ghostwriters.
Reporting directly to WITS owner Yvonne Perry, Katie collects and adds html code to the material sent in for
publication
in our monthly newsletter. She also helps as a marketing assistant for our clients who need a virtual assistant on a per project basis.
And, yes, Katie and Yvonne Perry are related. Katie is married to Yvonne's step-son, Jackson.
Katie and Jackson have three beautiful children: Keilie, McKevlin, and Lochlan.
Contact Katie
|
|
Letha Edwards is the owner of
BigMeanKitty.com and the president of Harris Graphics. She and her team have been providing Web site design, e-commerce, video retouching, search engine optimization, site hosting,
and site maintenance for the past 26 years.
The Middle Tennessee State University Business Administration graduate is a member of Women in Business and is a
newly-elected board member for Donelson-Hermitage Chamber of
Commerce. Letha is also involved with NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners), CABLE Nashville, ATHENA,
Leadership DH, and Network Nashville.
Contact Letha at 615-883-6526.
|
|
Wajhiuddin Ahmed Faroqui . . . Talk about a mouthful that challenges every vocal cord to pronunciation gymnastics! He knows how these long and complex
foreign names bring unrequested excitement into the lives of Americans (if only his mother had heard of John Doe). Thankfully, his
mother did foresee the need for a shortened name early on in his life and
called him Irfan. And that’s what we call him at WITS. Irfan Faroqui was born and raised in a 400-year-old majestic
south Indian city of Hyderabad, a capital city of diverse dynasties and
kings and the Nawabs—now the capital city of the State of Andhra Pradesh. Coming to the US in pursuit of an education, Ifran now resides
in Nashville, Tennessee. It appears, he has moved from being a southerner in his birth country to becoming a southerner in America.
And his combined accents are remarkable! Southerners do sound funny when they talk, but the world isn’t ready to hear an Indian sing country music.
Irfan holds a full Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Osmania University, Hyderabad
in India; a quarter of a Master’s in
Mechanical Engineering from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan; and a third of a Master’s in Computer Sciences from Oakland University
in Pontiac, Michigan. At any rate, we are glad to have Irfan fully available
as an avid researcher able to find the information our clients need
for their books and articles. His humor, exceptional typing and transcribing skills, and
technical writing abilities
make him an excellent addition to the WITS team.
Irfan is affiliated with any and every organization that brings an ounce of world peace to this chaotic planet we live on, including
the World Peace Organization, the Organization to Achieve World Peace,
and the Peaceful World Organization.
A percussionist at heart, Irfan plays the traditional West African drum called the djembe
and any other rhythm instrument. He is a word enthusiast at heart
and has played
Scrabble competitively (he beat Yvonne Perry on the first try and she is still sulking!) Seeking a balance of mind and body, Irfan is an inline skater,
fitness enthusiast, avid reader of classic English literature, and a lover of mathematics, physics, puzzles, crossword puzzles, and
cooking—which his wife, Vonnie, has absolutely no complains about.
Contact Irfan
|
|
|
|
Team Positions |
|
All positions with Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services are filled at this time, and we have a
waiting list of those who would like to become part of the WITS team. Therefore, we are not accepting inquiries
from freelancers wishing to join the team.
|
|
|
