Erin Savoie

I grew up (and still currently reside) with my two sisters and parents in the woods in Florida – the kind of woods that make the scenes in movies of Florida, with their palm trees and open space, look like lies. We were homeschooled as children, but we weren’t quite the traditional homeschoolers, and as such all of our fun came from ourselves and our imaginations, and most of our time was spent outside. We dug a model of the Nile River in our back yard and put the hose in it to make it flow, as an object lesson. It was not uncommon to see us crawling under the chain-link fence around our property to go romp in the woods for hours, playing those elaborate make-believe games that most people grow out of by the time they turn fourteen.

I’ve yet to lose that ability to spin out plots and plans and detailed characters, thankfully.

We were entrepreneurs, even back then – it was a different world than it is now, even back just ten years, so there was nothing very dangerous about setting up a table at the end of our driveway with no adult supervision, holding a giant piece of cardboard for a sign that simply said “SALE” – and selling shiny rocks we’d split open with bigger rocks, or key-chains and jewelry we’d made, as we got older. We made some good money, back then. I taught myself to make jewelry and to crochet, using books from the library, and a little basic sewing through trial and error. And, grandmother taught me to knit.

I don’t really remember sitting down one day and deciding I wanted to write. I suppose it was a natural progression from childhood games into written fiction. That’s not to say anything I wrote in the early days was any good – definitely not. I sometimes still stumble onto one of my old notebooks, and if I can even make out what was written in my horrible scrawl, I’m usually embarrassed to even read it, let alone let anyone else read it. I soon found the world of collaborative fiction (also known as role-playing) on the internet, and after a few tries settled into the community of sane, good writers, who have since helped me (without even trying) to become far better than I ever was. And, a couple of friends, whether they know it or not, have helped me through a lot of ups and downs in my writing life so far. I participated in the National Novel Writing Month three years in a row, and have met the fifty-thousand word requirement every time, although only once did I come out of it with something that even resembled an original novel.

I have always loved music, but have never been able to play an instrument. I can sing, but I’m far too shy to do anything with that, generally. So, naturally, being introduced to audio-visual equipment at my church’s youth group was perfect. I was trained in all areas of it (which included computer, lights, and sound), and soon latched on to the sound aspect. When, due to some changes of the guard in the ministry, I ended up practically single-handedly running the ministry complex’s sound area, I was barely equipped with the knowledge to handle it – but I adapted, and everything ran smoothly. I have since stepped out of that role, but I still am contemplating sound engineering as my career choice for the future.

Recently, due to the shortage of local jobs for which I’m suited, and the need for money rising, I started to sell my jewelry again – online, this time. I don’t think the neighbors would take kindly to a twenty-one year old woman standing at the end of the driveway, no matter how accepting they were of us as children doing the same thing. You can’t get away with quite the same things, once you’re an adult, it seems. My homemade jewelry has been bringing in a couple of purchases a month, so far, and I’m hoping it will pick up. While I’ve been writing almost all my life, and making or selling jewelry a lot over the years, I’m still new to the world of ‘Serious Business,’ ‘Serious Blogging’ and ‘Serious Biographies,’ nevertheless, I trust you’ll gain from my contributions here, especially if you’re interested in learning how to make jewelry!