Meet W. L. Hawkin

(that’s Wendy louise)

I love to travel to locations in my books to soak up the sensory landscape. In 2017, I climbed Croghan Hill in Ireland to survey the land my king ruled until he was ritually murdered in Hollystone Mystery Book 4 —To Kill a King. That’s where this photograph was taken.

I’m a seeker and mystic at heart, fascinated by language, myth, and magic. And like Sorcha O’Hallorhan, my Irish archaeologist, I long to travel back in time to experience cultures as they once were. Perhaps, that’s why I sent her, Estrada, and Dylan time-traveling back to Iron Age Ireland. Where they go, I go.

I’ve wandered down many spiritual avenues. I’m a Tarot reader and energy healer. You’ll see shades and shadows of this in my books. The Hollystone Mysteries are based on a coven of witches who solve murders using ritual magic and a little help from the gods. But magic realism finds its way into everything I write because that’s how I live.

From the past—

Like Hawk, in my latest romantic suspense novel, I grew up feeling like I was born in the wrong century and culture. As a teenager in rural Ontario, I wrote poetry to survive “the maze, the haze, the crazy place” that was my world. I was a wild child and suffered for it. I quit high school with only grade 10, and didn’t return to it until my mid-thirties. I found myself in a Native Ancestry 11 course, and went on to complete a B.A. in Indigenous Studies at Trent University in Ontario, Canada.

It took me several years to complete this degree, as a single mother, and part-way through, my seventy-five-year-old mother said casually, “I’m not surprised you’re into this. My great-grandfather married an Indian. She was Tuscarora and he was Dutch.”

I don’t know if there’s such a thing as blood memory but I spent years researching my family history, and eventually connected with the granddaughters of my Metis great-grandfather’s youngest brother. “Yes, we have an Indigenous ancestor,” they said, and sent me her portrait.

At Trent, I learned from Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) leaders and storytellers, traditional teachers and Elders, went to powwows and feasts, attended ceremonies, and soaked up the culture I loved. And as I came to know myself and find my place in the world, I began to heal.

After moving West, I completed Diplomas in the Arts and Humanities at S.F.U. in British Columbia, where I was published in iamb, the SFU Journal of Creative Writing. I also completed a Teaching Certificate at S.F.U. and taught high school for several years.

Not long ago, I spent a year working as a relief lighthouse keeper with the Coast Guard, soaking in the rugged isolation of the Northwest Pacific Coast and blogging my adventures at Life on the BC Lights. You’ll see some of my experiences in To Render a Raven when the coven sail up the Inside Passage to rescue Estrada’s baby from a vampire! Others arise in an upcoming YA novel set at a fictional lighthouse.

 To the future—

I’m writing now more than ever. I bend and weave genres — urban fantasy, speculative fiction, visionary fiction, romance, thriller, mystery — and I’m moving into a new genre, creative non-fiction, where I can explore my life, memories, and Indigenous ancestry.

As an intuitive writer, I capture on the page what I see (movie scenes) and hear (conversations). I’ve completed a non-fiction book about my process: Writing with your Muse: A Guide to Creative Inspiration. In it, I provide techniques and tools to help you get those words onto the page. I’ve been workshopping the material and enjoy sharing my writing process.

Although I’m an introvert, I like to connect with readers and other writers. Please sign up for my seasonal newsletter. Because I follow Nature’s cycles, you’ll hear from me, only once every six weeks as I celebrate the season.

I’m also available to teach workshops such as structuring your novel using the Mythological Hero’s Journey, the Introverted Writer, or Writing with your Muse.

FOUR FUN FACTS!

1. I learned to play Irish Traditional Music on my guitar during a week-long workshop in County Clare—workshops by day, singing in pubs by night. That’s why Maggie’s elusive grandfather is a trad player in To Charm a Killer.
2. I always wanted to be a country/folk singer and still love to play and sing. I play piano and bonfire guitar.
3. I frequently use my pendulum, read Tarot cards, and engage in automatic writing to find answers to quandaries and make decisions.
4. I’m told that when I was a kid I had an invisible friend.

AFFILIATIONS

Writers Union of Canada

Federation of B.C. Writers

Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi)

Crime Writers of Canada

Pacific Northwest Writers Association

The Wishing Shelf Book Awards

I love to travel to locations in my books to soak up the sensory landscape. In 2017, I climbed Croghan Hill in Ireland to survey the land my king ruled until he was ritually murdered in Hollystone Mystery Book 4 —To Kill a King. That’s where this photograph was taken.

I’m a seeker and mystic at heart, fascinated by language, myth, and magic. And like Sorcha O’Hallorhan, my Irish archaeologist, I long to travel back in time to experience cultures as they once were. Perhaps, that’s why I sent her, Estrada, and Dylan time-traveling back to Iron Age Ireland. Where they go, I go.

I’ve wandered down many spiritual avenues. I’m a Tarot reader and energy healer. You’ll see shades and shadows of this in my books. The Hollystone Mysteries are based on a coven of witches who solve murders using ritual magic and a little help from the gods. But magic realism finds its way into everything I write because that’s how I live.

From the past—

Like Hawk, in my latest romantic suspense novel, I grew up feeling like I was born in the wrong century and culture. As a teenager in rural Ontario, I wrote poetry to survive “the maze, the haze, the crazy place” that was my world. I was a wild child and suffered for it. I quit high school with only grade 10, and didn’t return to it until my mid-thirties. I found myself in a Native Ancestry 11 course, and went on to complete a B.A. in Indigenous Studies at Trent University in Ontario, Canada.

It took me several years to complete this degree, as a single mother, and part-way through, my seventy-five-year-old mother said casually, “I’m not surprised you’re into this. My great-grandfather married an Indian. She was Tuscarora and he was Dutch.”

I don’t know if there’s such a thing as blood memory but I spent years researching my family history, and eventually connected with the granddaughters of my Metis great-grandfather’s youngest brother. “Yes, we have an Indigenous ancestor,” they said, and sent me her portrait.

At Trent, I learned from Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) leaders and storytellers, traditional teachers and Elders, went to powwows and feasts, attended ceremonies, and soaked up the culture I loved. And as I came to know myself and find my place in the world, I began to heal.

After moving West, I completed Diplomas in the Arts and Humanities at S.F.U. in British Columbia, where I was published in iamb, the SFU Journal of Creative Writing. I also completed a Teaching Certificate at S.F.U. and taught high school for several years.

Not long ago, I spent a year working as a relief lighthouse keeper with the Coast Guard, soaking in the rugged isolation of the Northwest Pacific Coast and blogging my adventures at Life on the BC Lights. You’ll see some of my experiences in To Render a Raven when the coven sail up the Inside Passage to rescue Estrada’s baby from a vampire! Others arise in an upcoming YA novel set at a fictional lighthouse.

 To the future—

I’m writing now more than ever. I bend and weave genres — urban fantasy, speculative fiction, visionary fiction, romance, thriller, mystery — and I’m moving into a new genre, creative non-fiction, where I can explore my life, memories, and Indigenous ancestry.

As an intuitive writer, I capture on the page what I see (movie scenes) and hear (conversations). I’ve completed a non-fiction book about my process: Writing with your Muse: A Guide to Creative Inspiration. In it, I provide techniques and tools to help you get those words onto the page. I’ve been workshopping the material and enjoy sharing my writing process.

Although I’m an introvert, I like to connect with readers and other writers. Please sign up for my seasonal newsletter. Because I follow Nature’s cycles, you’ll hear from me, only once every six weeks as I celebrate the season.

I’m also available to teach workshops such as structuring your novel using the Mythological Hero’s Journey, the Introverted Writer, or Writing with your Muse.

FOUR FUN FACTS!

1. I learned to play Irish Traditional Music on my guitar during a week-long workshop in County Clare—workshops by day, singing in pubs by night. That’s why Maggie’s elusive grandfather is a trad player in To Charm a Killer.
2. I always wanted to be a country/folk singer and still love to play and sing. I play piano and bonfire guitar.
3. I frequently use my pendulum, read Tarot cards, and engage in automatic writing to find answers to quandaries and make decisions.
4. I’m told that when I was a kid I had an invisible friend.

AFFILIATIONS

Writers Union of Canada

Federation of B.C. Writers

Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi)

Crime Writers of Canada

Pacific Northwest Writers Association

The Wishing Shelf Book Awards, UK