Biography
W. L. Hawkin also writing as harper carr
Short Version
W. L. Hawkin writes the kind of books she loves to read from her home in the Pacific Northwest. Because she’s a genre-blender, you might find crime, mystery, romance, suspense, fantasy, adventure, and even time travel, interwoven in her stories.
If you like “myth, magic, and mayhem” her Hollystone Mysteries feature a coven of West Coast witches who solve murders using ritual magic and a little help from the gods. The books—To Charm a Killer, To Sleep with Stones, To Render a Raven, To Kill a King, and To Dance with Destiny—follow Estrada, a free-spirited, bisexual magician and coven high priest as he endeavors to save his family and friends while sorting through his own personal issues.
Her standalone novel, Lure: Jesse & Hawk (2022) won a National Indie Excellence Award, a Gold Reader’s Choice award from Connections E-magazine, a Crowned Heart Review from InD’tale Magazine, and placed as a finalist in The UK Wishing Shelf Book Awards. Lure is a small-town romantic suspense story set on a Chippewa Reservation in the American Midwest near the fictional town of Lure River.
As an intuitive writer, Wendy captures what she sees and hears on the page, and allows her muses to guide her through the creative process. In her latest book, Writing with your Muse: a Guide to Creative Inspiration, she explains her writing process and offers tips and techniques to help writers get their words on the page.
Long Version
FROM THE PAST
Like Hawk, in my romantic suspense novel, LURE, 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. 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 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.
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. My experiences are woven through my books.
TO THE FUTURE
I’m writing now more than ever. I’m a constant reader and regular reviewer of Young Adult and Adult books (especially mysteries and anything supernatural.) I also design books from cover to cover.
At a Writers Retreat in the Greek Cycles, I made a daring decision to rebrand my Hollystone Mysteries series and republish it under a new pen name.
That’s how HARPER CARR was born. Carr comes from my father’s ancestry and Harper pays homage to Ireland, a country that I love.
My old/new series is called THE MAN IN BLACK. That’s because by the end of book five, I realized the books are really about Estrada and his quest to save his family and friends from evil. The new titles are:
THE WITCH KILLER
THE CONJURER
THE VAMPIRE’S GAME
THE TORTURED KING
THE DRUID’S TUNE
Watch for Book 6.
FOUR FUN FACTS!
- 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.
- I always wanted to be a country/folk singer and still love to play and sing. I play piano and bonfire guitar.
- I’ve studied Druidry and Wicca and frequently use my pendulum, read Tarot cards, and engage in automatic writing to find answers to quandaries and make decisions.
- I’m told that when I was a kid I had an invisible friend.
AFFILIATIONS
Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi)
14 Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
- TalkCast 483 – Time Travel and Vampires, I’m Told It’s A Thing | Sci Fi Saturday Night - […] this episode Commander Cam and I get the chance to speak with W.L.Hawkin about her Hollystone Mystery series. I…
Happy to meet you.
You too, Asha. Thanks for visiting.
Hi, WL!
I want to thank you for following and commenting on Motive Means Opportunity–we really appreciate it! I would also like to take this opportunity to invite you to guest post on MMO. You could talk about TO CHARM A KILLER, your writing life/routine, what inspired you to become a writer, or just about an endless number of topics. Take your pick, or write about something altogether different from what I’ve mentioned. We’d be pleased to have you at MMO!
Here’s wishing you much success and happiness. Take care!
–Michael
Thank you so much. I appreciate the invitation and will see what I can do.
Congratulations on that degree! It took me 30 years to complete my own, and I have never regretted a minute — or a penny — of it. And hey, if you ever venture into darker writings such as dark fantasy or Horror the old-fashioned way, we’d love to have you consider joining the Greater Rocky Mountain Horror Writers (an Amateur Press Association)… stop by grmhwapa.wordpress.com to see if we can help or be of use…we are just getting started but perhaps as we are — or as we will be — may be worth a look by you….) Didn’t mean to be a recruitment ad, but all of that Celtic and Native American mythological influence tends to run darkly in Horror veins such as ours! (Love the ocean photo and bio by the way!)
Thanks for the invite. I’ll have a look at your group. I think there’s something of a grey line between urban fantasy and horror. I’ll give this some thought.
Hi Karen,
I see that you’re a book reviewer. I you’d be interested in reading and reviewing To Charm a Killer, email me. Maybe you can tell me where I swim in the grey sea between fantasy and horror. ~Wendy
Not to rain on your parade or anything, it said that ‘but dreams of living in Ireland’. I live in Ireland, and just to tell you, the weather is absolutely terrible. One day it’s raining the next day it’s sunny. Most of the time it’s wet or damp or cold. Or all three.
But there are a lot of good things. Like all the historical places that you can go see, eg. castles. Or that there are a lot of festivals and parades and stuff. So, what I’m trying to say is, if you are planning on going/visiting Ireland anytime soon, plan ahead and check the weather!
Thanks for the advice, Nicole. I live on the West Coast of Canada, and the weather is much the same as that. Things I love about Ireland: the warmth of the people, the music, the prehistory, the beautiful countryside. I am just planning a summer trip; this time to Dublin (for research), Cavan, and the south and east coast, as I’ve never been to Wicklow, Wexford, and Cork.
You should visit Laragh in Wicklow. It’s beautiful there!
Thanks Nicole. I am coming to Wicklow this July so with definitely visit Laragh! If you have any recommendations of hikes or activities or beautiful towns please email me! bluehavenpress@gmail.com
Finding healthy Gluten Free meals while travelling is a challenge but you did it. The server sounded so lovely. How great to hear the pipers and interview them. You are having quite the adventure.
You were a Lifehouse keeper! How interesting.
Yes, it was a wonderful opportunity. I wrote about my adventures in http://lifeonthebclights.blogspot.com