After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, Dawn Boeder Johnson worked in a variety of professional capacities. Newspaper publishing, graphic design, marketing, and a museum directorship might become lifelong careers for some, but to Dawn they were just jobs that provided opportunities to explore diverse subjects. In her heart, she has always been a writer—since she published three hand-written copies of a family newspaper when she was barely old enough to construct a sentence.
Today, Dawn is a published author who creates stories and novels in genres from sci-fi and fantasy to crime and historical drama. She has always been a writer at heart, even when traversing the harsh landscape of honest employment (certainly a subjective assessment in this dark time of employer apathy toward the widget-makers and problem-solvers they drop like used Starbuck’s cups). The ability to spend time with family now and pursue writing, editing, and related activities full time is a treasure she does not take lightly. And with the fuel of living in her imagination’s tank, she creates, critiques, and edits (her work and other’s) with all the passion she can muster.
Success, in at least a small capacity (which she works daily to increase!), has found her porch and, for the time being seems content to perch there lending encouragment when she ventures to the mailbox with a submission or two clutched in trembling hands.
In 2009, two of her flash fiction stories placed 6th and 17th in the 9th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition; both were featured in the competition anthology. Also in 2009, Dawn received top ten recognition for a short story (7th place, genre short category) and an acrostic poem (8th place, non-rhyming poetry category) in the 78th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition. The e-zine, The Muse Marquee, has also published several of her stories and essays on writing. She is currently featured in The Muse Marquee as a guest editor with her own column, “Between Writer and Pen.” By invitation from the publisher (Omega Publications), Dawn participated in a multi-author anthology, Mosaic: A Collection of Short Stories (available on Amazon). Her current fiction projects include short stories, a fantasy novel, and essays on writing.
When she’s not writing fiction, Dawn offers editing and other services through, Word Edge, and teaches courses on FanStory.com.
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