5 Questions from the Porch Swing for Demi Stevens

It seemed only fitting to end 2015 with author/author advocate 

Demi Stevens, who spearheaded The Year of the Book 

this year, as well as putting together the first York Book Expo.

What have you written? I am the author of two children's picture books, Write Away! and Roger, Roger, as well as a one-page, semi-autobiographical essay from the summer of eighth grade that was so poignantly written it landed me a prime spot in the guidance counselor's office after I shared it with my chemistry teacher who thought I'd gone mental.

What do you read? Last year, I helped publish around 50 books by local authors, so I chuckled twelve months ago when Mark Zuckerberg announced he was going to read a book a week for 2015. I said, "Me, too!" Lately, I"m in love with historical romance novels by Elizabeth Courtright, a new epic fantasy by D. C. McLaughlin, and a disturbingly good mystery-thriller by M. C. Hillegas called Payback that's set in Codorus State Park. (Disturbing because I wonder how the author's husband turns the bedroom lights off at night!)

Why do you write? I've lived a thousand lives through the journeys of my favorite authors' protagonists...so I guess karma demands I put some new stories together to pay it forward.

Fun writing factoid (not technically a question, I know): In 2013, I gave the word "that" up for Lent.

One more thing: I used to be a librarian, but now I find it so much more fun to help birth new books into the world instead of shelving and dusting old ones!

Regular posts resume tomorrow, but stay tuned for more 

"Questions from the Porch Swing" 

on Wednesdays through at least the end of January.