New Author Dawn Tevy, Creating her Own Reality
                          by Toianna Wika

New author Dawn Tevy has taken the reins of her life to create her own success.

Different than many rising celebrities, Dawn wants her fans to become acquainted with her and to know her as a person, as well as accompany her on every step of her journey. She has many innovative ideas and plans about how to ensure that her fans can participate and celebrate in each and every one of her triumphs, both big and small.

Amongst the many exciting opportunities that will excite fans is the possibility to become actual characters in the graphic novel versions of Dawn's upcoming fantasy series “Angels & Warriors.”

Dawn’s intention is not only to give her fans the opportunity to participate along the way, as she realizes her dreams, but to inspire her fans to pursue their own passion. When it comes to her fans, Dawn's approach will be something unheard of: a real relationship with them that includes many unexpected personal and meaningful touches.

ABOUT DAWN: Dawn has managed to utilize the difficulties in her life, including low self esteem and perceived loss of power, as a springboard for personal transformation. She says “I had been laid off. My marriage was falling apart, and all I could see at the end of the tunnel was nothing but blackness. I found myself muddling through life, and became tired of it."

In 2008 Dawn met and began working with Gwenn Henkel, a Certified Medical and Master Hypnotherapist, who she says, “helped me to see myself in a new light.” For more information on Gwenn and her practice, visit www.EntrancingLife.com

“I was rediscovering me,” Dawn says and adds, “I began to change my world by changing my thoughts, and everything else began to change, too.” Happier and more positive, she began to see hope, although she was still out of work and had a failing marriage. Dawn was finally ready for real change in her life and began to read…a lot.

After reading the majority of Dr. Wayne Dyers work, Dawn ventured out and began to read Deepak Chopra's works and a few things by Eckhart Tolle. She says, “they all helped in some significant way, to guide me through this amazing journey I’m currently on. I have come to understand this: our personal world is nothing more than thoughts. We choose our thoughts; therefore, we create our own world. If we say, ‘oh man, it’s Monday. It’s going to be an awful day,’ I promise you, you WILL have an awful day.

The bottom line is this. We must choose our thoughts wisely. Our thoughts become our reality. Our perceived reality creates who we are, whether we are happy, sad, jealous, miserable, or insecure. Those feelings create energy, our ‘aura,’ if you will. Consciously or not, we project that energy out into the world. Our energy, both positive and negative is highly contagious and attracts similar energy into our lives like a homing beacon.

The most difficult part of this metamorphosis was the realization that I was personally responsible for the predicament I was in. I could not blame it on my parents, my partner, or anyone else. Only ME. Once I truly understood and accepted this, I was able to make huge changes within me and my life. When I realized all the negative words that had been spoken to or yelled at me out of anger where really the way the other person felt about him/herself, not me at all, I actually felt sorry for that person. But this works both ways, test it for yourself, the next time you put someone down or say negative things toward anyone, take a good look at yourself and your life. How many of these things apply directly to you and how you truly feel about yourself deep down? Stop blaming the world and take a good hard look in the mirror. It’s amazing what you can discover there, if you’re only honest with yourself. I’m not saying that it’s easy and I’m certainly not saying that it’s not painful. As we all know, the truth is generally painful, that’s why we try so very hard to avoid it, but it is also life changing, trust me, I know.”

Dawn speaks with tremendous gratitude about Dr Dyer's work particularly and says, “Dr Dyer has been a huge influence on me. A person cannot help but respect a man who is painfully honest and truly puts himself out there for all the world to see– flaws and all. His books are not just self help, but the story of his personal journey to becoming the person he is meant to be. He is not pretentious. He’s the real deal.”

Clearly Dawn has made significant changes in her life, but how did that lead to writing a series of novels? Dawn reflects, “After reading the entire 'Twilight' series in just 5 days, something inside me wanted to give writing a try.” She adds, “Both J.K. Rowling, whom I am a huge fan of and Stephanie Meyer convinced me that anything is possible. So I sat down at my computer to write a story just for the fun of it. One month later, I had over 250 pages and a story that had taken on a life of its own.”

Dawn adds, “To be totally honest, I have no idea where the story came from when I first started. It almost played out like a movie. I continued writing just to see where the story would go.”

Dawn says that prior to reading “Twilight” she had reread the Harry Potter series many times and “it was J.K. Rowling who reignited my passion for reading. Her books made me think how awesome it must be to write such wonderful stories. Initially I wrote for myself, just to see what I would come up with...it had never occurred to me that I could write a story of any kind, much less a series of novels.”

By August 2009 Dawn's first book, which she describes as  “a more ancient version of Lara Croft that takes place in a world somewhere between Eragon and Avatar," had become the first in what will be a series of nine to twelve sequels. Dawn shopped for an agent briefly, sending out only 3 query letters before deciding to enlist the help of an editor. Dawn says, “I didn’t know who or what I was looking for, but I was certain I would know the right person when I found him/her.”

She sent out information to seven reputable editors and was especially struck by a response from John Paine. He said he was too busy too work with her personally. However, he recommended editor Lou Aronica, whom she contacted in October 2009. Dawn is thrilled and honored to say she began working with Lou officially in February 2010.

DAWN’S EDITOR: If you’re not familiar with Lou Aronica, perhaps you are familiar with a few of the authors he’s worked with over the years; Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, David Brin, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, Raymond Feist, Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth George, and J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) just to name a few.

Lou’s career as a publisher began at Bantam, as did his first publishing imprint, Bantam Spectra. While at Bantam, Lou also created the “Full Spectrum” anthology series, which won him a World Fantasy Award. In 1994 Lou left Bantam to become Senior Vice President and Publisher of the Berkley Publishing Group then in 1995 Lou moved to Avon Books to spearhead a turnaround of that company as SVP and Publisher. During his many years as a publisher Lou has acquired, developed, and published many amazing and talented writers, as well as started different imprints, which continue flourishing to this day.

To date, Lou’s largest commercial accomplishment in the field of science fiction and fantasy has been his acquisition and design of the Star Wars book publishing program.

After many years of continued success Lou ventured out on his own, founding The Fiction Studio, now in its 8th flourishing year. Of the studio, Lou says, "When I work with writers, I offer not only the full range of my thirty years of experience, I also offer everything I have learned in that time as a student of the industry...I maintain close connections to the highest levels of the industry. Writers who work with me have access to everything I know about the business."

Lou has clearly worked with some of the best writers of our time, and the fact that he believes in "Angles & Warriors" enough to lend his time and energy to it has Dawn soaring with the eagles!

Fans can see more about Lou for themselves at http://blogcritics.org/books/article/interview-with-lou-aronica-publisher-of/ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai-RTP4rp00.

DAWN’S PERSPECTIVE: Ultimately Dawn's goal is to publish her fantasy series “Angels & Warriors” traditionally, but with a few twists and turns along the way. She is already working with 2 production companies, a director, a screenplay writer, and a composer. They have begun laying the foundation necessary to turn her novel into a movie. Dawn has also assembled a phenomenal team of artists, who will be turning “Angels & Warriors” into a graphic novel series.

Dawn explains that ultimately what she has learned from her own journey is that “It is all about perspective. If we think negatively, we can only see the negative in our lives.

“All of us have encountered negative people. They suck the life and fun out of everything and make us doubt and second guess ourselves. As far as I’m concerned, negative energy is a plague that slowly creeps along like a dark shadow, destroying everything it touches, including our hopes, dreams, and relationships.

“However,” she adds, “most of us have also had the fortune to experience that positive person everyone loves to spend time with and who makes us feel like we can accomplish anything. The good news is that all of us have the choice to be positive. Things are not always perfect. But if we choose to look for the positive in all situations, we will find it.”

Like Dr. Wayne Dyer, Dawn hopes to share her journey through life with the entire world, in the hope that she can make a difference.

When asked about her aspirations, goals, and dreams, Dawn responded that “most importantly, I want to show people that no matter where you come from, what educational background you have, or how much money you possess, if you follow your heart, you can turn your passion into a reality and change your world. You will succeed despite what anyone else says or thinks.”