My name is Val Serdy, and I am an editor and writer. My passion for words, language, and children’s writing led me to create EGG AND FEATHER.
EGG AND FEATHER is a way for me to share my knowledge of editing and writing learned from some of the best wordsmiths in their fields.
I completed the University of Washington’s Editing Certification program, and have put that work into practice for various clients, including Van Brien & Associates and Blackwell PTSA.
I’ve studied with extensively published authors at the Institute of Children’s Literature in Connecticut, and kept my skills fresh with courses from writers like Holly Lisle and Ann Gonzalez.
I have been passionate about children’s writing for years. As I write a young adult novel and choose quality literature for my young son, my love affair with stories continues to grow.
Fiction isn’t my only passion. In my professional career as a Program Manager at Microsoft, and later Expedia, I wrote and edited technical and design specifications as well as educational documents.
In addition to my passion (and my education) I have over ten years’ experience editing and writing. Let me help you find the right words to tell your stories.
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About EGG AND FEATHER
Jane Yolen’s beautiful rhyme Child of Faerie, Child of Earth tells the story of a chance meeting between a human girl and a faerie boy. They take turns showing each other their different worlds, becoming great friends in the process. When they realize they each belong in their own world, the girl gifts the boy with an egg, and he uses his fairy magic to draw a feather from it. As he does so, he says,
“I give you this that comes from that,”
The faerie child replied,
“That egg and feather both shall serve
As token and as guide.”
The children remain friends throughout their long lives, each visiting the other and sharing their worlds.
“I give you this that comes from that.” That is my philosophy of editing and manuscript critiques. You give me “that:” something beautiful but perhaps unpolished or un-faceted. I give you “this:” questions, suggestions, line edits and more to add that last layer of polish or those extra facets to make your work truly sparkle.