C’mon in! Make yourself at home
You’ve found the website of writer, editor, poet, cat worshiper, dog whisperer, Quaker, and martial artist Virginia Herrick.
Look around — investigate all the nooks and crannies! You’ll find
some fiction and poems for kids and adults; helpful tips and editing information for writers; and an eclectic assortment of musings in my blog, “Words to the Wise.”
So glad you came!
Check it out:
Samples of short stories and poetry by me for YA and adult readers. Snippets from works in progress may appear here, too.
Free The Unicorns
Stories and poems for kids and young teens about magical things seen and unseen. Permission granted … to let your imagination run free.
Kestrel’s Way Editorial Services
Preparing to publish your own book? I offer a range of editorial services. Click to see tips to self-edit and save your editor time and yourself money!
Words to the Wise
What’s in a Name?
Yes! Virginia is my way of saying “yes” to myself and to you – my friends and readers. Yes, I can connect with you through the written word! Also,Yes! to whatever your life-giving, hopeful dreams may be. Yes!
I dreamed of being an author almost as soon as I could read. I loved The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander, A Wrinkle in Timeby Madeleine L’Engle, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin, and countless other books of vision and magic for children and adults.
I wrote my first story at the age of ten, about a fairy, an elf, and a spoiled princess. My next one was about two girls who travel into another world via a magic tree to conquer an evil wizard. (This was years before The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne). Then I went to college, wrote a bunch more stories and poems about kids and unicorns and magic, and studied a lot about injustice and war and what a mess we humans had made of the planet, most governments, and our global economy. Then I got a little distracted by working for newspapers, editing other people’s books, and, well, life. But I always made up stories – for my kids, my friends, and myself. Now it’s time to say “Yes!” to that author dream of mine.
But not only that. “Yes, Virginia,” is the immortal phrase followed by “there is a Santa Claus,” in The (New York) Sun newspaper editorial, “Is There A Santa Claus?” Unlike most newspaper prose, which ends up lining the bird cage a week after it’s published, this editorial has passed into proverb. Sun editor Francis P. Church really outdid himself in his reply to a little girl’s question shortly before Christmas 1897. His piece is the most reprinted editorial in any newspaper in the English language.
I share that little girl’s first name, and also her curiosity about things mysterious and improbable. Like Mr. Church, I am a relentless optimist and idealist. I hope this website will be a testament to our shared certainty that “love and generosity and devotion exist” and that “nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders that are unseen and unseeable in the world.”
Also – hey – it’s like the man said: “Alas! How dreary would be the world if …. there were no Virginias.”
As a Virginia, I want to do my small part to keep dreariness at bay, and to nurture the belief that loving connections can bring healing transformation to us all.