About Susan
Author, Writer, Editor, Teacher
Susan Cannon, Author & Writer
You might wonder about how I can claim to be an author. After all, until my first novel is finally published, you won’t be able to find anything Susan Cannon wrote. But I have, just under different names. Bottom line is that Susan Cannon is part of my birth name. Under my married name, I have published a church skit that made its way around the world! It’s there, just hard to find. Computers were able to fit on desktops then, but the Internet was new to regular people. I’ll include that skit in Stories for fun. Then there’s my pen name that was never my real name, but it almost was: Kat Christian. The Magic Flower by Kat Christian is currently out there now and pretty easy to find. To make it easier for you, I’ve included links to The Magic Flower on the Books page.
Although all authors are writers by definition, a writer per se is different from an author. In many cases, such as working on a company newsletter; writing corporate communications, company website and blog content; curricula; catalog content; advertising, promotions, public relations copy; and creating broadcast radio commercials; one’s own name is not revealed. In some cases, mine was; I’ve written several newsletters for several companies, and when I became the editor of one newsletter, my married name was included on the masthead. I was also the contact person for one company and was mentioned as such in The Wall Street Journal. Being mentioned by the WSJ was fun; the rest was good old fashioned hard work.
Susan Cannon, Editor & Teacher
I’ve been editing other people’s writing since I started as a Vocational Office Education student secretary. (It was how I was able to “get paid” for finishing high school.) Not all secretaries are particularly good at editing, but enough are, so employers tend to throw editorial duties onto the secretary’s desk. They shouldn’t. Editing is a skill that is developed with study and practice. Those of us who got tired of having this skill added to our secretarial duties without compensating our paychecks found a way to become proofreaders, copy editors, and newsletter editors. Some took it a couple notches higher and became news and book editors. I chose a different path and upgraded my editing skills into teaching. You’ll find a LOT of editing in teaching grammar!
Susan Cannon Writes, LLC
Writing is a business. Many people who want to be authors don’t think of it as a business, but it most definitely is, even if you are the only person in your company! Susan Cannon is my maiden name, but I do answer to it. In my personal life, however, I go by my husband’s last name, and I make it a point to keep personal life and business life as distinct as possible. Look for more about this in a future blog post.
My first book was written under a different pen name (See Books). Because I am targeting a wider audience now, it turns out that my own maiden name is best suited as a pen name after all. That said, I haven’t retired the original pen name. After all, it was almost my name anyway, and I like to keep my options open for more children’s books.
You might be looking for a location and contact details. Although I do not list my physical location here, I am able to be reached via email and social media sites. I’ll give you a couple clues, however: #1. I am a born and raised Texan. #2. Nobody seriously says, “Yee Ha” where I’m from.
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