Now that I’m a full-time freelancer, I chance my hair a LOT, so author pics are kind of an issue. But here’s a recent selfie.
- My name is A.J. O’Connell. I’m an author and award-winning journalist, but make my living as a freelance content and copywriter.
- My first novella Beware the Hawk, was published in 2012. The sequel, The Eagle & The Arrow, was published in 2013.
- I write fiction for love, but I write copy for tech companies for a living.
- I contribute to Book Riot and GeekMom. My essays and reports have appeared in Electric Literature, The Mary Sue, The Next Web, and The Establishment.
- I’ve been a journalist for 20 years, and I taught journalism at a community college for five.
- I obtained my MFA in creative writing from Fairfield University in 2011.
- I was a chapter editor for a non-fiction writer’s guide: Now What? The Creative Writer’s Guide to Life After the MFA.
- I’m a member of The New England Horror Writers Association.
- I live in Connecticut with my husband and child, a cat, a dog and more chickens than I’d planned to have.
A.J. O'Connell 
Hi, nice to meet you !
Hi. Thanks for visiting.
Your mom emailed us about your major journal and write the book. So I forward to our children Wendy, Jennifer & Tony. They graduated from UCONN but they did not go for Masters. They might be interested in your materials.
Wendy’s major was journal at UCONN but she changed her major. They love to read the books.
Hi Diana! It’s been a very long time. I remember your children – especially Wendy – from when I was little. I didn’t know that she had been interested in journalism. I hope you and your family are well. Give my best to everyone, and thank you for checking out my blog.
HI A.J. I’ve just given you a Sunshine Award for being one of my favorite blogs. You can check it out at gabicoatsworth.wordpress.com. 🙂
Hi,
Like any award recipient, I want to congratulate my fellow winners! Congrats on receiving the Sunshine Award from Gabi Coatsworth. I hope to check out your blog soon.
Why thank you! Congratulations to you as well. I hope to visit your intriguingly-titled blog soon!
hello A J
congratulations on the birth – publication of Beware the Hawk
David in Maine USA
Thank you, David. And thank you for reading (and liking) so many of my posts.
Protaginist name:
Hendrikke Penelope Brackensfeld (don’t call her henny penny, she hates that)
Hendrikke. I like. Thank you – I’ll add it to my list.
A.J. Love your posts in Book Riot, but visited your blog before. Since you’re hoping to find some indie books to read let me offer you a couple. Avignon Press just published a women’s literary novel, “Azimuths” by R.A. Morean. Looking at your interests, you’d love it. They also published (self published since its from me, the owner of the press who wrote it, “The Peacemaker”, an ecological science fiction novel). If sic-fi isn’t your cup of tea, Black Rose Writing, another small press just published my mystery thriller “Murder in Nirvana,” which Emmy-award winning screenwriter Les Bohem called “the novel of my dreams.” I’ll be taking at look at your Resistance Cycle books, starting with the first. Love to have you take a look at mine. They’re all on Amazon