Meet the Head Hen

intro-cluck-tions are in order

As we get things ready for launch, I wanted to pop in for an egg-ficial intro about the manic mind behind the press…

So hello! My name is Onika Howdyn, the Head Hen here at HenDragon Press. I sport a revolving door of hair colors, share a birthday with Bob Ross, and love to stuff my face like Zoidberg.

I was born and raised in Long Island, New York, but currently live in New England. I have been married for 14 years to my nerdy-by-nature hubs and we have two incredibly silly boys. I love animals, video games, vinyl albums, and going on nature walks to forget about reality.

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When did you discover your love for reading/writing?

I’ve always loved to read, and not just books. I used to write my own comic books as a kid and screenplays galore. When I was in middle school, I would write holiday plays for me and my cousins to perform on Christmas Eve in front of our family. In high school, I was all about making movies and would write horror scripts & film in my backyard with my dad’s video camera.

But books were never too far behind. Books-on-Tape were my favorite as a kid. I would listen to them every night in my walkman (yes, I am ancient). Hank the Cowdog by John R. Erickson were my favorite, Followed by James Herriot’s memoirs about his time as a veterinarian in Yorkshire, England. Anything with animals, I devoured.

When I got older, reading wasn’t a priority. I was a first-gen Harry Potter fan, but Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events was what my heart truly beat for. Those forlorn, hopeless tales with a hint of quirky reprieve.

Did you go to school for writing/english or something completely different?

I went to collage for Television & Film. That has always been my first love. As much as I love books, I love film & television even more. I used to watch Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal. Every. Single. Day. I was obsessed with the story and the characters from a very young age. For probably two solid years. I know every line. Ever mannerism. Anything Henson touched was a masterpiece to me. Something far beyond my scope of achievement.

College let me do what I loved as a kid, write scripts and film them. It’s one of the best parts of my life, my college days. I will always have fond memories of going to NYC for casting calls. Crafting the sets. Sitting behind the camera, watching the scripts come to life.

I did have an amazing experience, working on the set of a pilot children’s show after I graduated with my MA in Television production. I got to work with puppeteers from Sesame Street, some of which I watched perform as a kid in TV shows like Eureka’s Castle and The Muppet Show. It was my childhood dream come true.

What inspired you to become an author?

I was never serious about writing until I met my boyfriend, now hubs, in my first year of college. He bought me a book about dragons as a gift and there was something I read that really sparked my creative juices. So, I wrote a story about it. Took me almost 5 years to finish it. But after I did, I started writing more stories featuring the characters (and future characters) from the original draft.

After years and years of writing, 2017 came and I decided that hey, I could really publish this if I wanted to. And so my dreams of wanting to be a published fantasy author bloomed from there. Funny though, because I didn’t actually publish any of those drafts out of the starting gate.

My writing was trash back then.

I didn’t complete my first novel until 2022, with a contemporary series about high schoolers. Nothing fantasy about it. I published two more works under that particular pen name before switching back to my fantasy stories in 2024, re-taking the reigns on my original dream..

Best thing about being an author? Worst?

Best thing is the community. I’ve met some incredibly hard working authors that inspire the pants off me. The ones I am closest to I have known since I first started taking authorship seriously, and I am truly lucky to have them.

Worst thing about authoring… marketing! Oh how I loathe marketing. For someone who has made a living on content creation, I know nothing about how to actually utilize it correctly.

What is your day job or do you write full time?

I do not write full time, though that is the overall end goal. I actually have two jobs outside of writing.

I started my own business in 2016, after my 9-5 basically having a baby was quitting. I hated that job anyway, very toxic work environment, and had no intention of returning to work there.

So I took courses on how to become a Pinterest Manager and launched a month after my second child was born. After a year of business, I was able to match my salary from my 9-5 job that I left in August 2016. I gradually switched from Pinterest to video/audio editing because, that is truly what I love to do for clients.

In 2019, pre-covid, I hit a wall of deep depression. So, after we moved to a new home in May 2020 (smack dab during the pandemic) I downsized my business and took on an outside job, as a service coordinator for an EI program.

I still do both to this day, working with kids and YouTubers/podcasters.

That mixed with writing, it’s a pretty sweet deal.

Any books in the pipeline?

There are always books in the pipeline, for both my author personas. I just finished a kickstarter campaign for my debut fantasy novel, The Dragon Favorite, which officially goes on sale to the masses in March 2025 (backers get first dibs, of course). On the contemporary side, I have a speculative series that I am keen to find an outside publisher for.

Why? Because why not?

I want to do/try every avenue that book publishing has to offer. So I am taking this series and starting the query process in 2025, in hopes of landing a traditional publishing deal with an agent or direct publisher.

Crossing my wings it will happen!

What are some of your favorite genres to read?

Fantasy is one of my favorite genres to read. I don’t like mushy romances, so if a fantasy novel has that, it’s a hard pass. The darker, more gripping a story, the better. Not that I don’t love fun-loving reads as well, but there is something about the dismal, hopeless works that just grab my attention and hold me prisoner.

I blame my love for The Dark Crystal for that. So, thank you, Henson.

Some of my favorite novels in the last few years (not all strictly fantasy) are:

Hello, Dove by Gillian Dowell

Winterset Hollow by Jonathan Edward Durham

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

The Bear and the Rose by E.K. Larson-Burnett

How often do you read for fun now?

More often than I used to. I am a slow reader, unless I am completely enamored with a book. I try to get 20 novels in a year. I still read comic books/graphic novels from time to time as well.

What do you look forward to most when taking on a new project?

I am a creature of spontaneity. When an idea gets in my head, I become obsessed with that idea until I make a plan to enact it. Same when it comes to writing. Once something machette’s its way in, it is all I think about.

So for me, just starting is the most thrilling part of writing. I also love when others read my work and give me feedback on it. I know, this is not a popular opinion for most. But I love seeing what puts others off and what they swoon over. Honing the craft, right? I want to learn how to write better.

I think it’s the most rewarding thing for any author. Yes, money and notoriety is great, but the best things in life are the things that make your life whole. You only have your own experiences to look back on and say, Wow, this is everything I’ve done. I’m so clucking proud of myself!

So bring it on!

How many chickens do you have?

I’ve had a lot of chickens! I started my flock in 2021 with 6. That dwindled down to 4 after one got snatched by a fox and the other, a rooster, we gave away to another farm.

Since then, we’ve taken in 3 other hens and hatched our own clutch of chicks (6 in all). So, in total, I’ve had 15.

Out of those 15, only 7 remain. Chicken keeping isn’t for the faint of heart. But it is quite the eggs-perience. I still have 3 OGs from the original flock. They are my feathered sisters, my favorite trio of cluckers this side of New England.

(From left to right: Onyx, Henley & Panther)

thanks for reading! You can follow me on Instagram @oahowdyn to follow my author journey.

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