It began with NaNoWriMo and it ended at Golden Fleece Press.–Jessica Godart
It started as a joke. When National Novel Writing Month participants, Kate Ressman and Julia Ehrmantraut talked about their own publishing house, they began with the details.
What would the T-shirts look like? What kinds of books would be published? Before the Northern Virginia natives knew it, they were signing papers for Golden Fleece Press.
The name of the company came from a joke as well. While Ehrmantraut was working on a book, she realized she began every scene with a sheep. While trying to come up with names for the publishing house, Ehrmantraut says “I sort of jokingly told Kate we should name it Golden Fleece Press” after her infamous sheep.
Road bumps have appeared in their smooth-sailing business though. Ressman admits it has been difficult to find stories and larger projects that they feel passionate enough to work on.
Apart from Golden Fleece Press Ehrmantraut, 34, cares for her son at home and watches him while she does publishing house-related business and works on her own stories. She is also one of the moderators for the Northern Virginia region of NaNoWriMo.org. Ressman, 37, maintains a full-time job and a separate business.
Golden Fleece Press released its first published book, “HalloWEEn Tales,” the first volume in a series of collected stories of “Wee Tales,” in early October and is also available on the publishing house website, goldenfleecepress.com. The book contains six Halloween stories by Northern Virginia authors chosen from a pool of 50 submissions.
(November 2014)
