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Up Close and Personal with Ken and Dahlynn McKowen
Ken’s favorite food is ice cream, Dahlynn collects Asian vases, and they both are very fond of traveling, having trekked more than 150,000 miles in the last three years (if Dahlynn stays home too long, she gets antsy—blame it on her gypsy blood).
Dahlynn’s favorite treat is tangerine-flavored Jelly Belly candy, Ken is a master woodworker and builds furniture, guitars and kayaks from scratch (no kits), and the couple’s sole television is almost 30 years old. They don’t even have cable, but they do have one of those infamous converter boxes
Ken loves to cycle (working off that ice cream), Dahlynn’s favorite room is the kitchen where she creates gourmet meals using her huge collection of cookbooks (another reason Ken cycles), and the couple calls a small community near Sacramento, California, home.
Dahlynn enjoys spending time on their property (which features an 1880s Western theme town—really!), Ken can often be found puttering in his large garden, and between them, they have three children, two grandchildren, one godson, two dogs and a parakeet named Fred.
Ken is on the board of a nonprofit that protects area lakes and waterways, Dahlynn crochets baby blankets and donates them, and the two spend countless hours volunteering in their local school district and for their local library.
Because they are also business partners, Ken and Dahlynn are together 24/7, which, for some couples, could prove difficult. But not for these two; they wouldn’t change a thing and absolutely love their lifestyle. Two days are never the same, which is fine with them. Needless to say, there is never a dull moment in the McKowen household!
The McKowens: Writing Business Background
Together, Dahlynn and Ken McKowen have 50-plus years of professional writing, editing, publication, marketing and public relations experience. Full-time authors and travel writers, when they reached more than 2,000 articles, stories, and photographs published, they stopped counting!
The McKowens have been consultants and coauthors for Chicken Soup for the Soul for the last ten years, where they collaborated with series founders Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen on several books such as Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur’s Soul; Chicken Soup for the Soul in Menopause; Chicken Soup for the Fisherman’s Soul; and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Celebrating Brothers and Sisters. They have also edited and ghostcreated many more Chicken books for this company.
For acclaimed outdoor publisher Wilderness Press, the McKowen’s books include national award-winner Best of California’s Missions, Mansions and Museums; Best of Oregon and Washington’s Mansions, Museums and More; and The Wine-Oh! Guide to California’s Sierra Foothills. They are currently completing the first book of their new series, Wine Wherever: In California's Mid-Coast and Inland Region, and are actively researching wineries for Wine Wherever: In California's Paso Robles Region, the second book in the Wine Wherever series. If that's not enough, they are also the creators of 13 iPhone mobile winery-destinational journaling apps under the Wine Wherever brand.
The McKowens are the owners of Publishing Syndicate, an independent northern California book publisher (www.PublishingSyndicate.com), which also provides writing and editing services for other publishers. The company has books by several authors scheduled for publication beginning in 2011. The duo ghostwrites for CEOs and founders of some of the nation’s biggest companies, and have even ghostwritten for a former President and a few California governors and elected officials.
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