Will DeRooy
projects gallery

Past projects. Click on images for more info.

 In the Spotlight ...

The Oblivion Society
(Outpost 132)

A post-apocalyptic comedy novel, with horror elements. Intricately crafted and infinitely amusing. The second book by Marcus Alexander Hart, master of wit and pop-culture trivia.

The Permuted Press edition of The Oblivion Society was the winner of the national gold medal in the Science Fiction category of the 2008 Independent Publisher Awards.

Sample (PDF, 132 KB)

Credit: Copyeditor.

Kono
(Kono Magazine Corp.)

The martial arts lifestyle magazine for kids.

Writing credits:

• Legends & History #11: Western Martial Arts
• Legends & History #12: Silat
• Legends & History #13: Gracie Jiu-Jitsu
• Legends & History #14: Tai Chi
• Legends & History #15: Hong Kong Action Films

Using RTI for School Improvement: Raising Every Student’s Achievement Scores
(Corwin Press)

This book explains to teachers and administrators how to institute the Response to Intervention (RTI) "pyramid" for ensuring quality general instruction and helping students, mostly in early grades, who are at risk for failure. Includes references.

Role: Copyeditor.

The Role of Paraeducators in Co-Taught Classrooms
(Corwin Press)

Paraeducators are those who help classroom teachers with instruction and provide other assistance. This book explores their roles and offers advice both to paraeducators and to the teachers who work with them. Includes references.

Role: Copyeditor.

Using Interactive Learning Experiences, Grades 6–12: Increasing Student Engagement and Learning (2nd edition)
(Corwin Press)

It can be difficult to gain and keep the interest of middle and high school students in the classroom. Educators who read this book will learn why and have a ready arsenal of simple rapport-building activities and experiences, simulation games, and narratives to tie in to their lessons. Includes references.

Role: Copyeditor.

Colorado's Newest and Best Wildflower Hikes
(Westcliffe Publishers/Big Earth Publishing)

In her distinct style just as elegant as the flowers she describes, wildflower expert Pamela Irwin is your guide to 50 of the most colorful hikes Colorado has to offer. 268 pages.

Role: Proofreader.

Farmlands, Forts, and Country Life: The Story of Southwest Denver
(Westcliffe Publishers/Big Earth Publishing)

A history of the various neighborhoods that compose southwest Denver, from the late nineteenth century.

Role: Proofreader.

Pop Culture China! Media, Arts, and Lifestyle
(ABC-CLIO)

This text on Chinese popular culture covers television, radio, magazines, newspapers, movies, sports and martial arts, music, the Internet and telecommunications, and more. Historical background is given and the development of China's contemporary popular culture is examined especially from the era under Communist Party Chairman Mao through the recent reform period.

Role: Copyeditor.

Read Well K
(Sopris West/Cambium Learning)

A research-based, comprehensive, multi-component literacy program for kindergarten classroom curricula. Twenty units with teacher's guides, student readers, posters, cards, lap books, CD of songs, unit assessments, and blackline masters for activities.

Role: Editor, proofreader.

Senior Market Advisor
(Wiesner Publishing)

Senior Market Advisor was launched in 2000 as a magazine uniquely designed to fulfill the information needs of financial service providers involved in the over-50 market. It is still the only magazine devoted to licensed life/health advisors serving the senior market.

Role: On a couple of occasions I proofread and copyedited several pieces for Senior Market Advisor and Boomer Market Advisor.

Saddle Up, New Mexico!
(Westcliffe Publishers)

First in a series—a turn-by-turn guide to 82 horseback rides on scenic trails in New Mexico's five national forests, its wilderness areas, and its state parks. With color maps illustrating the route for each ride.

Role: Proofreader.

Ohio Then & Now
(Westcliffe Publishers)

Featuring photography by Randall Schieber, Ohio Then & Now uses a distinctive photo pairing method to show the ways in which certain Ohio scenes have changed—or not changed so much—over the past hundred years. The well-researched text includes plenty of fascinating historical information. Fifth of Westcliffe's Then & Now books, suited to coffee tables in Ohio or any state.

Role: Proofreader.

Caster's Blog
(Outpost 132)

Caster's Blog is the story of one highly unlikely year as told by the geek who lived it. The book is a novelization of the actual online journal kept by Ray Caster.

Credit: Copyeditor.

Interactive self-study CPE courses
(Thomson/MicroMash)

• Accounting and Auditing Real Estate Transactions
• Accounting for Business Combinations and Intangibles
• Accounting for Investments in Debt and Equity Securities
• Accounting for Leases
• Accounting for Liabilities
• Accounting for Pensions
• Alternative Minimum Tax
• American Jobs Creation Act
• Auditing Update
• Bankruptcy
• Comprehensive Income: SFAS 130
• Consolidations for Large Clients
• Corporate Tax Update
• Effective Writing for Accountants
• Employee Benefits: Mergers and Acquisitions
• Employers Accounting for Pensions (SFAS 87)
• Energy Tax Incentive Act of 2005
• Entity Comparisons
• Ethics and Professional Responsibilities
• Ethics and Responsibilities in Tax Practice
• FASB Update
• Fraud I: Prevention
• Fraud II: Detection
• Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets
• Interest Deduction Rules
• International Taxation: Outbound Transactions
• Introduction to FIN 46R and Variable Interests
• Introduction to Investment Companies
• Introduction to the Health Care Industry
• Introduction to the Media Industry
• Judicial Concepts of Taxation
• Like-Kind Exchanges
• Making Ethical Decisions
• Moral Leadership and Character Development
• Overhead Allocations
• Partnership Taxation
• Partnerships and LLCs: Large Clients I
• Representing Taxpayers Before the IRS
• Required Minimum Distributions
• Retirement Income Transactions
• Roth IRAs
• RRA: '97 Taxpayer Relief Act
• S Corporations: Large Clients I
• Schedule M-3 (Form 1120)
• Share-Based Payments
• Subchapter C: Large Clients II
• Subchapter J: Introduction
• Tax Issues of Charitable Organizations: Qualifying and Obtaining Exemption
• Tax Issues of Charitable Organizations: Unrelated Business Income
• Tax Update for Individuals
• Taxation of Wealth Transfers
• TOC, Throughput Accounting and ABC
• Total Cash Management
• Understanding Schedules M-1 and M-2 on Forms 1120 and 1120S
• Working Families Tax Relief Act
• ... and more

I did some work for the good people of this not-for-profit organization, writing profile pieces and editing other text for their website.

Sample (PDF)
Sample (PDF)

The bimonthly magazine of The Official Star Trek Fan Club.

Sample (PDF)

Credit: Production Coordinator (Issues 134–143).

A fun book for kids. Like a treasure hunt with pictures! By Pam Roller, Mike Young, and Tara Williams.

Credit: Special Thanks.

Draw Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and the rest of the gang! By Charles M. Schulz Matt Busch.

I didn't work on this magazine, but I did have a feature in the December 2000/January 2001 issue:

"Games People Played"
In ancient times, there was no Monopoly, Clue, or Candyland. But thousands of years ago, people throughout the world still played fun, fascinating board games.

The magazine for young Jedi Knights (ages 7–12). Filled with fun and informative articles about our own world, on topics tangentially related to Star Wars, as well as the science-fiction world of George Lucas.

Credit: Editorial Assistant (Issues 8–15).

Writing credits:

• Bizarre Bazaar
• "Diggin' Up Bones!" (with Jessee Parish)
  A long time ago (about 228 million years), not in a galaxy far, far away (but in our own backyards), dinosaurs roamed the earth. Where did they live? What were they like? Who found them? Read on!
• "Life on the Edge"
  Have you and a friend ever picked up the long cardboard tubes from rolls of wrapping paper and battled until the tubes broke in the middle? Or picked up a stick and swung it around like you were Obi-Wan battling Darth Maul? Then you too have inherited the legacy of swordplay.
• "Darth Vader vs. Darth Maul: The Ultimate Grudge Match" (with
  Pamela Roller)
• "Star Wars Fun 'N' Games Page" (with Robert Rath)
• "6 Degrees of the Jedi" (with Pamela Roller)
  Jedi Masters have a lot in common, but you'd be amazed at how easy it is to link them to some of pop culture's big names. So scope out what Ewan McGregor and Jeff Gordon, Jake Lloyd and Bart Simpson have in common.
• Trivia Blast!
• "Alien 'A-List' Crossword" (activity)
• "Pirates!"
  Join me, me hearty, fer a life of adventure on the high seas! There's plenty of treasure in it for ye. My name's Tristam the Terror, on account of the fear I put into folk when I fly the Jolly Roger. This is my sloop, the Flamin' Arrow.
• "Earthly Aliens"
  If you'd never seen these animals before, you might think they were from a galaxy far, far away!
• "Treasure Hunt!" (activity)
• "Morphin' Magic"
  Every Star Wars character has a beginning. The final "look" of a character or creation you see on screen may be quite different from the Star Wars conceptual artists' first drawings. See the amazing transformation....
• "Speed Mania!"
  Zoom! Whoosh! Star Wars starships fly fast. But how fast? What does it mean if the Millennium Falcon has a hyperdrive class of 0.5 and can fly twice as fast as Imperial warships? Nobody knows for sure, but in the spirit of speed, scope this out:
• "The Red Planet Revealed" (with Deborah Fisher)
  We've been sending spacecraft to check out Mars since the 1960s. In 1997, the tiny Sojourner rover scuttled around the rocky, red landscape of Mars, conducting experiments and sending back pictures that were broadcast around the world. Recent images from the Global Surveyor....
• "Jar Jar's Journey" (with Charles Howell) (activity)
• "Meet Watto!"
  Watto, the buzzing blue Toydarian junk dealer, sure looks real. Yet he doesn't really exist—he's the product of technology and talent. Liam Neeson and Jake Lloyd, who shared scenes with Watto, had to imagine him during filming as they spoke their lines to thin air. Later, Lucasfilm....
• "Midnight Madness!" (activity)
• "Sneaky Sebulba's Word Search" (activity)