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Michele Avanti has just published her new book called ‘GreeHee the Journey of Five, Tales of Tamoor — Book One.’ Avanti is also a professional astrologer and metaphysical minister.
MYRTLE CREEK — Writing a book hardly scratches the surface of the adventures of Michele Avanti.
Raised in the Bronx, New York City, Avanti grew up in an apartment building without a backyard or trees.
In the second grade she won a poetry contest — a win that instilled in her a passion for writing.
Avanti, 56, of Myrtle Creek recently published a book, “GreeHee The Journey Of Five, Tales Of Tamoor — Book One.”
After living in New York, she followed her sister to Oregon in 1969 to attend Pacific University in Forest Grove, where she studied photography and art.
“I thought I’d come to Shangri-la,” Avanti said of the physical contrast between New York City and Oregon.
She spent the next 30-plus years in a variety of careers, including running a photo studio in California, launching an advertising agency in Denver, serving in the U.S. Army Special Services in Utah during the end of the Vietnam era and even owning a horse ranch in Brooks, just north of Salem.
She lived in New York City again as a cab driver followed by stints in Arizona, North Carolina, Minnesota and Nevada.
“I’m the globetrotter of the United States,” Avanti said.
She eventually settled in Myrtle Creek in 2006 with her husband, Joseph Plunkett. The two were married in Nevada in 2001.
All the while, Avanti’s desire to write never went away. She was always writing and staying connected to the industry in every way she could.
“I did everything you could do on a newspaper, including own them,” she said.
Raised in the Bronx, New York City, Avanti grew up in an apartment building without a backyard or trees.
In the second grade she won a poetry contest — a win that instilled in her a passion for writing.
Avanti, 56, of Myrtle Creek recently published a book, “GreeHee The Journey Of Five, Tales Of Tamoor — Book One.”
After living in New York, she followed her sister to Oregon in 1969 to attend Pacific University in Forest Grove, where she studied photography and art.
“I thought I’d come to Shangri-la,” Avanti said of the physical contrast between New York City and Oregon.
She spent the next 30-plus years in a variety of careers, including running a photo studio in California, launching an advertising agency in Denver, serving in the U.S. Army Special Services in Utah during the end of the Vietnam era and even owning a horse ranch in Brooks, just north of Salem.
She lived in New York City again as a cab driver followed by stints in Arizona, North Carolina, Minnesota and Nevada.
“I’m the globetrotter of the United States,” Avanti said.
She eventually settled in Myrtle Creek in 2006 with her husband, Joseph Plunkett. The two were married in Nevada in 2001.
All the while, Avanti’s desire to write never went away. She was always writing and staying connected to the industry in every way she could.
“I did everything you could do on a newspaper, including own them,” she said.
Although she always wanted to write a book, she believed as a young child that she wouldn’t have the wisdom to write one until she was 55.
Right on cue, at 55 she began the process of publishing the book “GreeHee The Journey Of Five, Tales Of Tamoor — Book One,” although she began writing it many years earlier in 1984.
The idea for the book came as she was sitting in her studio in Prescott, Ariz. She had a vision of a unicorn entering the room and asking her to paint him. She told him she would — in exchange for a story.
The unicorn agreed; hence the story of GreeHee. The unicorn, Avanti said, told her a story of a unicorn, a fairy and a dragon.
She was told that the dragon was attacking a fairy princess. The unicorn thrust his horn into the dragon to save the princess. The dragon — who was pregnant — died, but the baby was born.
“He’s born with this great heart and he’s the first loving dragon,” said Avanti.
This baby dragon, she said, is GreeHee. Avanti took it from there and developed the story.
“You can read it as a lovely story or you can see the metaphysics that (it is) based in,” she said.
After reading her book, people at the Church of Religious Science in Beaverton told her she had just created a new genre: young adult metaphysical fiction.
“I didn’t have any plans to create a new genre. I was just telling a story,” she said.
Donna Smith, a friend of Avanti’s and administrator for the Unity Church of Roseburg, read the book in one sitting.
“It’s a beautiful fantasy with lots of wonderful lessons in it,” Smith said. “Her book is a book about spiritual lessons and spiritual laws. It’s a fantasy but in the fantasy there’s teaching of how to love, how to be a friend, how to overcome obstacles in a loving, inspiring way.”
When the time came to publish, Avanti created her own publishing company, GreeHee Publishing, hired an artist and editors and laid out the text herself.
The second of five in the GreeHee series will be released in September 2008.
She’s also in the process of editing a nonfiction book, “Secrets of Wisdom,” about staying balanced and explaining archetypes.
Avanti works out of her home as a certified astrology professional and a metaphysical minister, which she describes as someone who lives by spiritual laws. She counsels in meditation, dream interpretation and archetypes. She also writes horoscope columns for several online and print publications, most in the Las Vegas area.
• Reporter Jennifer Mathis can be reached at 957-4208 or via e-mail at jmathis@newsreview.info.
Right on cue, at 55 she began the process of publishing the book “GreeHee The Journey Of Five, Tales Of Tamoor — Book One,” although she began writing it many years earlier in 1984.
The idea for the book came as she was sitting in her studio in Prescott, Ariz. She had a vision of a unicorn entering the room and asking her to paint him. She told him she would — in exchange for a story.
The unicorn agreed; hence the story of GreeHee. The unicorn, Avanti said, told her a story of a unicorn, a fairy and a dragon.
She was told that the dragon was attacking a fairy princess. The unicorn thrust his horn into the dragon to save the princess. The dragon — who was pregnant — died, but the baby was born.
“He’s born with this great heart and he’s the first loving dragon,” said Avanti.
This baby dragon, she said, is GreeHee. Avanti took it from there and developed the story.
“You can read it as a lovely story or you can see the metaphysics that (it is) based in,” she said.
After reading her book, people at the Church of Religious Science in Beaverton told her she had just created a new genre: young adult metaphysical fiction.
“I didn’t have any plans to create a new genre. I was just telling a story,” she said.
Donna Smith, a friend of Avanti’s and administrator for the Unity Church of Roseburg, read the book in one sitting.
“It’s a beautiful fantasy with lots of wonderful lessons in it,” Smith said. “Her book is a book about spiritual lessons and spiritual laws. It’s a fantasy but in the fantasy there’s teaching of how to love, how to be a friend, how to overcome obstacles in a loving, inspiring way.”
When the time came to publish, Avanti created her own publishing company, GreeHee Publishing, hired an artist and editors and laid out the text herself.
The second of five in the GreeHee series will be released in September 2008.
She’s also in the process of editing a nonfiction book, “Secrets of Wisdom,” about staying balanced and explaining archetypes.
Avanti works out of her home as a certified astrology professional and a metaphysical minister, which she describes as someone who lives by spiritual laws. She counsels in meditation, dream interpretation and archetypes. She also writes horoscope columns for several online and print publications, most in the Las Vegas area.
• Reporter Jennifer Mathis can be reached at 957-4208 or via e-mail at jmathis@newsreview.info.
So you know ...
Michele Avanti’s book, “GreeHee The Journey Of Five, Tales Of Tamoor — Book One,” is available at Norton Brothers Book Co. in the Roseburg Valley Mall, Mystic Earth, Ye Olde Art Shoppe in Myrtle Creek or online at talesoftamoor.com or amazon.com. The Douglas County Headquarters Library also has copies of the book for checkout.
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