Hey, y’all! I’m Mandy.
Here’s a little about what I do...
40+ years as a storyteller.
I’ve been writing since I could hold a pencil.
13 works of fiction published.
I write stories that haunt the heart.
A publishing deal for a book and companion tarot deck.
Published by one of my favorite indie studios!
Years and years of editing and designing for other authors.
Now I’ve expanded to creative coaching.
More than 20 years as an instructional designer.
I love creating good content for even better people.
And here’s my bio...
In her more than thirty years as a storyteller and visual designer, Amanda “Mandy” Hughes has written and designed over a dozen works of literary, Southern Gothic, and women’s fiction under pen name A. Lee Hughes. She also uses the tarot to inspire storytelling, and her book Mystic Storyteller: A Writer’s Guide to Using the Tarot for Creative Inspiration and companion tarot deck are helping her peers do exactly that.
Mandy is the founder of Haint Blue Creative®, a space for readers and storytellers to explore, learn, and create. She holds a Bachelor and Master of Science in Psychology, and she has worked as an instructional designer for over twenty years.
When she’s not writing, Mandy enjoys the movies, theater, music, traveling, nature walks, birdwatching, and bingeing The Office. She lives in Georgia with The Emperor, two Knights, and The Moon.
Keep scrolling for my tarot story...
Once upon a time, the tarot came to me in a vision.
One day after work in 2014, I went for a walk at my favorite park, Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The park features a causeway that connects a quaint little island to the mainland, and I love walking out there, the wind in my hair, seagulls cackling over the ocean. That day, I was considering what I might write next. I had just finished my very first novel and was ready to get started on something else, but I didn't have a clue what that might be.
I remember the sun warming my face when the vision of a woman appeared in my mind, as though she’d descended from the clouds overhead. The woman was older, with dark skin and long silver braids. She was sitting on a porch hunched over a table, and on it was a selection of tarot cards. I remember stopping mid-stride and saying aloud, “Tarot cards?!” Until that day, I’d never touched a tarot deck before. Why in the world would I have a thought like that?!
Because my character, Pinkie Perideaux, chose me to tell her story. The Scars We Choose was the book I was supposed to write next.
Eager to get to know Ms. Pinkie, as she is affectionately known in her series, and uncover the significance of the tarot to her own, I started with the cards. I bought a deck and learned I could not only use the cards to help me write scenes in which she’d laid out spreads like the one in my vision, but I discovered that the cards became a tool for helping me finish the novel, and a follow-up... and many more.
What followed was the idea to write a book about my creative tarot practice to help other storytellers like me use the cards to inspire their craft. On an early spring morning in 2020, primed with coffee and purpose, I pored through journal entries, daily tarot card pulls, and droves of notes, and started writing what would become Mystic Storyteller.
To this day, I use the tarot for creative inspiration, and it delights me to share all I’ve learned with other storytellers like me. If you are a kindred soul, welcome. I am so glad you’re here. Take a look around and let me know if you have any questions.