Sometimes the worst memories are also the best. As a child, my family and I grew up very tight-knit and close. I spent every single December 25th with my parents and siblings from the day I was born till the year I turned twenty. That year, my mother decided she wanted to go to Guatemala for her birthday, December 24th, and she went with my dad and…
I took this photo as I was getting ready for a sprint during NaNoWriMo. My friend, who has done NaNoWriMo several times before, (I consider her one of the hardened, battle-ready pros), told me to take a "before" and "after" shot of my workspace, because it was about to slide from well-intentioned organization mode down the slope to complete insanity survival mode. The office didn't get quite as messy…
Do you like shoes? I never thought of myself as a "shoe girl," but then I realized I had a story in me that told a detailed account of one woman's life through all the pairs of shoes she ever wore, from cradle to grave. I am very pleased to announce that my short story, "Barefoot" has been accepted by the literary journal Omnibus and is now available for sale! Yay!…
Cross a bridge of alligators and lollipops, braid the tangled hair of a ferocious lion, rescue a blue and gold baby dragon from cruel slavery...isn't this the stuff that a kid's dreams are made of? Before I started reading books to myself, my dad was reading them out loud to me. My Father's Dragon was a clear favorite from my childhood, but not just because the story was awesome…
My author interview is featured today (and for the rest of this month) on Elena Hartwell's Arc of a Writer. Elena is a talented playwright and delightful person who I had the honor to meet at the Edmonds Write on the Sound writers' conference this past October. I mention the archetype (character-template) that I love using over and over again. Apparently, bad girls are a very…
Comparison is the thief of joy. -Anonymous I recently awoke from a vivid dream filled with high seas adventures, golden beaches, a stowaway, an overprotective parent, unrequited love, and secret treasures of the heart. The interesting part about this dream is that I took away from it less inspiration for a new story to write, and more inspiration for how I will treat my writing friends. To be…
Moonlight and Oranges has successfully left the harbor! For those of you interested in seeing what a book launch party can look like, please enjoy the pictures that I'm sprinkling liberally through this post. We rented the lower banquet room at Razzi's Pizzeria in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood. (It's free of charge to rent the room, which is amazing for writers on a budget like me.) We…
It's here! Moonlight and Oranges is officially for sale on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com in both paperback and eBook! You can look to the right of this post at the snazzy link that takes you right to Amazon.com to purchase it. Now that the moment has finally arrived, ("This is real, Elise. You're not dreaming. The numbness and disbelief is perfectly normal and proportional to how badly you've…
When I first began writing, everything was about extremes. I focused on making my characters as beautiful they could be, having as much fun and excitement as possible, and the bottom line was that I kept myself entertained. I wrote because I found storytelling exciting, and all of my stories had the requirement that they continuously enthrall my imagination. My first “writing” was actually illustration with a few…
I am now a little more than two weeks away from launching Moonlight and Oranges. But before I go into more of that, please join me in welcoming the glorious, smashing cover design for Moonlight and Oranges, designed for me by Isaiah Qualls. Isn't it gorgeous??? If I could look back and say what were the five most important things I did to bring myself to this…