“Honey, is there anything else I can do for you?” My miserable six-year-old looked at me with tears in his eyes. “Snuggle me.” The morning had begun with an announcement from my kiddo that his tummy didn’t feel good. For the next five hours, we attempted a semblance of our regular morning schedule, punctuated about ten times with rushing-to-the-bathroom episodes. This may be the sickest my…
What do you fear? Fear drives me more than I would like to admit. I don’t consider myself paranoid, per se, just extremely…uhm…careful. (Sounds like I have a problem and I’m in denial, doesn’t it?) Recently my pastor asked us to write down something we feared on a piece of paper. We could choose to bring the paper forward and leave it in a pile at…
If you have known me for a few years, you'll have heard me talk about how staying home with my kids and finding creative ways to continue writing and finishing my stories has been an immense challenge. But the kids haven't been mere obstacles to my professional goals. They've changed me as a person--and for the better in many ways! Through changes to my heart and…
I have never done this before. I have never been eligible before this year! These two short stories of mine were professionally published, and thus are eligible during this season of writing award nominations. Here's where you can find them: UNTRAINED LUCK - In Writers of the Future Volume 35, buy it from Galaxy Press here / buy it from Amazon here. INHERITANCE - in Escape…
You’ll find yourself among “our kind of people,” my friend told me as he described what it would be like to attend World Fantasy Con. Just the presence of “world” in the title was enough to intimidate me. I’ve been to a handful of conferences before, and I usually feel small and overwhelmed by both the crowds and the amount of information being poured across my…
Today’s post is short! Because the link I’m going to share will take you to my recently launched Patreon page and there you can listen to the short video I recorded on my Elise Stephens Patreon Page. Basically, I’m creating a way for friends and fans to support the writing I’m doing. I've encountered many lovely people who want to help support my writing, but aren’t…
It was a summer evening on Whidbey Island a couple of years ago. We were on a relaxing family beach vacation, and I was breaking down in tears. My sister had just shown us a video of an amazing scarf acrobatics dance routine that she had choreographed to the song Thunder by Imagine Dragons. It was stunning and beautiful and powerful and after watching it, I…
Lake Kachess, WA Pebbles grind beneath my shoes on a rocky beach overlooking the blue-green waters of Lake Kachess. The clouds are clean white and bunched, like someone pushed them together to bulk up their size, then puffed them up using a straw. One cloud strongly resembles a charging elephant—how long has it been since I looked for shapes in the clouds, and for only my…
I stood in an old schoolhouse that had been converted into an art library, then temporarily converted into a studio for a writer (me) and a visual artist (my friend Jason). I hefted a book in my hands, as I narrated my part of the studio tour, sharing that my next literary goal was to be published in this sci-fi and fantasy anthology. One year later,…
Wow...you guys. I've returned safely from Los Angeles with a full head and swelling heart. My time was chock-full of learning, making connections, learning the craft and business of writing, and (the best part!) making friends. My week got off to an awesome start when I discovered I'd been assigned the talented and wonderful Carrie Callahan (fellow writer winner) as my roommate. My exclamation of "YES"…