Author Interview with Elysia Lumen Strife

Who are you?

​I hold two Bachelor's degrees- one in Exercise Sport Science and the other in Interior Design. I'm a small town girl that grew up with century farms on both sides of my family. I am the dedicated wife of a power lineman, an avid greenhouse gardener, and am a veteran of the USAF Reserves. I love learning new things and challenging myself to overcome the "I can'ts." 

Elysia Lumen Strife

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Where do you live?

I don't really have "a residence." We live in an RV and have been through 16 different states in the last three years. I say my home is Oregon, because that's where we're from: rain, gray skies, trees so tall you almost can't see the tops, and mountains. But really, home is where we make it, or where we park it in RVer terms. 

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What’s your home life like?​

It's not easy to have a day job when one moves every few weeks to few months. There's a lot of work involved in taking care of an RV, the set up and take down every time we move. It's my responsibility while my husband works. I'm housewife extraordinaire of said thirty-foot RV. I love it and the simple life that comes along with it.

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What genre(s) to you like to write? To read?

I write science fiction, fantasy, action, romance, children's and women's fiction. So, naturally, I read in those genres. But I am open to just about anything.

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Why did you start writing?

I started writing as a dream journal. I have these intense night visions with textures and scents, vibrant colors and complete storylines. Sometimes I will finish a dream months after it started. I read somewhere that journaling could help calm and control them. When one wakes up in the morning feeling more exhausted than when they go to bed, it can make life challenging. I can't remember the last time I had a night of black, dreamless sleep. Some of my dreams just started being interesting. Out of curiosity, I expanded on a few and found it seemed to empty out that bucket of ideas keeping me up at night. 
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I had the dream that inspired Stellar Fusion shortly after my husband and I got married. I wrote the first three chapters that day, back in 2012. I'd just been laid off and my husband was sick with a mystery illness we have yet to fully sort. I'd never had a dream so vivid or demanding to be written down. So I started taking writing classes and pulling from what I could remember in college. Now, I'm a member of the Writers' League of Texas and use a lot of what I learn to develop my stories.

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What do you do when you’re not writing?

Writing has sort of kept me busy during seasons its rough to go outside. But when we can, we ride 4wheelers on the dunes, go camping and hiking, and work on our vehicles. I grow what plants I can fit in our RV and love being outside. When we're close to a gym, I'll spend two to three hours a day there to keep up on my skills. We try to visit natio nal parks and landmarks when we're by them. And my husband and I battle over Star Trek and Star Wars in the evenings. He always hums the Star Wars theme song over Trek openings. That jerk. I say that with complete love in my heart. He is my comedic relief.

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Where do you like to go when looking for a new book to read?

If I'm reading for pleasure, I'll search Bookbub or Prolific Works, especially if money is tight. If I can find a bookstore, in whatever town we're in, I usually check the clearance section for the books no one *thinks* they want. But I've got to say, there are some good books hiding in plain sight.
Or maybe I'm just cheap.
Now, if I'm researching and looking for books that are "ideal," as determined by some mysterious force of nature (Best-sellers), then I'll look on Amazon or in Barnes and Noble in the genre section. 
Goodreads is a great place to find out what readers think of books, and I have selected a few to read because of them.
Heaven knows I have stacks of books waiting to be read. It makes me wish I was immortal. I might have enough time to read all the ones I'm interested in then!

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At what point do you call it quits when reading a new book?

Most books I will read in one go. If I'm researching, I'll treat it like a textbook and do it a chapter at a time. For the most part, I trust the author to tell me their story as it is true to them, in their minds. I will only put a book down for good if: the story breaks a moral boundary for me, there are huge gaps in the timeline that make it hard to follow, or they have written multiple facts incorrectly. Otherwise, I love the variation in voice, characters, and storyline. I enjoy the uniqueness of a different perspective on even "overdone" situations. 

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Are you independently or traditionally published?

I will be self-published (again) starting October 31st. 

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How many books/stories have you published so far?

I did a sort of trial run with the system of self-publishing with an older version of Stellar Fusion and A Christmas in Montana this last year. I have since added new material and tweaked my writing style so it feels more like my own. 
This year, I will have three books up on Amazon: Stellar Fusion on October 31st, Requiem (book 2) on November 30th, and A Christmas in Montana on December 1st. 
I also have a children's book self-published under my real name: A. R. Harwell. It's about a family adopting a puppy for Christmas. Simple in design, fits in a stocking, and so far the kids enjoy it- "A Wet Nose Christmas." I mean, how many kids do you know that don't like puppies? I drew the little pictures for it. I also do my own book covers.

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What book/story are you currently promoting or working on?

I am finalizing Stellar Fusion, which re-publishes October 31st. It is a sci-fi, action/adventure, romance, complete with an alien invasion and a kick-butt female lead.

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What’s the elevator pitch?

Earth, still patching itself together from the 300 Years War, is severely unprepared and outnumbered when the invasion hits. Their only hope is a small team of peace-keepers on a suicide mission to infiltrate the mother ship and relay critical defense information home. 

Sergeant Nakio Atana is the Universal Protectors’ elite assassin, and holds within, a spark of unimaginable power. But a daring escape from an enemy ship knocked the first fifteen years of her life into darkness, leaving her with only inexplicable apathy and technical knowledge beyond Earth’s evolution. 

She is the tip of their spear. 

Sergeant Bennett must guard her with his life. 

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How long have you been working on it?

I have been working on Stellar Fusion for six years.

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When will it be available to buy? Where?

October 31st, Stellar Fusion will re-publish to Amazon in both ebook and paperback formats. 

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How can readers find you?

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What inspires you to keep writing?

“I always start writing with a clean piece of paper and a dirty mind.”
—Patrick Dennis

I'll admit, I have a dirty mind. But more than that, there is just so much going on that I've always had to write things down to remember them and to sort out what's what. It's like I'm watching twenty TV screens at once in there (the mindspace). Trying to hold a single concept in my hands is nearly impossible if I don't lay it out in ink before me. I'm one of those people that scans others and the environment constantly, so from this I find a lot of my inspiration. But when I'm stuck--in a writing block--I'll use Pinterest to mindmap ideas. Searching a concept there will bring up a host of related material. I have a pin-board dedicated to "One picture prompts," all because when I scroll and my eyes meet the picture, my mind fills with another story, something I don't have time to write in that moment. So I save it for later. This is something I recommend to author friends who are getting stuck too.

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Anything you’d like to add?

Failure teaches more than success, in my mind. One would think by now I'd be a genius. But alas, life is about continual learning. Sometimes the lessons are more amusing than a perfect result. Understanding and accepting this reality has lead to a more enjoyable life and has kept me from drowning in the self-doubt that so many authors feel. It's hard to look at the amazing works in Barnes and Noble and not think to yourself "I'll never be here, never be this good" or popular or well-known or whatever. But that's *their* life and what's right for them may not be the best route for you and your work. I'm a big supporter of art (in any form) as a means of meditation, coping, and venting. It is a non-violent solution. And canvas doesn't judge. I did an art therapy study with a class of second graders and can say, it is effective. But we mustn't try so hard to fit our creativity in a box. It is a wild animal for only us, as individuals, to tame. It's okay to be different. I guess my message is this: don't give up on your dreams because of someone else's standards. It's your dream. You have to live it. Not them. 

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My deepest thanks to Elysia for participating in the Laughably Inane Blog. I've enjoyed our acquaintance on Twitter, and reading Stellar Fusion. I look forward to more of her work and friendship in the future.

Sincerely,

Nicholas Adams

Just a small-town boy with an overactive imagination.