Five Questions with Leanna Ellis, author of Once in a Blue Moon
Leanna, how long did you work toward publication? What three things do you know now about the publishing world that you wish you knew when you first started?
When I started writing way back in 1991, it took me three and a half years to sell my first book. I was very naïve and knew nothing about the business when I started, but I think that was good. I learned along the way as I needed to learn things. If I had known the obstacles in my path before I started, I might not have ever started down this journey. Ignorance was bliss. When I left category romance after writing twelve books, I almost knew too much about the business. I knew how steep the climb was and that was daunting. What I wish I knew way back at the beginning was what I recently learned in Outliers about 10,000 hours. It takes 10,000 hours to become proficient in something. Instinctively, all those many years ago, I poured myself into my writing, often working twelve to fourteen hour days. But knowing those quiet hours of solitude, which often were filled with frustrations too, might have given me focus to keep pushing forward.
How did you decide on your current project? What have you learned about writing and yourself since you started it?
I had a couple of projects that I was discussing with my editor a year and a half ago. He was more keen on the other project but God kept pointing me toward Once in a Blue Moon. My editor told me to go for it. So I did. Probably what I learned during the writing of Once in a Blue Moon was more reliance on God. I always feel dependant on him to bring the words to make the plots and story hang together. But with this book, I was going through some difficult times with my father who was very sick and also hospitalized much of the early part of the year, and so I had to lean more heavily on my heavenly father as I was sometimes in the car five hours a day, driving my kids to school, then to the hospital, then back and forth and all over. Trying to work in a hospital setting is not easy. About the best thing I accomplished during those long days was finally getting set up on Facebook (thanks to my wonderful niece). Amazingly, God helped me finish the book a week early. Right after that my father passed away. It was all part of His timing. Which is perfect.
Tell us about your story. Give us, first, the best thirty-word description, then the longer paragraph version.
Despite death defying feats, guilt has always pulled Bryn down time and again. But a perfect love shows her taking a leap of faith is the first step to soaring. But it only happens … once in a blue moon.
Bryn Seymour was nine years old when her mother died under mysterious circumstances on the same day Apollo 11 made its historic lunar landing. Forty years later—divorced, working as an obituary writer, and duly cynical—she meets Howard, a conspiracy theorist who knew her mom and believes a small Texas town may hold clues to what really fueled her demise. Seeking closure, Bryn goes along for this men-in-black ride. But upon meeting Howard’s son Sam, an outspoken Christian, she can’t decide whose beliefs are more pie-in-the-sky. The gravity of life has pulled Bryn down for decades. But a perfect love could be her first step to soaring. It only happens once in a blue moon.
What are the five best things writers can do to meet the challenges of the 21st century?
First and foremost, I still believe you have to write a good, compelling story. So focus on craft and storytelling. Then once you’ve sold, you’ll have to focus more on marketing with all the online stuff like facebook and twitter and blogging and such, or whatever it is that comes along next. But get those 10,000 hours in first. Who in the profession would you most like to sit down with, and what would you ask? Oh, the list would be long on all the folks I’d love to sit and learn from. I’ve been blessed to meet so many wonderful folks, both writers and editors, marketing folks and booksellers. I was with some librarians this weekend, and I loved hearing how they came to be librarians. My favorite thing to hear from others in the business is their journey. Because each journey is unique and different and has brought us from one place to another. Those are the stories I like to hear… and tell.
Thanks again, Lisa, for having me!
Blessings, Leanna
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leanna ellis, once in a blue moon
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