Stitches Thru Time: Debut Author Elaine Stock

Today I'd like to welcome debut author, Elaine Stock. Tell us how you got started in writing, Elaine.

As far back into my childhood days the world of story has always surrounded me. Both my mother and my paternal aunt—both named Sandra—were very creative souls. My mother dabbled in poetry, but she also seemed to daily have a novel in her hand and treasured the library so much that she made a delightful fun day out of taking my brother and I to the library. My aunt was a fabulous verbal storyteller—not everyone can pull this off. In fact, I’d incorporated one of her stories into a manuscript that has been resting in “the drawer” and one day I want to pull this out and finish it up.

Writing was also a needed escape for me during my childhood. This same mother who was imaginative was also plagued by a then undiagnosed mental illness. My father worked 7 days a week. Though I had to grow up fast, I also needed a means to express my thoughts, fears, and hopes. What better way than the safety of storytelling… why mess with drugs or drink when you can get lost in a character’s story world?

And, perhaps the wanting to write came from listening and responding to a gentle pull toward taking pen to paper. Back in those early days I never thought about writing to please, correctly crafting a story (as in editing), or wondering about selling a story. I just wrote!

Ahh! The love of story, to create. I'm quite familiar with the draw of words. :) Please share about how you became a Christian.

I was raised in a home that did not acknowledge God or celebrate holidays. Looking back, I can’t really pin it down necessarily to my parents’ lack of faith as opposed to them trying to cope during stressful times the best way they knew how to. I have to occasionally stop myself from looking back and wonder what it would have been like to be raised in a Christian home because I believe God knows what He’s doing and had a very good reason for putting me with the family of His choice.

That said, as early as the age of six I believed in some sort of Supreme Being. It wasn’t until just after my marriage to a Christian, when I was in my early twenties, that I became baptized into the Christian faith. I was also re-baptized two years ago by immersion (the first baptismal was by sprinkle). LOL—I’m thinking God has gotten my sincere message.

Amen. Tell us about your new book.

My debut novel, Always With You, was just released Martin Luther King’s birthday weekend. I wonder about the coincidence since one of the major story themes has to do with loving each person as a human being regardless of faith or race.

Here’s a short synopsis:

Always With You is about a lonely young woman from an atheistic family who falls in love with a family-man who has strong faith convictions, aspects missing in her life. It’s not until they’re married and she is pregnant does she discover that her husband and the community they live in are keeping secrets from her. Secrets that can endanger her child if she were to stay, and secrets that can cost her life if she were to leave.

Sounds like it's full of intrigue. What spiritual truths do you desire to convey to your readers?

Always With You is a story of deliverance, hope, and love when evil wants to interfere. It’s basic premise is that faith in God can cast aside evil and allow love to exist between husband and wife and all family members and friends when otherwise it doesn’t seem possible.

1 Great themes. What’s your favorite animal and have you ever used one in your stories?

My husband and I are big-time cat lovers, though after the passing of the last of a trio a year ago we’re taking a wee break in hope to fixing up the house. I did use a cat in Always With You, named Higgins for the boy cat we had as part of that cat-trio—he appears in the last quarter of the story.

How sweet. What advice can you give to writers trying to break into the publishing world?

If you truly believe in your story and yourself, do NOT give up in your efforts in getting your story published. However, be open to the very real possibility that your story may not be as perfect as you originally think, that the manuscript will have to go through what feels like endless editing through many professional eyes (don’t ask family or non-writing friends unless they’re on the professional writing level… you know they’ll love your writing no matter what and that’s dangerous), and be flexible to changing point of view or characters’ names or plot direction or myriad of other things.

However, be true to your story. It is YOUR story. For example, if you’re writing about love on the planet Mars and you really believe that it has to take place there, then don’t allow someone to tell you that love can’t happen on Mars and therefore you must rewrite it to take place on Jupiter. I once pitched Always to an editor at a conference that told me the type of community my characters live in does not exist outside of the South. Hmm. Excuse me, but that really is the horrible twist of my story: it exists worldwide, in places where you least expect it.

I was faithful to my story. It went through many rewrites, yet the core of the story did not change. I’m thankful to Elk Lake Publishing that they believed in it enough to publish it.

Sounds like it's been quite a process. One final question. What’s something quirky about you that most people don’t know?

Well, this isn’t so much quirky about me but more like quirky about Always With You: I make a cameo appearance in my story. Hey—why not?