Everyone starts somewhere

But the first newsletter is always going to be awkward

I feel like this is a bit of a chicken-and-egg sort of scenario.

Which comes first, the established authorship or the author newsletter? “You have to build a mailing list to sell your books,” they say, and then, “but it’s super hard to get anyone to subscribe before you’ve published.” So if you are here, for my very first newsletter—well, thanks for taking a chance on an aspiring author! I truly appreciate you.

A little introduction

I’m not sure if this is a necessary section—after all, my first subscribers are probably going to be people who already know me in some capacity—but I feel like I should formally introduce myself anyhow. So, in no particular order:

• I’m Elisabeth—please don’t call me Liz, but Betsy is fine!

• Like most writers, I’ve been dabbling in storytelling since I was a kid. One of my first works was a sequel to Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM; sadly (not) it has been lost to posterity.

• My novella What Eyes Can See, a non-magical Cinderella retelling, was published in an anthology in 2014.

• I’m a Christian. My prayer—like David’s in Psalm 19, but tweaked a bit for my specific scenario—is that the words of my keyboard and the imaginations of my heart will be pleasing to God and reflect His truth. I hope you like my stories, but mostly I hope Jesus likes them.

• I live with my husband (a pastor) and my two young daughters (currently unemployed) in the rural Midwest. I’ve been a stay-at-home mom since my oldest was born in 2019; before that, I was a piano teacher.

What can you expect from my books?

I write cozy fantasy romance, and not to brag, but all my beta readers think I’m funny. My debut novel, What Comes of Attending the Commoners Ball, is a sweet romance with a just a hint of magic, set in a Victorian-esque time period. You can expect a ball or two (obviously), lots of cheese, and themes of dependance and giving.

After that … I have a lot of ideas, so we’ll see!

Plans for the ‘stack

Are we calling Substack “the ‘stack” yet? No? Just me? Okay whatever. Add to the above bullet list “I have a propensity to give everything a weird nickname.” It’s not a crime.

anyhow

My plans for this monthly newsletter are (1) share writing updates/sneak peaks/behind-the-scenes novelist stuff and (2) recommend books, just in case your TBR is getting a little thin these days. This is … literally what every other author does, hmm, so to sweeten the deal I will also toss in the occasional rabbit picture. I’d also love to host some author interviews and longer book reviews on here, but those might be on a separate list so you can opt in or out of them at will. I am still figuring out How To Do Stuff Online.

What’s with the metaphorical cello?

Listen. A long time ago when I had no white hairs and also my knees didn’t squeak, I was chatting about The Piano Guys’ rendition of “So Happy Together” with some friends and it got weird and I used a phrase from that conversation as the title of my college blog (it’s dead, so don’t bother trying to find my Embarrassing Past) and it has followed me since. Do I play cello? Well, not literally. Can I make a dumb metaphor out of it? Yes I can, but I will not be elaborating at this time. Follow me for more interesting stories like this.

Okay, this is long enough, and also I am sleepy.

May your cello always be in tune,

Elisabeth

Photo by Jesson Mata on Unsplash

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