The granddaughter of two English teachers, and the daughter of a hardworking single mom, Elly was born in Minnesota and grew up between there and the Black Hills of South Dakota. From a young age, books were always part of the picture. Elly was driven to learn to read and write as fast as she could, and dreamed of having a desk in her room where she could create and do “paper-related” things. Made of ugly pressboard, Elly got her first desk at the age of 6, and she loved it!
In the fourth grade, Elly was assigned a teacher who changed her life forever. It was Ms. Moschkau who introduced Elly to a real love for reading with a book called “Because of Winn-Dixie” by Kate Dicamillo. In the 5th grade, with a new teacher, Elly was given an assignment to write a new short story each week. Instead, Elly wrote a new chapter every week in what eventually became a 743 (handwritten) page novel. Because her 5th grade teacher refused to show her the ropes of writing dialog, Elly went back to Ms. Moschkau, who was happy to educate her. To this day, Elly and Ms. Moschkay still write letters via snail mail. Elly will forever acknowledge her beloved teacher in all her writings.
From the 5th grade on, Elly kept reading and writing. Notebook after notebook was spent with hours of handwritten entertainment in the worlds and characters Elly had created. It wasn’t until she was married in 2010 that Elly purchased her first laptop to use as her new writing tool. In 2015, after a couple family tragedies the year before, Elly went to bed thinking about a friend from high school and his mother’s house that was set in a beautiful patch of the Black Hills. From there, Elly’s imagination took over. Two weeks later, the first draft of Your Life Will Have You Back was completed. She spent the next 7 years re-writing the ending until the book came out the way she’d always envisioned. 9 months after her first release, Elly released her second book Say Nothing.
Her goal is to publish at least one book each year until she runs out of stories to share. Make sure to sign up for the monthly newsletters to be the first to get book updates!
