Today we’d like to introduce you to Elle E. Evans.
Hi Elle E. , so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My passion for writing began early in life and I had the support of many high school English teachers to encourage me to submit short stories and poems to contests for publication. There is quite a bit of cringeworthy work out there that I wrote in those early years under my maiden name rather than my current pen name. I chose to major in education and literature to give me a steady career along with the background I needed to write professionally. Near the end of my first degree, however, I found myself falling in love with the medical field as I worked as a certified nurses aid. I love teaching and am passionate about literature, but have always been a bit of a science nerd. I shifted gears and went back to school for pre-med. I had excellent grades and knew it would mean a longer time in college, but I felt called into the medical field. I was married by this point and had two young children, but I had the support of my husband and a great family support system. So I pursued it.
Tragically, my mother-in-law became ill and we discovered that the breast cancer she had fought for years and defeated for a time had returned and it had spread rapidly into other organs. We lost her that June and my mother was diagnosed with stage=four colon cancer within the next several months. Suddenly, my support system had crumbled and my mother needed me more. I changed my degree plan and went into nursing instead. I still maintain that nurses are the ones that save your life the other twenty three hours and fifty five minutes that the doctor is not in your room.
While going to nursing school and helping care for my mother, I still wrote constantly. Poetry, short stories, and unfinished novels all filled notebooks that I carried to classes and to cancer treatment with my mom. My siblings and I all took turns spending time with mom. We held her hand during dressing changes after her surgery, rode with her to chemo infusions at the cancer center, took selfies with her when we tried on ridiculous wigs when she lost her hair. My step-father was her stalwart companion through it all. I finished nursing school and went on to work as and ICU and ER nurse at a local hospital. My mom went into remission and for a time. I wrote in my spare time, which as a mother of three and a night shift nurse in ICU, was not as often as you would think. I queried agents, but still heard over and over again that they wanted me to write young adult books, not adult fiction. It was discouraging, but I kept writing. I kept dreaming. I had hope because things were going well with work and with my mom’s health.
That changed in the beginning of 2017. My mom was having health issues again and I begged her to get them checked out. She dismissed them as sciatica and problems with her digestion due to her colon resection. She was finally admitted to the emergency room for sepsis and blood clots related to the return of her cancer. She fought hard for weeks, but it became apparent that this was not a fight we could win and the best we could hope for was a peaceful transition into the next life. With the help of the nurses of Hospice of Wichita Falls, my mother spent her last days in comfort and surrounded by those who loved her most.
Months later, while working through my grief in therapy, my therapist suggested I start writing creatively again. My bond with my mom had been a complicated one. She had done her best to raise four children on next to nothing while being trapped in a cycle of abuse with my first step-father. It started slowly, but stories began to emerge as my own healing was taking place. Out of my grief and pain came these stories of characters overcoming their trauma and pain while gaining superpowers in the process. I learned about the self publishing process through friends I met online. I research Kindle Direct Publishing and worked on my graphic design skills. Over the years, I had snuck in workshops online to improve my writing. I had one career well established in nursing, but my heart was always in creative writing.
I worked through Covid as a home health nurse and educator for nurses going into home health and that nearly killed my passion for nursing along with my desire to write. All that time in my car had done something great for me though. It had given me time to listen to hundreds of audiobooks and expand my horizons as a reader.
The first book was the hardest. I would get to a point and stop. Afraid that it wasn’t good enough. Then I got some great advice from a friend. “You can edit a terribly written book into greatness, but you can’t edit an unfinished book. You have to get it out of your brain so we can work on it.” She was right.
By the end of writing and editing the first book in the Fallen Grace Trilogy, I had an outline and a plan for two more books. I designed covers for all three books and secured copyrights for them. I sought out independent editors and beta readers to help me polish these books. I published my first novel, Exploring Eden in June of 2022. I had a lofty goal of publishing each book within a year of the other. I worked fulltime, still as a nurse, but had moved into the OR. I wrote between cases whenever I had downtime. I wrote in the evenings and on weekends at home. My husband utilized his skills in copy editing and writing from his journalism and communication degree to edit and revise my manuscripts. I was determined to meet my goals.
On February 26th, 2023, my twelve year old son had a massive hemorrhagic stroke (brain bleed) with no obvious cause. Within the span of five minutes, he had a “worst headache ever” come on, then lost complete control of his left side. Thankfully he was at home with his nurse mom and supportive dad and we were able to get him the help he needed at Cooks Children’s Hospital as soon as possible. Our family spent a little over a month at Cook’s Children’s Hospital with my son. He went from the emergency room, to neuro ICU for a few days, to the neuro floor, and finally to neuro rehab. Our entire lives were on hold. Our teenaged daughters wanted to stay close to us and their brother, so our family stayed in the Ronald McDonald House. My husband and I took turns spending nights in the hospital with our son and sleeping at the RMD House with our daughters. I took FMLA from work, but did not have much paid time off. We prayed and decided to make social media posts to ask if anyone could help. I put it out on my indie author social media as well.
Donations poured in from friends, family and to my amazement, fans of my book. We were able to pay all of our bills, replace the furniture in my son’s room to adapt for him to be able to come home, and buy all the things we needed to accommodate him at home. We came home a month later, having been supported by donations alone for a month. My son had made progress but still had a ways to go. They told us that he would need physical therapy and occupational therapy for approximately a year. They said the collection of blood in his brain would take nine months to a year to break down and he would struggle with headaches and nausea that entire time. My son finished sixth grade doing half days at school in his core subjects and doing physical therapy and occupational therapy in the afternoon. The neurologist had predicted his seventh grade year would be the same. By Mid-June, he had recovered completely and the hematoma was gone completely.
I’d missed my mark for publishing the next book, but my son was fully recovered and back to his normal, sassy self. After that report, I went back to the manuscript and poured my soul into it. In September of 2023, I released the second novel in the series. I created a DBA with the plan of creating my own small indie publishing house where I could support my friends that I had made along with way in writing groups.
I began working on my third novel in earnest, the finale to the trilogy. I planned to have it out by the end of 2024. Little did I know that my own health would begin failing me. In early 2024, I began having episodes of illness that seemingly came out of nowhere. I’d always struggled with migraines, but they seemed to be coming more frequently and causing me to spend less time working and more time sequestered in the dark. My doctors worked to find a solution. I began having systemic outbreaks that were like massive allergic reactions. In June, I was diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. I started seeing an allergy and immunology specialist that specialized in MCAS. I was placed on huge doses of antihistamines and was intermittently given steroids to calm the flare ups. We began digging to look into the deeper cause of my mast cell issues. Lab results found that I had an autoimmune disorder, but test have been inconclusive as to which one. I’ve fought insurance companies to cover medications, but without a specific diagnosis, it was difficult.
I changed my diet. I started eating on the autoimmune protocol diet and my doctor adjusted my medications and it gave me the ability to function and write, but not on the same level as before. Everything was slower going. If I over did it, flare ups would put me in bed for days. I was no longer the never ending machine that cranked out manuscripts and picked up overtime to pay for convention fees. I had to learn to slow down and focus on what I could do each day as the day came. We still don’t have all the answers or the best treatments, but I am taking it day by day, working in the OR with a great crew, and writing when I can.
In September 2025, I released the finale of my first series. It was a long fought battle over two years, but the book wrapped up perfectly and I could not be more proud of the work I put into it. I am currently doing my own book release tour of small town signings and have expanded to have my book in several independent book stores throughout Texas. I am currently working with a group of Texas based independent authors to start a book convention in the DFW area that is an all genre’s book convention.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t been easy. I am a first generation high school and college graduate on both my mother and father’s side of the family. While my mother was supportive of me throughout all of my endeavors before her passing, I had to earn scholarships and work at the same time while going through college.
I’ve overcome a lot of financial struggles to get to where I am now and still have a long way to go, but I am proud of the hard work I have put in to get where I am.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am an independent author, editor and graphic designer. I wrote the Fallen Grace Trilogy and designed all three covers myself. I think one thing that sets me apart is that I am exactly who I say I am. There’s no facade. I am a bit of a weird person, but I am also the type of person who loves to cheer others on in their pursuits. If you see a post from me talking about another indie author, it’s because I am genuinely a fan of their work. I like to lift others up and help them achieve dreams as well. That’s why I created my own indie publishing house to help my friends get their work out there. I am most proud of my persistence. I don’t give up because the time is going to pass anyway, no matter how slow going the progress is, I am still moving forward.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My mom used to read the little golden books to us. My favorite one was “The Monster at the End of This Book” with characters from sesame street. It featured Grover being terrified of the monster at the end of the book. Spoiler: It’s him. She would read this book to us so animatedly and get so loud with his distress! It showed me as a kid what magic lay inside books. I carried on this tradition with my kids. They still have that same little golden book even though they are all almost grown up. I wanted them to have that same magic with a mom who was willing to be silly with them to make their childhood special.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.elleeevansauthor.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author.elle.e.evans/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElleEEvansAuthor/
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/author/elleeevans
