A local author talks about life transitions, big goals, and the power of connection.
The author of four novels, Elizabeth Wafler is an active member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and hosts her own podcast, The Evocative Author Podcast, which serves both readers and writers. She also has an “editorial side hustle,” Four Eyes Editorial, which works with writers to hone their craft and polish up their marketing pieces. A Greenville native, Wafler recently moved back to the area with her husband and a pair of pups. Vive caught up with her to discuss her latest work and how she made the switch from teacher to novelist at age 55.
Q & A with Elizabeth Wafler
What are your goals when you begin writing a book?
As you get to know the characters I create, you’ll be imbued with a sense of hope and possibility—with the magic that can happen when someone pokes a toe out of her comfort zone and makes things happen. You’ll relate to discrete characters who, like most women, desire and deserve true love, authentic relationships—whether they be friends, mothers, daughters, or lovers—and meaningful work. You’ll care about their emotional hurts and the misunderstandings that cause them to stumble, and you’ll cheer them on as they make choices that ultimately lead them to create empowered, fulfilling lives.
Describe your writing process.
When I’m writing a novel, my schedule varies wildly. Usually starting midday, I may be at the keyboard four hours one day and twelve the next. But I have a strict rule: write one day, and revise the next. For me, revising while writing can suck the life out of creativity and flow. I even made up a card years ago and had it laminated at Staples. I prop it on my keyboard for writing-only days. It reads “LET THE BIG DOG EAT.” (Yes, I poached that from the movie Tin Cup.)
What was the key to making your career pivot, from teacher to writer, at age 55?
On the heels of a 20-year teaching career, my husband and I moved to Charlottesville, Virginia. Instead of pursuing a teaching position, I left the classroom in the chalk dust and decided to pursue writing my own fiction. I was 55, a creative, and a lifelong bibliophile. But I had a lot to learn. Moreover, writing can be a solitary endeavor. It’s essential to join and bond with others in a professional writing group. Because I write women’s fiction, I joined the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, which offers online webinars, workshops taught by industry experts, writing retreats led by literary agents, and tons more. Within two years, I became director of craft education and served in that capacity for two more. I think I’ve read every book about writing on the planet. Whatever your genre, there’s an association for it.
Tell us about your most recent work.
In Topanga Canyon, Candy empire heiress Dare O’Day has never done a reckless thing in her life—or so her version 2.0 hippie, estranged daughter, Caroline, believes. When Dare is haplessly involved in a scandal that rocks her small-town Virginia world, she needs to get out of town fast. Acting on a hunch that it could be her last chance to forge an authentic relationship with her daughter, Dare and her one-eared rescue dog head for Caroline’s millennial intentional community, Crewtopia, in California.
Despite their differences, Dare and Caroline manage to confront a lifetime of family secrets and misunderstandings. Ultimately, the two learn that a loving and supportive relationship between mothers and daughters has the power to influence generations to come and is the strongest and most important bond of all.
What’s a great book you’ve read recently?
Ask any writer, and they will tell you they are voracious readers. A writer who doesn’t read is like a chef who doesn’t eat. Remembrance by Rita Woods is a masterpiece that will compel anyone who’s not yet a lover of historical women’s fiction with elements of fantasy to jump the broom into a voodoo-induced refuge for 18th- and 19th-century enslaved people. The lives of a trio of women separated by place and time are deftly braided by this debut author. Evocative escapism at its best.
What’s next for you?
My fourth novel, A Cleft in the World, launches in July 2023 with She Writes Press, an all-women-run hybrid publisher. Here’s a tease: An agoraphobic French professor shaping young women into bold leaders must confront her own fears to save the failing college that is her raison d’être.
Learn more about Elizabeth’s work at elizabethsumnerwafler.com, and follow her on social media on Instagram (@elizabeth_sumner_wafler) or Twitter (@elizabethwafler).
