Featured Blogger - Elizabeth Flora Ross

Elizabeth is hard at work on a non-fiction book about becoming a mother. It is a topic to which most of us can relate, especially the transition from career woman to stay-at-home mom. She is very interested to the art and process of writing and you can read about it here.

Tell us about yourself: Hello! I’m Elizabeth. Wife. Mom. Writer. The order those titles take depends very much on the day. But they are the roles that most define me. I’ve been a writer the longest, close to 20 years. Was a communications and marketing professional prior to becoming a mom. Also wrote in my free time. I am a nonfiction writer. I write about my own experiences as a way of connecting with and inspiring others. You can learn more about my past & current projects on my website: www.efloraross.com.

I was a bit of a late bloomer in the other areas. I met my husband on Match.com and got married when I was 38 years old. One month after my 40th birthday, our precious daughter was born. She is now a very active, independent, challenging yet sweet toddler. She is freakishly long and lean, so I refer to her as SB, for String Bean. She’ll be two in December. Everyone told me the time would fly by. They were not kidding!

Give us a 30-second elevator pitch about your blog: The Writer Revived started out as a way to detail my writing journey. Shortly after my daughter’s first birthday, following a long hiatus, I rediscovered my passion for writing and jumped in headfirst. I developed an idea for a book, wrote a proposal and began querying literary agents. My proposal is currently with two agents for consideration.

As the blog evolved, I also began to write about motherhood. It became a great release for me to share about my experiences as a new mom. It also connected me with tons of other moms and enabled me to develop a great support system. And it is the subject of my current book, so it made sense to take the blog in that direction. At this point, about half my posts are about being a mom, and half are about writing.

What literary character would you be and why?: This one was really hard for me to answer. I struggled and finally settled on Griet from The Girl With the Pearl Earring. Griet grew up innocent and sheltered, and was thrust into the real world unprepared. She was, however, intelligent and perceptive well beyond her years, a very keen observer of people and situations. Griet is calm and gentle and full of longing. She has an innate artistic ability that she was never able to unleash. She becomes the woman she is meant to be when given the opportunity to explore and express her creative side.

If you could carve your initials on a tree, which tree would it be and why?: This one was easy – a live oak. Here in the south, they are everywhere. Big, beautiful, strong trees that have stood for hundreds of years. Their curvy branches reach up toward the sky, dip down all the way to the ground, and then shoot upward again. They are amazing. Just the other day my husband and I took our daughter to a local park, and we walked by an impressive live oak tree draped in Spanish moss. My husband said, “I bet that was standing here during the Civil War.”

What animal does your husband look like and why?: I don’t know how he will like this, but I am going to say a gorilla. My husband has big, beautiful brown eyes and a very expressive face. Very much like this good looking fella he took a picture of at our local zoo:

Although my husband is not quite this hairy. ;)