Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I currently live and work in Aurora, Colorado as a Registered Nurse, but I have deep roots in Pocatello, Idaho and Green Bay, Wisconsin. I am passionate about animal welfare, am an outdoor adventure enthusiast, and love singing and playing my guitar, as well as writing songs on my guitar. In the summer, I enjoy spending time at my mountain retreat in historic Grand Lake, Colorado with my husband and Golden Retrievers, Aspen & Goldie (Goldie in loving spirit). I can also be found kayaking, biking, hiking, paddleboarding, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing throughout the mountainous western states, but Redfish Lake will always be my favorite place to visit, and a place of wonder for me.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
18th Winter is my first debut novel. It was inspired by several things, including my love of animals and nature, along with my fascination of the Sun Valley and Stanley, Idaho areas. Additionally, as an Idaho native, I grew up hearing legends about the Bannock-Shoshone tribe. For my book, I took the coming together of those two tribes back in the 1800’s, and weaved a dark legend into it. 18th Winter could fit well into the Magical Realism genre because it is based upon real people and real places, in addition to real customs and belief systems of the Bannock-Shoshone people.
What’s most important for people to know about the creation of 18th Winter is that it is a living tribute to my beautiful Golden Retrievers, and the life that I’ve been blessed to share with them. Without Goldie and Aspen, the idea for 18th Winter never would have come about. It is because of them that I am able to share this story with the world.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
When I write, I tend to write for 12+hours in one setting. I often wake up in the middle of the night to write thoughts down, and if I am driving, I do a voice recording of my thoughts.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The story within the pages of 18th Winter was not influenced by an author or book, but rather, I was inspired to go the final mile and publish 18th Winter because I watched a movie called Walt Before Mickey. That gave me the courage and motivation to complete the project.
What are you working on now?
Right now, I taking time to read a few books for leisure. Soon, I will continue writing the second book the 18th Winter series, which may end up being a two-book duology.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
If you do not have a formal writing background/degree in English, it is important that you determine how you want to write (i.e. writing style), and then teach yourself how to write using that style. And then determine the point of view (POV) that you want to use, and the tense (first person, second person, etc.), then learn how write from that POV and tense.
For example, 18th Winter was written in 3rd person, from Collette’s POV. It was written without a mass of annoying tags, “he said,” “she said,” “he thought,” “she thought,” etc. It was written with the distinct intent of making the dialogue between characters, and the character’s thoughts as distinguishable as possible. This is a difficult writing skill that I had to learn along the way!
And, I had to learn how to have events happen in the book versus explaining the events (show versus tell). In other words, I had to learn how to have the readers move along with the events with Collette, versus me telling them about the events. This can be very tricky!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
No matter how hard life gets, and no matter how many times you get knocked down, you must get back up and keep going – keep trying to do your best.
What are you reading now?
I just recently finished reading two books that I had been anxiously waiting for:
1) “Kingdom of Ash” – the last book in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah Maas
2) “Wrath of the Dragon King” – the 2nd book in the Dragonwatch series by Brandon Mull
I am currently reading: “The Dark Wolf” – the 1st book in The Heart of Light series by J.M. Christian.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I need to finish the next book in this series. And, I have solid starts for three other books as well, one of which I am very excited about!
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would want Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven books. And, I would also hope to have all of the books by Kate O’Hearn.
Author Websites and Profiles
STELLA RAASCH Website
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