Aside from writing, Elizabeth is a Nurse Practitioner who loves spending time with her kids and her four-legged antidepressants. She doubts any of her 6 adult kids have ever read her work – maybe her cat Seuss based on his pedigree.
----------Interview by Renee Roberson
WOW: Hi Elizabeth, and welcome! I"m excited for our chat today. First of all, I have to mention to our readers that you had two stories place in this contest! We're going to have you back on August 11 to discuss your other winning story, "A New Normal." Today, we'll start with discussing your second place winner. "Downloading Hemingway” features a twisty narrative that slowly builds tension throughout, ultimately ending in a shocking conclusion. Where did you first get the idea for this story?
Elizabeth: I attended a funeral service a couple of years ago with a dear friend who didn't want to go alone, and it was held in the family home. I was shocked at how people could come and go - no guest sign-ins - just a lot of people partying, including the widow of the young man who had died. It was a drunk-driving accident, but that went unsaid other than those who were close to the widow and her late husband. And many of the platitudes, as an objective observer, I found absurd. They'd recently had a baby who was basically unattended in a back room - just a basic baby monitor the widow/mother had next to her outside on a table. That was when the story came to me - I decided to use a neighboring dog as a distraction. Since the widow had no idea who I was and barely knew my friend (my friend was a casual coworker of the widow's mother), I didn't feel it was unethical, but that's why I chose to write it in second person. Obviously, no baby was stolen, but it was easy to envision that scenario.
WOW: I love how you pulled observations from a real-life experience and wove them throughout a fictional narrative. It really made the story come alive, in my opinion. In your bio you mention having written for magazines and newspapers as well. How has that professional experience influenced what you choose to write about creatively?
Elizabeth: I always wanted to be a writer and started books but never got past the first few chapters before moving to something else. I was at an event with my children in my twenties when I met a newspaper journalist and asked him if I could write a humorous column about being a single mom. As a widowed mother, I had so many stories to share. The journalist was kind enough to humor me and asked me to send him a few pieces. I was so fortunate that he had a similar sense of humor and gave me a byline, "Single and Surviving," for several years. I soon realized that if I could write close to 300 columns totaling about 900 pages, why couldn't I finish a novel? Writing my first book took a decade and was harder than grad school, but I became obsessed with finishing it. I was able to get that book published a few years after completion, but it was not easy.
WOW: Writing a full-length novel is not for the faint of heart, but you did it! You've also completed a full-length work of nonfiction, too! Your book The Final Mission, a Boy, a Pilot and a World at War is a true story about your father. Can you tell us what the process was like working on a story so close to your family?
Elizabeth: This was an act of love for sure. I am by no means a history expert. I mix up Mussolini and Napoleon (eye-roll). When my father was in his nineties, we learned through a simple Google search that the Austrian government had been searching for my dad for years, and they had erected a monument in the ravine where his B-17 went down. Apparently, there was a six-year-old boy who witnessed my dad's heroic efforts to veer his plane away from Innsbruck and straight into the Austrian Alps. He bailed out with seconds to spare and was taken POW for the rest of the war. My father never talked about his war experiences, so discovering this Austrian heroism over 60 years later was a miracle. If it weren't for the internet, we would never have known. The boy who witnessed the heroic maneuvers never forgot my dad, and when he was in his 60s, he took part in the search for him. He was able to thank him personally when we were invited to Austria. I recall saying to my dad at one point that it would make a great story, and he said, "...then write it."
I spent about 2 years interviewing my dad - everywhere we went because he was too old to drive I recorded him and just kept grilling him with questions, figuring if not now, his story will be lost when he dies. He was able to find closure in finally talking about all of it - the book is amazing, but it is not my story - it belongs to my father, and I wrote it for him. He lived till 100 years old, and we were able to do numerous book signings, and he gave speeches; luckily, he was lucid until he died of a sudden stroke. I had already written The Cheech Room, which took almost ten years, as it was my first novel. I was raising kids at the time and had to carve out an hour here and there, but they were grown by the time I wrote Dad's story. It took 3 years to write it and about an hour to find a non-fiction publisher - Westholme Publishing in Yardley, PA who called me after I sent out ten queries to publishers, and he was very interested, especially because the entire book was written already. I had always heard it was easier with a nonfiction book that has a decent proposal to go straight to publishing houses and bypass the agent. It proved true for me. The Final Mission, a Boy, a Pilot and a World at War was published a year later. After my first book was traditionally published, it didn't take long for my two other books to be picked up by a fiction publisher. An interesting fact: my dad's publisher's name is Bruce Franklin, and he is a direct descendant of Benjamin Franklin. His publishing house in Yardley was home to Benjamin at one point.
WOW: What an amazing experience both learning about that piece of family history and documenting it with your father. Kudos! I remember your award-winning essay “You” from the WOW! Q3 2025 Creative Nonfiction Contest. Have you given any further thought to writing that memoir you mentioned during that interview?
Elizabeth: I have a few about 200 pages of my memoir done and no title yet. Every time I write a section, I recall another pertinent story and have to go back and put it in sequence. It hasn't been easy, but winning WOW last year really encouraged me to get started on it, which I did. I am writing an anthology of my short stories, and once a week, I try to devote a few hours to the memoir. This is another act of love and can be emotional. Even if it never gets published, I am okay with that. I will have it bound for my kids someday.
WOW: What does a typical day look like for you as far as working on your various writing projects? How do you manage your time?
Elizabeth: I will admit, I am not a great time manager - I can get easily distracted with 6 adult kids to keep track of; however, I never watch TV, and I rarely sit down and read a book, but rather listen to books when I am commuting/driving. I feel guilty when I am not writing while I sit and support others' work, whether in TV or books. Having said that, I am an avid reader and finish about 100 books/year. I work full-time as a nurse practitioner, but hope to cut back to part-time in 2027 to spend more time on my writing endeavors. Currently, I spend about three hours at the end of the day writing, and I take the weekends off. I find that when I return to whatever I was working on, fresh on Monday evening, I am more motivated and can more easily find flaws and weak spots. I have always heard that one should step away from a piece of writing for a while, then return to it with fresh eyes. It took me a while to do that without feeling guilty - but after publishing a few books now, I know that advice is very true.
WOW: Well, you certainly know how to manage your time in my humble opinion! I look forward to sharing more about you with our readers in a separate interview next month. Happy Writing!
