Once upon a high school dreary, while we wandered weak and heavily laden with backpacks full of Shakespeare… wait, no, that’s not right.

It was sometime in the mid 1990’s that a very quirky friendship formed between two girls who were just starting to find their way in life. We were barely out of elementary school and awkward as (am I allowed to cuss… best not, I guess).

Needless to say, it was a long time ago. Our lives have taken some irregular and meandering paths. We’ve both spent time living in other countries, we’ve gotten married and had kids, and now we find ourselves back in the desert of Arizona — writing and reading books.

About Fable: Beth Stedman

Beth Stedman is a wife and mama to two kids in elementary school. She’s been blogging officially since 2005, writing books since 2009, and doing copy writing and editing work for clients since 2014. She doesn’t consider herself a naturally skilled writer, but she loves putting thoughts and ideas into words, loves books and stories, and has worked hard at developing the craft of writing.

When she’s not writing, she’s reading. When she’s not doing either, than she’s probably getting her kids to do their homework, talking philosophy with her hubby, or at doctors appointments. On the one hand, her life looks like many stay-at-home mom’s in the suburbs, with a side hustle. On the other hand, her life looks a bit different than the norm and definitely different than she expected. Her husband was diagnosed with stage four cancer just before she turned thirty, her daughter was diagnosed with cerebral palsy just after she was born, and this past year they found out that their ten year old son is gifted and has ADHD. All that to say, doctors and therapists take up a lot of her free time.

She wrote and released an e-book, which you can find here. She’s currently finishing up a three book YA fantasy series, with hopes of getting it traditionally published. She also has a middle grades book she’s working on finishing and editing and an idea for an adult sci-fi/mythology book that she’s just starting to develop. She hopes one day to write a book that readers can’t put down, a book that provides an escape from life, and a book that leaves people changed (probably all separate projects, but we’ll see).

About The Verbivore: Laura Johnson

Laura loves and devours words. She also tends to take a significant amount of time choosing them in her writing. (In fact, she rewrote this intro 5 times.) She has always been fascinated by story, be it in the form of a book, movie, TV series, musical or graphic novel; and often wishes she could vacation in her favorite novels.

She is married to an IT project manager who is nerdy like herself, and a mummy to an imaginative 7-year-old and a resolute 4-year-old. She’s worked in research administration (an intensely writing heavy career) for twelve years. Several months ago, she took a big and scary life step in leaving that career to search for something more personally fulfilling. She studied Educational Psychology and English Literature at Arizona State University and wants to get back to her love for developing intriguing characters, finding the perfect word, and creating something completely new. She also has an inexplicable fondness for raccoons.

Laura is currently working on a children’s picture book series that highlights different places around the world through the eyes of a child and the magic of adventure. She currently has 2 of these children’s books planned and mapped out, and sees potential for this to be a series of at least 8 books, each inspired by a special child in her life.

She’s also working on a historical fiction project with her two sisters (one of whom is also pursuing writing and working on a fantasy series). This particular story holds a special place in Laura’s family’s heart as it’s a creative retelling of how her grandparents met during WWII in Sydney, Australia.

She sees the process of writing these projects and ultimately completing them as the main goal of her work, but also hopes to query and submit them for publication in the future. But most importantly, she wants to connect with and learn from other writing enthusiasts and to continue to broaden how she views the world of story. She also aspires to someday have a small version of the live-action Beauty and the Beast library, complete with moving ladder.