Interview with Elaine Williams

Today I have a very special interview with author Elaine Williams. Previously published with Silhouette, she has now written a book called A Journey Less Taken: Life After Loss, which is about the period of time after she lost her husband.

As someone who is very familiar with the grieving process, I was eager to hear what she had to say. Oh and she's worked with horses before! Horses seem to come up a lot in my interviews, don't they?

Anyway, without further ado, my interview with Elaine Williams-the uncut version:

On a scale from 1 to 10, how awesome am I? No excuses about how you hardly know me…

You’re awesome for taking on author interviews. How about that?

I see you have teenage sons. Are there any words of wisdom you can give me? My son just started high school and now he’s now a teenager…complete with attitude.

Attitude. Hah! I have you beat. I have a 24, 22 and now 16 year old boys. My youngest just started driving and my children in general wonder, often aloud, how I ever muddled through life until they came along to instruct me in how everything and anything should be done.

Now for the hard hitting question. You ready? What do you carry with you at all times?

Absolutely nothing, unless you count my eyeglasses. I’m blind as a bat without them.

Your book, A Journey Well Taken: Life after Loss, is about grief and the aftermath of losing a husband of 20 years. Since there’s obviously nothing funny about that, is there any advice you can give those who are going through similar loss?

Yes, grief is a funny animal, in that it takes you down a road of which you know nothing and expects you to figure where you’re going before you get there. Strange, huh? The grief experience is individual and yet universal, but totally unexpected until you experience it first hand.. The best advice I can give is to be by yourself to process the grief, but let others in when you need a shoulder to lean on or a hand to help. There is life after loss, it just gets “lost” for a while.

I see your book was a USA Book News Finalist for The National Best Books 2008 awards. (Say that three times fast!) Congratulations! What is that like? Can I touch your hand? Can you sprinkle some of your writing dust on me?

Hey, I’m all new to this award stuff myself. Lol. The biggest thrill I get out of all this is knowing it grants my book that much more exposure. Other women need to read it, to know they’re not alone, and that is my goal.

I see you train and ride horses. Many of the people who read my blog know that the only horse I’m familiar with usually come in pastel colors and you can brush their tail and mane. What kind of horses do you work with?

I used to work with Quarter Horses. I have a lovely little farm I live on, perfect for animals. My youngest son plans to bring in some beef cows so we don’t have to mow the lawn anymore.

I see you also enjoy outdoor sports. What is your favorite outdoor sport? I’m pretty good at “walking my lazy butt to the car” myself. If only it was in the Olympics…

I love anything outside, but especially kayaking and hiking. Thus far, I’ve learned to walk faster than I can eat, but it’s a close race at times.

It’s your turn now to talk about yourself. Promote, etc… I’ll be trying to think of another outdoor activity I do. Does walking to the mailbox count?

I wrote this story about two and a half years after my husband passed away. We’d been together 23 years, married 20 with 3 boys. I began this as a journal to myself. I was having a difficult time with the grief process, and always being a writer, (previously published by Silhouette books) I had to get my angst out on paper. It’s not pretty or neat, but it’s my story, and the story of many women who lose a spouse. When I was satisfied I was done with it, I kept getting this voice that said other women needed to read it. Since it is so personal, I resisted for about six months, then I decided to put it out for all to see, and knew that ultimately, it would end up where it needed to be. It’s been and is a very rewarding experience, one that has helped me heal on my grief journey, as I hope it helps others heal on theirs.

Thank you for the opportunity to talk about A Journey Well Taken: Life After Loss. My website is located at http://www.ajourneywelltaken.com and from there you can access my blog, grief/loss related links and articles -- and even buy the book.