We recently connected with Beth Shelton and have shared our conversation below.
Beth, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?
I hope my life, my words, my actions will inspire people to reach out and discover their talents, take chances, and strive for their dreams. To encourage even one person would satisfy my bequest.
Beth, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Today, I’m living my best life writing and being a grandmother.
After meaningful careers as a professional musician and mathematics educator, I made a hard pivot into another personal dream – writing family stories into historical fiction. Fulfilling my wish for future generations, I write stories about our ancestors’ origins and their authentic lives. I want the children and grandchildren to read about their forebears’ inspirations and aspirations, especially from an era where travel and communication looked very different from today.
Remembering our past, where we came from and how we got here, gives us knowledge and hope for the future.
When I began my journey into writing six years ago, I stumbled into a group in the Dallas area, The Rough Writers, coached by an accomplished editor and writing teacher, Lee Sneath. Made up of several authors—some experienced and some novices—this excellent writing group gave me advice and encouragement as I learned and experimented with different writing styles and publishing opportunities.
Sugarland, my first self-published collection of family stories, captures Louisiana ancestors traveling down the Mississippi River from Illinois to South Louisiana in the 1890s.
Hear the Dirt Sing, published in April 2024, was inspired by a 1956 news article. The historical fiction story features a farming family of unmarried sisters, my husband’s distant cousins. Taking place in the early 1900s, the setting is my home parish in northeast Louisiana, a land cut from the wilderness with a beautifully messy history. The sister farmers survived devastating hardships, stories deserving to be told and remembered.
Paperback and eBook editions are available on most popular platforms.
When I’m not writing and researching, I’m playing and making up stories with my two grandsons, Clark and Johnny.
Have you ever had to pivot?
With a music education degree, my first real job was band directing in North Carolina. In 1985, my husband and I moved to Texas, where I earned a master’s in music performance at North Texas State University (UNT) in Denton. After a brief music instructor position at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania and band directing in North Richland Hills, Texas, I made my first major pivot. All my attention went to my most important endeavor – raising our daughter, Anna.
During those years, my husband, Mark, led a world music ensemble, Tin Roof Tango. When the woodwind position became available, I pivoted again and performed with his band for eight years.
Wanting to travel less, spend more time at home with my daughter, and itching to do something completely different, I earned teaching certification in mathematics and taught at Marcus High School in Lewisville, Texas.
I’m no stranger to pivoting. Before retiring from teaching, the desire to write burned inside of me. Besides my books, I contribute articles to various publications and share my work on ebshelton.com and Medium.com.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
Throughout my life, I’ve heard of people saying, “I wish I could have been (insert: an artist, a musician, a writer, a dancer, an actor) but I wouldn’t be able to make a living at it.”
It saddens me to hear of parents steering their children away from artistic opportunities because it wasn’t seen as useful or career enhancing. Jobs, careers, and employment are necessary, but it doesn’t mean they can’t include the arts.
I wasn’t born knowing how to write or tell a story. It’s something I chose to learn, study, and practice. I’m still learning. And loving it.
Creatives don’t have to make a living with their art. We create because we must.
My hope for my readers is that they will pursue the goals burning inside their hearts and strive to live their dreams.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ebshelton.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/bethbshelton
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/beth-b-shelton
- Twitter: https://x.com/ebshelton2
- Other: https://ebshelton.medium.com
Image Credits
Sharon White Photography