We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Betsy Ellor a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Betsy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

While having my first children’s picture book traditionally published felt like a tremendous milestone, my most meaningful project was in 2021. We moved to a new town in 2020, just as the world closed down. Even without the pandemic, there was very little creative community in my new area and I felt isolated and alone. Instead of closing in with my sorrow, I decided to turn it around and reach out. I put out a call for submissions for art, comics, poetry, short stories, and micro memoir – any creative form as long as it was on the topic of care. Then I spent several months collecting, organizing, and editing. Heroic Care: 35 Writers & Artists Show What It Means To Care came out in the spring of 2021. I’m incredibly proud of this book. Not only is the work amazing including everything from fantasy to historical fiction to memoir and includes work from creatives around the world, it is also a beautiful commentary on human connection. Readers were touched by that warmth at a time when they needed it. I was incredibly happy to give other creatives a chance to shine, and the collaboration brought me through that hard transition.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m driven by curiosity and I use that curiosity to create new worlds in fiction or to build beautiful spaces as an interior designer. Whether it’s researching to develop a story that explains history to kids or learning how an office works so I can design a great space for them, my passion comes from learning something I didn’t know before. My unique approach to all my projects starts with listening and asking questions. Once my mind starts whirring with everything I’m learning the projects come together fueled by my joy in the process.

I was born in the Midwest and started as a playwright, earning a dual degree in Creative Writing from Ball State University before shifting my focus to novels and picture books. My picture book debut, My Dog is NOT a Scientist launched this year from Yeehoo Press. My 2021 anthology Heroic Care: 35 Writers & Artists Show What It Means To Care reached the top 30 on Amazon, and my family musical Sara Crewe has been performed across the US. I also provide editing services and do freelance writing which you can learn more about at wordsunboundstudio.com.

Some of my proudest moments come when I stand up in front of a group of readers at a school or book event and share my joy and curiosity with others. Knowing I’ve designed a space that just “feels right” for the users, working as an editor to help another writer find the perfect solution for their creative block, or seeing genuine joy on a reader’s face – that’s what I’m in this business for.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

“Built” in this question is past tense and it made me smile because the one thing about social media is that it’s never past tense. You’re never done. Social media is always ongoing. My biggest advice is just to sit with the fact that social media is going to be a permanent part of your life for a while and make a plan that you can sustain. Social media is very draining to me. I started off doing all the things experts tell you to do like posting multiple times a day, engaging with others constantly, sharing a lot about my authentic life, and trying to create really stand-out content. The result was that I had no time and no energy for my work and my mental health went into a downward spiral. It’s an ongoing practice, but I’ve learned to set sustainable expectations. I post consistently but only a couple of times a week. I heavily engage in just one platform instead of spreading myself across all of them. I set boundaries for how much of my real life I want to share and I stick to those boundaries. I will never be an influencer but I’ve found what I can reasonably do and sustain in an ongoing way and that is better than blitzing and getting burned out.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the biggest lessons I’ve had to unlearn over the years of doing creative work is that success should be measured in the amount of money you earn. That’s a lesson that we grow up with society teaching us more or less everywhere we turn. We all need to earn a living, but beyond that, your soul doesn’t care about money. Our legacy won’t include the size of our bank account. In my twenties, when my first published project didn’t earn enough to change my lifestyle I got discouraged and gave up writing in any significant way for a decade. I mourn the years I didn’t do the work I love. When I came back to writing I came back with a desire to rediscover the joy that writing gave me. Measuring success in joy and personal satisfaction has kept my creative well running deep for a long time. That said I still have to recenter my focus often. It’s so easy to get pulled into a negative spiral when I start comparing myself with other writers who might earn bigger or have more followers on social media. Measuring your success with your own yardstick is a practice, but one that makes all the difference.  

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wordsunboundstudio.com
• Instagram: @betsyellor
• Facebook: @bewordsunbound
• Twitter: @bewordsunbound

Image Credits
Headshot: Kim Indresano Photography