Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ellisa Barnes. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Ellisa, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I’m not sure there was any one moment. Growing up, I constantly fluctuated between not knowing what I wanted to be when I got older and wanting to be everything. When I was a kid, I would make up stories and write them in my little notebooks. I lived in these imaginary worlds of my own creation where I could be anyone or do anything. I started writing full-length novels when I reached high school, and it was in those years that I first tried to get my stories into other people’s hands. I learned how difficult that task truly was through my first few years of college. As the world of adulting encroached on me, I continued to write in my free time to escape from the stress. However, I quickly lost faith in my ability to write for a practical living. It wasn’t until halfway through my junior year of college that I looked at my life outside of my creativity and saw how unhappy I was. I remember sitting in my aunt’s car one day and telling her what I wished I could do instead—write and create full-time. Instead of chastising me for impracticability, she encouraged me to do what I love—to do what makes me happy. It was at that moment that I said to myself, “I’m going to do it. I hope I do it.”

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

My name is E.K. Barnes and I’m a young adult urban fantasy author. I’ve been writing since I was a little girl and actually created the base storyline and characters for my book series, the Diviner’s Legacy when I was ten years old. At that age, I wanted to write something real and raw, full of loss, grief, and emotion. I wasn’t really finding books like that when I was ten (as some of you can imagine), so I started creating my own fantasy world where kids had magical powers but still had real-world problems. I grew up at a time when the news was bombarded with stories of terrorist attacks, school shootings, and missing or murdered kids, and I wanted to invent a world where all of those bad things still happened, but maybe there was hope in a ragtag group of kids with special abilities hellbent on changing the world. I let the project sit for about a decade while I finished high school and college before stumbling back to it at the beginning of the pandemic. At a time when the world seemed to be so stifled, isolated, and ill at ease, I found myself filling pages upon pages with the story of these kids and teenagers who are both trying to find their place in the world while dodging and defeating danger.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t do much during the pandemic. I had to publish my first two books quietly in isolation, but when the world started opening up again, I took off running with both feet on the ground. I started appearing at book fairs and comic conventions trying to get my books physically into the hands of readers. It has been so much fun getting to know other creatives in the process. I gain new knowledge and ideas at every event.
Outside of writing, I also began offering my services as a sensitivity reader this year to other authors who are looking for a second pair of eyes when it comes to catching offensive or problematic content. This endeavor has definitely helped rake in a little extra income to keep me and my books on vendor tables. I’ve also added other products to both my online shop and my in-person events to draw in passersby. These include candles, wax melts, bookmarks, journals, and other little knickknacks.
I’m so proud of what I’ve accomplished so far and can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I think one of my biggest regrets, in the beginning, was not hiring sensitivity readers for my first book When the Divine Are Dead. I don’t think I quite knew what sensitivity readers were at the time, nor did I know where or how to find them. I published this book back in 2020. While writing it taught me a lot and made me reevaluate how I looked at certain life experiences and the people who lived them, I was certainly not an expert. Luckily, my editors were able to catch some problematic language that we then resolved during the editing stage. Over the next two years of researching, writing, and working with my editors I learned and grew exponentially. This year, when the audiobook for When the Divine Are Dead was being produced, I listened back through the book and realized after my two years of added knowledge that there is a lot that my main character says that doesn’t necessarily portray certain groups of people in the best light. Since this is a series and my character was thirteen and fourteen in this book, I’ve been able to use his age and his naivety and allow him to grow throughout the series, and that growth includes changing his mind on some ideas he had from that first book. However, if it were possible to go back in time, I do wish that I had known who to contact and where to look for sensitivity readers. When I was editing my third book this year, I hired my first two readers—one through a mutual online friend and another who found and contacted me through Twitter. I was also advised by other writers to check out sensitivity readers on Fiverr, which is now where I offer my own services.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I’ve found over the years as an independent author that most of the time, our biggest supporters are going to be other independent creators. I’ve met a lot online and through various events. People who aren’t part of that group can help by providing space for creatives. I’ve personally witnessed buildings and businesses offer wall space for artists to display their works. I’ve noticed books from local authors for sale at hair salons. I’ve seen other small businesses offer consignment deals with local authors and crafters. 3 Wishes in Merriam, Kansas, is a consignment store that offers products from various Kansas City metro creators, including myself. Several coffee places tend to allow events every once and a while for poetry or book readings. I do wish more businesses were open to these ideas as we can all help each other grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ekbarnesauthor.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ekbarnes_author/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ekbarnesauthor
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ellisa4achange
• Other: Fiverr: https://www.fiverr.com/ekbarnesauthor/be-your-sensitivity-reader

Image Credits
E.K. Barnes, Gray Lopez