We recently connected with Greta Kelly and have shared our conversation below.

Greta, appreciate you joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I’ve grappled with this question for a long, long time. I’d been in love with the idea of being a writer since middle school. I was sure that I would strike out into the world and become a globe-hopping journalist. And then the 2000’s actually happened, and every other news story seemed to be about the death of print media. Yeah, ouch. In a fit of pragmatism I decided the responsible thing to do would be to go and get myself a business degree. It was the safe thing to do. But it was also the afraid thing to do. It was pessimism in the guise of practicality.

It’s not that I regret that decision, per se. I got a wonderful education at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (go Warhawks!) And with a double major in German, I was given the opportunity to study abroad. I traveled the world, laying the groundwork for the career I would one day have.

But I often wonder where I would be right now, if I’d believed in myself a little bit more. If I’d held on to that stubborn streak within me, that to this day whispers: you will miss all the shots you don’t take. If I’d chosen hope. I don’t honestly know. I was still writing during that time—not seriously or regularly, but I never could completely put the pen down. I’d simply lost my faith—not just in the world. But in myself.

And so if there is just one tiny piece of advice that you take away from all this, please let it be this. Some days it’s going to feel like the whole world is against you. Like everyone is just waiting to shut the door in your face. Waiting to say no.

Don’t be one of them.

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.

Hello! I’m Greta Kelly, the traditionally published fantasy author of the The Frozen Crown, The Seventh Queen and The Queen of Days (coming out October 2023!) Becoming an author was something I’d dreamed of for most of my life, one that was finally realized in January of 2021 when my first book, The Frozen Crown, was released into the world. I love writing books about complex characters and layered, nuanced worlds. Books you can lose yourself in and resurface from changed and reinvigorated. I’m most excited for my next book, The Queen of Days, to come out this fall. It’s a love letter to so many of the things that make me, well, me: my siblings, my friends, my love of adventure and good old fashioned heist stories. If any of these things sound good to you, be sure to check it out wherever you buy books!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

So much of my success comes from two almost opposing, but at the same time inescapable factors. Luck and stubbornness.

I can’t give you much advice on about luck, because so often it’s out of our hands. But stubbornness? I know about stubbornness. Everything I have ever achieved in my life; I owe to stubbornness. Even as a child.

I am dyslexic so for me learning read and write was a gargantuan task. I was way behind most of my classmates for all of elementary school—to the point where my parents considered holding me back. The summer before sixth grade, I decided that I wasn’t going to go to middle school being the kid who can’t read in front of class. So I grabbed the biggest book I could find in my house, and decided I was going to read it cover to cover.

And that book happened to be GONE WITH THE WIND. And I hated every word. But you know what? I did it. Page after page, I proved to myself that I could, in fact, read. It was an act of sheer stubbornness. A tiny little step. But it was the first—which is what made it the most important.

When your dreams feel too big to tackle, to huge to visualize, sometimes the best thing to do, is find that first step and take it. Even if it’s a hard one. Especially if it’s hard. Because very few things worth having will ever come easily. That was true for me of reading, and I’m so glad it did, because with that step came all the others.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I don’t know a single artist that isn’t concerned about how AI will affect us, because our art is what makes us who we are. So please remember that as you shop for books and paintings and movies. Art, true art, is flawed and complex and infinitely fragile. Its uniquely, breathtakingly human. And that’s what makes it worth experiencing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gretakkelly.com
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