Posts Categorized: tour

Authors Are Rockstars Tour Stop- Elana Johnson

05 Aug, 2013 by in tour 5 comments


I am so honored to be a part of the 2nd annual Authors are Rockstars Tour hosted by FiktshunTwo Chicks on BooksMagical Urban Fantasy Reads. and to introduce my Rockstar author Elana Johnson

I love Elana because not only is a she a genius writer, she also has an amazing personality! I frequently see her supporting fellow authors as she comes to cheer them on at their book launches. She is friendly to all. Elana is down to earth, has some sass in her characters and can frequently be spotted with some awesome hair style or her collection of colored sharpie markers for signings. She’s a teacher by profession who inspires youth and she wears her many hats in the writing community well. I am proud to call Elana my friend.


Photo by Erin Summerill
Here’s a little note Elana Johnson to all of you…

Hello! I’m glad to be here today for this Authors are Rockstars event! I’m not sure how much of a rockstar I am, but I did get recognized while I was picking up dinner the other night… And I hadn’t even showered! Ha! (Now you know why I needed to GO OUT and PICK UP dinner!)

Anyway, today I’m going to talk a bit about what inspires me to write, and my dream writing destinations. 

I think I might be in the minority on this, but I like reading stories that are real—which usually means they don’t all get wrapped up in a nice, red bow. I like the angsty, emotionalities of life, so that’s the kind of story I like to write. 

I draw the needed angst for this type of story from my own life, because the emotions I’ve felt over the course of happenings in my life can be translated to different situations. The loss my main character experiences might not be the same kind of loss, but the emotional transfer still works. 

I’m inspired by people who have overcome difficult circumstances in their lives. So I love watching documentaries (usually on athletes on ESPN), and those True Hollywood Stories, and reading biographies of historical people (think KILLING KENNEDY). Learning about other people and the trials they’ve overcome inspires me to create a character who can do the same thing. 

I like writing these stories on the go. I don’t have a permanent writing spot in my house. It’s more of a “have laptop, will travel” type of thing. Sometimes I write on the couch, sometimes at the library, sometimes in bed late at night. 

But my ultimate destination to write is the beach—which is pretty hard since I live in Utah. But this last April, I went to speak at a library in Santa Monica, and man! I got to sit on the beach and write. It was amazing!



About Elana Johnson: Elana is the author of the Possession series, which includes full-length novels POSSESSION andSURRENDER, and short stories REGRET (ebook only) and RESIST (free here!). Learn how to spell and say her name.

Elana wishes she could experience her first kiss again, tell the mean girl where to shove it, and have cool superpowers like reading minds and controlling fire. To fulfill her desires, she writes young adult science fiction and fantasy.

Using her boring human powers, she graduated from Southern Utah University with Summa Cum Laude honors in Elementary Education with a minor in Mathematics. She started her teaching career as an upper grade music and art specialist. After a four-year stint in 3rd grade, she is currently the technology specialist.

In her world, Oreos and bacon would be the only food groups. Everyone would drive 10 over the speed limit. Winter would be eliminated as a season, and Jeff Probst would be President. As it is, she lives with her husband and two kids in central Utah, gets cited when she drives too fast and eats Oreos only on special occasions.

She is the author of From the Query to the Call, an ebook that every writer needs to read before they query.

She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog, a regular contributor to The League of Extraordinary Writers, and a co-organizer ofWriteOnCon. She is a member of SCBWI, ANWA, and LDStorymakers.

Elana is represented by Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary.

Check out her series on writing a query letter, and tips for building a better blog.


Learn for yourself how awesome Elana is on Goodreads/ her blog and on the following links…



The Giveaway: your choice of a copy of Possession, Surrender, or Abandon. Elana is willing to ship it Internationally. If the randomly chosen winning address is in the U.S., she will sign it! The winner will be displayed on our rafflecopter widget and announced on the blog. You then have 48 hours to respond with your mailing address. Enter below and good luck!

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