Gabriele Ewerts
Meet Gabriele Ewerts
Sophie and the Magic Flower is where Sophie’s story begins, but this is not where my story starts.
When I was nine years old, I received my first novel from my dad; it was a story about a girl named Kristin and a mare called Jo. After reading the book, I wanted to write stories about horses too, but when I tried and couldn’t do it, I was told that I had to be born with a writing talent.
Still, the dream of writing stories kept haunting me.
Later in my thirties after moving to the U.S., I discovered and completed a short story correspondence course (That was before the internet.), and the instructor’s praise and encouragement buoyed me. After finishing the course, I wrote a few more short stories but found no particular genre or idea that appealed to me to work into a novel. I was also horribly self-conscious about English being my second language; although I love English and always have.
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Around that time, a friend recommended Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold by Terry Brooks. Until then, I had always thought stories with magic were not for me because I believed those stories have nothing to do with reality and therefore wanted nothing to do with them. But when I read this novel and found that the wizards and magical creatures were plagued by challenges and heartaches we all face, I was all in. In addition, I loved the whimsical, magical settings and the idea of going through a portal into another world. So, together with the magic kingdom, I was sold on the fantasy genre.
Shortly after moving to Colorado in 2000, a random conversation with a coworker sparked the first idea about Sophie and the Magic Flower. I was smitten and wrote notes and captured ideas but didn’t do much novel writing until December 2001 when I told myself that if I ever wanted to get this story written, I had better sit down and write it.
Three years later, I finally finished the first draft, which I kept rewriting and reworking several times over the next few years until it finally went out into the world in 2015. I could not be more grateful to all the writers, writing teachers and friends I’ve met along the way, who taught me that writing, or any art, can be learned. After that, I wrote and published Sophie and the Magic Seeds in 2020, and now Book 3, Sophie and the Magic Child, is out for you to enjoy as well.