Ellen Khodakivska

Once upon a time, my parents took my brother and me to the seaside. On the beach, we found small wooden houses for newly born sea turtles. We were lucky enough to see these marvelous tiny creatures. Moreover, we had an opportunity to help them to get into the sea. Together with instructors, my brother and I took two newly born sea turtles and brought them to the sea. My brother’s one swam to the sea depths rapidly. My turtle kid kept on moving at a slow pace. Its flappers were still too weak for a restless sea. When it swam a bit far away from me, a big seagull started flying above us, trying to catch the tiny turtle. I began to wave my hands actively to send the seagull away. Then I swam closer to the turtle that was desperately trying to move faster. It took me about forty minutes to make the seagull fly away and to wait till the tiny sea turtle goes under the sea to its family. This episode from my childhood taught me to be patient, be a lifter to those who are weak and stand behind those who desperately need help. I wrote the children’s book that consists of ten fairytales. I dedicated one of the fairytales to this childhood memory. I do hope the book will see the world soon.

It was my mom who read all my first stories. She has always supported me in my intentions to become a writer. That is why she was the first to read my first full- fledged story, “Adventures of Little Squirrel Ru”, published in a local newspaper in consequence.

Yes! I was born in a family of real bookworms. So, probably, I was fated to become an avid reader. My parents had (and still have) a large library, where you can find almost all the genres - from old detective stories to modern fairytales and retellings. My brother and I do our best to make this library grow further. That is why when we buy a book, we usually buy two samples - for ourselves and our parents. Sure, I had my favorite ones on those shelves. These three books I read to my son now as they were the most precious for me – “Wonderful Adventures of Nils” by Selma Lagerlöf, “Little Muck” by Wilhelm Hauff, and “Issun-bōshi”- a Japanese fairytale that sometimes translated into English as "Little One-Inch".

When I was a little girl, I settled cozily on the soft carpet with a dozen toys around me. I could spend hours telling them my numerous stories. (At least my mom described it like this.)

As soon as I learned to write, I started writing. My glorious mom managed to keep almost all my notes. Sure, most of them are too childish, immature, and just funny, but they prove that I firmly decided to be a writer since my early childhood.

Since then, I am living my dream. My mom and husband usually say that there is a bottomless ocean of stories inside me. The stories that cannot wait to see the world.

I was 26 years old when I started writing my first book. It was a children’s book – “Adventures of Cat Lyubchyk”. It was published when I was 28 years old.

All my books are based on true events. “The Hidden Pocket” is not an exception. Once upon a time, I visited one cat café in Wroclaw. There were about 7 or 8 cats there with numerous cat toys at their disposal. There was also a massive bookshelf that took almost all the wall space.

While I admired the variety of books on the shelf, an older woman came out of the storeroom and approached me. She watched me with curiosity and then said: ‘You definitely work with books, somehow or other.’ I stared at her in surprise.

Meanwhile, she said: ‘Books saved my life once. And now, when my life is coming to sunset, I have one of the final wishes’.

You have already guessed that I could not resist asking what this final wish was. We walked along the city and talked a lot. Following fantastic Wroclaw gnomes, we reached the place where everything had started for Matilda Pietraszek (that’s her character's name in the book) - Market Square in Wroclaw.

Truth to be told, I enjoy writing both. I like to dive into a big and long adventure with my characters and live the whole lives with them as long as possible. The short stories are also my big love. I also enjoy describing a brief episode from a character’s life in a short story with a summary-moral at each story's end. That is how I started writing “Josef The Writer’s Cat”.

It is challenging to answer because all the stories about my fluffy assistant were written with love and care. Though, I would probably choose story number 3 – “The Loneliness In A Crowd”. In this story, one of the characters shared life wisdom with cat Josef – “The most precious things never lie on the surface” – that is one of the things I learned a long time ago. It appeared that my faithful friend, as well as I, had to scoop with his paws (hands) to get the treasure. Work hard, be patient, and always believe that better things are coming – three directions that Josef and I keep on following on our writing path.

I’ve learned a lot of things! One of them is that it’s pretty tough to become at least visible for readers, no matter how good your books are. That’s why communication with readers is essential. I don’t speak now about self-promo that also requires considerable marketing knowledge and skills. I mean, sharing your little life joys, writing process, and “behind the scenes” moments are preferable if you want your readers to know you and your writing style better. One more thing that I’ve learned is that people will always judge you anyway. You should be prepared for this and keep going no matter how difficult it will be. Writing is my life, and despite all the challenges, obstacles, and storms, I’ll keep on writing even if there is only one person left who anticipates reading my next book.

I’m a traveler. Visits to other places and countries, discovering new cultures, meeting new people always refresh and recharge me. I enjoy dolphins/whales watching. It always calms me down, giving a balance to my soul. And, indeed, books have always been my escape from reality! Reading will always be necessary for my mental health.

Just write! Dissolve in your bookish world. Try to forget for a while about traditional/indie publishing. Catch your ideas into notes because they are tricky and quick to fly away. Love your creations! Because if you don’t love and believe in your writing, others won’t as well! So, cherish and love your words on paper.

I’m always overly critical of my writing. No matter how many times I edit my manuscript, I always want to improve something. Truth to be told, while editing, I add more than I exclude.

I would say that book covers exist to be an inseparable part of a book that readers would admire. A book cover is a sort of a sneak peek of your characters’ actions before a big adventure. In my humble opinion, if you want your book to attract attention while traveling around the literary world, you should do your best to work on its cover. At the same time, I’ve read a lot of amazing books with less vivid covers. But still, these books impressed me, and I had a good time reading them.

I am currently working on “Josef The Writer’s Cat” (Part II). The cover reveal is coming soon! Moreover, I also have a few more stories based on true events full of mystical elements. I’m on the stage of plotting because I usually focus on one project at a time. That’s why a collection of short stories about my cat is a priority for me so far.

I’m honored and happy to be a part of AllAuthor’s community. I am so grateful to John Kolesa (writing name Ben Wolfe) for telling me about it. It is an excellent bookish meeting point for readers and writers. Since I’ve joined it, I met so many glorious fellow writers – Tenkara Smart, James E. Rugman, Abdelkader Ben Rayana, Corlet Dawn, and many others. I enjoyed reading their books so much, and I can’t wait to read their next ones.