Q and A with Erin W. from Raleigh, North Carolina
“Boundaries that aren’t enforced aren’t boundaries. ”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: So many things! I love reading, and always have, which ultimately sort of accidentally spilled into writing books and building a business out of authoring. I’m a licensed professional counselor, and I still work a couple days a week as a counselor doing mental health therapy with clients, and then I write every day, in every spare moment from that! I write therapeutic children’s picture books like I Love You When You’re Angry and When a Donut Goes to Therapy under Erin Winters, and then on the other side of the spectrum, I write YA fantasy novels under E.A. Winters!
We’re a military family and our boys are two and almost four years old. I have a therapeutic deployment book launching on Kickstarter in May, and a new children’s book about a super cute lamb that’s based on Psalm 23 and will be illustrated this summer.
As for novels, book #2 in my dragons and assassins series launched just yesterday, and I’m finishing up writing book #4 now! Book #3 drops in April, and book #4 in June, so I stay pretty busy. I want to offer heartwarming, therapeutic children’s books promoting emotional learning and normalizing having conversations about feelings with kids on a variety of topics. I was surprised to find there were so few picture books doing this effectively, and blown away by the response I’ve gotten to my books. In regard to fantasy novels, they’re honestly escapism. Daring adventures, sword fights, dragons, assassins…what could be better, right? I also discovered they were cathartic for me, and phenomenal self-care, and I get grumpy if I haven’t written in a couple of days. I think almost accidentally, I discovered part of what I do is provide wholesome family-friendly fantasy that refuses to romanticize toxic relationships but shows realistic people overcoming enormous challenges. What hope there is in that! If they can do it, and be brave enough to face the monsters within along the way, surely so can we.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I was homeschooled all the way through. My parents did an incredible job, and I hope I do half as well. I respect them so much. My dad is a mechanical engineer and my mom has degrees in biochemistry and zoology. Critical thinking skills were always emphasized growing up. My mom currently teaches high school science classes to about 150 homeschoolers across a number of different classes. For extracurriculars, I was in a singing ensemble, did drama, and loved it. I also did piano but didn’t apply myself like I probably should have. My relationship with God has been the biggest factor in my life overall, and spine surgery at age 13 taught me a lot about not being in control. I also had the opportunity to serve others overseas on short-term trips a couple of times, and the experiences I gained impacted me in huge ways.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: Therapeutically, something I say a lot is that boundaries that aren’t enforced aren’t boundaries. So, there you go. Personally, I’ve learned that being in control of life is an illusion. The only person in control is God, so without Him, we’re all sort of just swirling around in a storm-filled ocean, clinging to driftwood and hoping we hit land. And since having kids, there’s a lot I have left to learn, but I think taking care of yourself so that you have the mental space to pour out is really important. Being sacrificial, patient, and consistent is so important. And doing whatever I need to do to work on myself to get to a place where I can be that way needs to be a top priority for my own sanity as well as the best for my family!
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: There are way too many definitions for this word. As a therapist, I see terms being tossed about all the time with no grounding, so it’s important to define our terms carefully, and unless there’s a reason to use an operational definition, the regular one does just fine. Google says this: “The advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.” I think it’s apparent that men and women are equal. Equal in worth, intelligence, and having a broad scope of personalities, desires, and all the complexities within humanity. People should never be discriminated against by their age, gender, or race. It harms men and women alike when either gender is devalued, no matter which side is doing it.
Thank you for reading! Connect with me:
Children’s books: Website: https://www.snowfallpublications.com
Children’s books: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Erin-Winters/author/B08242WP2F https://www.eawinters.com
Fantasy novels Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/E.A.-Winters/author/B09YQJKGXK
TikTok: @EAWinters
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