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With the support and encouragement of a large network of family and friends, Stephanie Lou Stephens is taking a leap of faith and diving into the writing and publishing world with Queen of the Waves, her first Christian faith based historic fiction novel.
Stephanie grew up in central Arkansas where, at a young age, she learned of her need for salvation, which is offered to everyone through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Her faith in God is influenced and strengthened by the love and example set by her family and the most amazing church family ever.
She and her husband, Wade, have been happily married for ten years. They have three well-behaved, talented sons. She attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock where she studied History and Professional Writing. After earning a B.A. in History, she worked as an educator in the greatest museum in Little Rock - Historic Arkansas Museum.
She and her family currently live in West Virginia.
Her first novel, Queen of the Waves is available online NOW at Lulu.com
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In November of 2008, Stephanie completed a full length oral history novel for her maternal grandmother titled, The Story of a Lifetime: A Collection of Personal Memories From the Life of Eva Marie Zumalt.
This work of nonfiction was a surprise for her beloved Grandma Zumalt who spent more than 50 years of her life as the wife of a Nazarene preacher. The story, told from her grandmother's perspective, covers her entire lifetime from childhood to the present day.
Here's how Stephanie describes the novel:
"The Story of a Lifetime: A Collection of Personal Memories From the Life of Eva Marie Zumalt is an autobiographical biography. I know that's an oxymoron but stick with me while I explain it. Grandma either wrote or told me all of the stories in this book....but she had no idea that I was putting them all together to make one complete book out of them. She wrote it, but she didn't know she was writing it!
You see, a few years ago for a Non-fiction writing class, I did an oral history with my Grandma Zumalt. We sat down at my mom's kitchen table with a tape recorder and I asked her all sorts of questions. I took those tapes, transcribed them and then compiled them into a paper for that class.
Right about that same time, my mother reminded me of a daily memory book we had given Grandma several years back. In this little book, Grandma answered a question about her life for every day of the year. I transcribed that little book too.
Finally, many years ago, my Uncle Steve compiled a bunch of Grandma's memories about her experiences as a preacher's wife into a small book. I copied that too.
The Story of a Lifetime: A Collection of Personal Memories From the Life of Eva Marie Zumalt is the compilation of all of these different sources. Because they are Grandma's words, I can hear her voice when I read them and I hope you can too. I did very little actual changing. Rather, I edited some things for clarity. Grandma is the author of this book, not me. And I should mention that all of the royalties from this book will go to her.
I don't know that I can really explain the blessing I received from doing this for my Grandma. Sure, she was excited to sit down and read it. Every now and then a tear welled up in her eye or a little chuckle escaped. And while surprising her and being able to give her something I know without a doubt that she appreciates is a blessing, the true blessing came from being able to see my Grandma in a new light.
I was able to see her as a giggly, sometimes shy little girl who loved her daddy, a grown up girl who fell in love and decided to follow her young husband no matter what sacrifices she had to make along the way, as a mother who loved her children enough to forget every bad thing they ever did, and as a fully realized, grown up, strong woman of faith.
Her unshakable faith is amazing to see. If there's one thing that stands out on the pages of this book it is that she loves the Lord.
I'm blessed to have her as a Grandma and I hope her story blesses you too."
The Story of a Lifetime: A Collection of Personal Memories From the Life of Eva Marie Zumalt is available online at Stephanie's online storefront .