Elizabeth Holden describes how becoming an author has always been a dream for her since she could remember. She describes the process of becoming an author and the things that come with being one. She also describes the process of her coming up with the idea for a book, the process of writing the book and the process she goes through when she is getting ready to publish a book.

“I’ve always wanted to be an author,” Holden says. “Since I was too young to even write, I was telling stories and wanted my mom to write them down.”

When Holden was in high school she was a really good student, when she graduated high school she went to Columbia College for a semester and then transferred to MCC and earned her associates degree there. She then went NIU after she earned her Associates.

While Holden was in high school she wasn’t a part of any sports because she didn’t feel like she was athletic, but she discovered she really enjoyed sports in her 30’s and the importance of it in her life.

“I, at that time, didn’t see myself as athletic, which I think was to my detriment,” Holden says, “I think being involved in sports and being active physically and getting stronger is really valuable.”

She joined roller derby and it ended up changing her life and the way she views things. Roller derby has become a big part of her life and has inspired her in many different ways.

“It is kind of what helped change my conception that one might view one’s body,” Holden says. “It’s not about appearance, it’s about what you can do with it.”

Roller derby has been a very big change for her. With it changing her physically and mentally, even socially.

“In derby it’s about how hard you can hit people, how fast you can skate,” Holden said, “It focuses on being stronger, being active and engaging in a community.”

It has also changed the way she views herself and inspired her to become stronger.

“I’ve gotten a lot stronger. I used to say my arms are basically decorative, because I couldn’t really lift anything,” Holden says, “and now I do a lot of weight training because I want to get better at Derby.”

When she joined roller derby she also joined a big community. She ended up meeting people who have common interests as her and some people who might not have as many as others do.

“I made not just friends, but also teammates and acquaintances who are maybe not my close friends, but we can help each other out with stuff,” Holden said. “It connected me to a wider community, helped me meet people who aren’t necessarily like myself, but we all have similar common interests.”

She met a lot of different people and a bunch of people with different backgrounds.

“One of my good friends from Derby is a mechanic and I know nothing about cars, and we’re very different,” Holden says. “She’s very quiet and sarcastic and just very, very different from me, but we bonded and it connected me to a lot of really wonderful people.”

So far Elizabeth has written six different novels with one that has been published and many others that are in the process of being shown to publishers. Her book “Might Millie Novak” being her first to ever get published.

Her life with Derby helped her write and connect to this story. She used how she had no experiences in sports and then joined Roller Derby to help her write this story and help develop Millie’s character. This then makes her connect to Millie in certain ways, but she also didn’t make Millie herself. Millie has different characteristics than Holden has. She also used life examples when she was writing for Millies Derby coach.

“When I joined Derby,” said Holden, “I didn’t have any team sport experience as she doesn’t. And in other ways, we’re very different.”

Holden is also a physics teacher and a travel agent outside of being an author and she used that to help develop the coaches personality and how they treat the athletes on the Derby team.

“I think of how I approach a newer skater and things like Millie’s coach trying to be somebody who’s a positive influence, who is setting a good example,” Holden says, “Like being kind to yourself, to your teammates, and working hard, but not putting yourself down or being cruel and how I try to behave with my students in the classroom, newer skaters at derby, or when i’m leading group tours in Europe.”

The world around Holden also has an effect on her writing. She takes interest in what’s going on around her and it will have an impact on her writing.

“I love being in cafes and eavesdropping on people and just sort of witnessing human nature and paying attention and just being interested,” Holden says. ”And then again, it’s not a deliberate thing where I’m gonna take their dialogue and deliberately put it in my novel. I’m just interested in that. I’m always listening. I think that helps when I’m going and doing my writing.”

She doesn’t really have a writing process, but Holden will challenge herself and have other people to hold her accountable for writing when she gets distracted by her other everyday activities.

“I will do things like time myself and see how many words I can get out in five minutes or read what I wrote before and then build on that a little bit,” Holden says,”Or I meet up with an author friend every Tuesday and we talk for half an hour, and then we write, and then we have to prove to each other we wrote, so I have accountability.”

With her busy schedule of being a teacher, an owner of a travel agency and being on a Roller Derby team she still pursues her dream in becoming an author and publishes her first book. She uses what her daily life is like and how she interacts with people and will put those characteristics in her characters. She also puts the characteristics on how she has personally grown after joining Roller Derby into Millie when she joined Roller Derby. She also uses her time wisely when she has the time to make sure she writes, but also gives herself breaks when she needs them.