Meet Erika Shields

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Erika Shields. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Erika below.

Hi Erika, so excited to have you with us today, particularly to get your insight on a topic that comes up constantly in the community – overcoming creativity blocks. Any thoughts you can share with us?

Creativity has been one of my top traits since I was a young one, but writing has brought many creative stunts. Since I started writing the past year I’ve experienced many periods of writer’s block! Whatever your focus is on, I think mapping it out can help push you out of the block.

I’ll give you my current struggle as an example!

I wrote ten picture books and my first novel, Juxtaposition, all in the span of three months. Autumn 2023 was one of the hardest times in my life and writing was all I could do, so that writing block never happened. This year, I decided to write realistic fantasy sequel to my novel. The idea and first paragraph came so easily to me that I thought I’d be able type it out without an organizer again. Spoiler alert: that wasn’t the case. I wrote little by little, but I couldn’t get into a flow until I started a flow chart for my new and old main characters and a timeline for intersections between characters.

Whether it’s drawing, writing, creating content, find some way to map out your end goal and the pieces you want to incorporate.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

To start, I’m in the last few months of my 20s and have spent the last 7 years as a public school educator. I thought my creativity would always be for giving gifts and in my lesson plans at school.

Little did I know that year 28 would give me writing.

I started off writing a manuscript just to grieve and process the traumas that I had experienced that year (I’d tell you that story, but that would ruin my book). I wrote the entirety of my novel, Juxtaposition in the span of 3 weeks and knew I would publish it on my birthday. I wanted my book to sit next to books like “Queenie,” “The Mothers,” and “Americanah.”

To create something that felt happier, I planned out 10 books for a boy named Leon Angel. I’ve gotten to feature 45 of my loved ones in the main and secondary characters. Check some of the more recent ones in the pictures below the interview!

A year and a half later, I am now a picture book author and a contemporary novelist. The Leon Angel saga has 3 books out with more coming in 2025 and Juxtaposition is on pre-sale to be released my 30th birthday, August 8th, 2025.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I am a firm believer that everyone has the tools or skills to fulfill their purpose, they just need to be sharpened or tuned. My three qualities that have made me a great writer are resilience, creativity and uniqueness. I was resilient in not letting my sadness block my destiny. I was creative in creating stories ranging on multiple topics. I was unique by telling the stories of my loved ones in my stories.

I’ve had the chance to speak to other budding authors and children at career days about how I developed my craft. Again and again, I urge adults and children alike to listen to other experts and plan your journey for the upcoming year.

Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?

Right now, my biggest challenge is trying out new writing styles and strategies! Specifically, I’m trying to do multiple point of views and write events in different orders of time.

“Juxtaposition” is a work of fiction, but a lot of the events that Emani experiences were version of my own. The entirety of the first book is from Emani Jagger’s point of view and the story went into a chronological order. The writing style was fairly straightforward, so I could focus on the content.

Its sequel, tentatively named “Emani, on Bandari and Earth,” is a realistic fantasy book where we see the next portion of Emani’s life play in two separate ways. Earth Emani experiences the realities the readers will see in “Juxtaposition” and Bandari Emani exists in a world the climax didn’t happen. Because the reader will bounce between two worlds, it made sense to make it told from the third person. There will be chapters throughout the years from all the main character’s perspectives.

It’ll pay off, but it has been so tricky stretching myself as a writer!

Thanks so much for having me, Bold Journey, and I hope you all will stick around to see these stories play out.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Art from picture books by Gabriela Grave @artbyiela

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