PEOPLE OF INTEREST
O ne of the lowest points in
The ROMANCE SCI-FI WRITER
BY SIOBHAN FITZPATRICK AUSTIN
96
S.E. Smith’s life inspired
one of the happiest. Three
years ago, the Fort Pierce
native and former computer support
specialist who had worked for the
St. Lucie school system 15 years,
walked into a meeting and was told
that she and 29 other educators
were being laid off immediately
because of budget cuts. “What hurt
the most was the way they handled
it. It devastated my self-esteem, my
identity,” she says.
Two weeks later, the school district
rehired her. She accepted the position,
but the experience had scarred
her. “It showed me they had control
over me, my future, and that didn’t
sit right with me.”
Her husband, Steve, told her to
get a hobby, so she decided to try
to write a book, something she had
never done before. “I had all these
stories in my head,” she says.
She found her genre in science fiction,
“I have always had a fascination
with the stars and the universe since
I was a child. I would lay out at night
on the driveway and imagine what
was up there. It only seemed natural
that I would gravitate to writing
about what I love,” she says. “And,
my technical knowledge definitely
comes in handy.”
In a few short months she crafted
four books, but it wasn’t until her
sister read one of them and loved it
that she had the courage to share her
stories with the world. Smith approached
a small publishing house,
but it turned her down, and she decided
to self-publish on Amazon.com.
That was in March 2012. Less than
three years later, the prolific author
has made both the New York Times
and USA Today best-seller lists for
her books Dragons: Dragon Lords of
Valdier Book 7, and Hunter’s Claim:
The Alliance Book 1. She was named
Amazon’s No. 1 international bestselling
author for 14 more of her
books. In addition, she won the 2014
Romance Convention’s Reader’s
Crown Award.
What makes this all the more
ED DRONDOSKI PHOTOS
>>
The prolific
author, S.E. Smith,
does most of her
writing in her
book-writing in
her home office.
/Amazon.com