I’m Ellen. I’m a word gypsy and emotion sifter, writing about broken condoms, unhappy marriages and women’s issues. Filled with sass and snark, my novels live at the chick-lit end of women’s fiction and women’s fiction end of chick-lit. Why? Because to me, chick-lit is the niche between sultry romance and a comedienne who gets the last laugh. Women’s fiction, on the other hand, borrows heavily from life, delving into all sorts of relationships (romance being but one part of the mix) and is happy to do it over a shot of bourbon or a cup of tea. My characters and I like to challenge the norm. We inhabit feminine genres by gutting and remodeling them to our specifications. We are mainstream fiction, slice-of-life literature and signature sass. Do we need our own shelf? Darling, we deserve monogrammed spotlights, if we like because great storytelling asks readers to confront what they've stuffed deep down. Dogs are my babies. Right now I only have two, Peanut Butter and Roxy, but I’m wearing my husband down for a kennel. I’m also obsessed with elephants. Oh, and the process. Screw results. Show me how you got there. For instance, in June 2005, I woke up to a wall of fire. Watching the flames eat away my life was my biggest turning point in life. Not long after, I realized I wanted a divorce, left California and went home to Missouri, where I finished my first novel – and learned to invest in myself and my writing. Before the fire, I lived in Boston, quit life, survived depression and was hired by corporate America because I looked like my predecessor (no joke). I also watched my father die of bladder cancer. For my thirty-sixth birthday, I got a tattoo. Every year I get stronger. You, me - we are who we are, so come on over and read. My first novel Strong Enough was released February 2013. My sophomore work, The Anonymous Blog of Mrs. Jones, debuts this July. Find us at ellenharger.com