Ask the Author: Heather Ellis
Answered Questions (8)
Heather Ellis
Hi Peter, Thank you for contacting me. Glad you enjoyed Ubuntu. Means so much to receive comments such as yours. And apologies for my very late reply... 2 years. In these intervening years, I have written the second book Timeless On The Silk Road. It was released in April this year and is doing very well by all accounts. I'm not sure if book shops have it in NZ but you can order a signed copy from me for $30 via paypal (this includes postage). Or it is also on Amazon and all the other online sites. Readings have it too.
Heather Ellis
Hi Sierra, Thank you for contacting me. Glad you enjoyed Ubuntu. My last visit to Africa was to Zimbabwe in 2000. By all accounts, I don't think Africa has changed in the remote areas and villages. Although, I read a good many people have mobile phones. The cities are booming and with this comes both prosperity and poverty for those who can't get jobs and away from their communities, have no support networks. In researching Ubuntu, I used google satellite maps to zoom in on some of the villages and townships I visited. I was very surprised to see how the size and therefore population had boomed over those 20+ years. The same with China in researching Timeless On The Silk Road.
Heather Ellis
My travels through Africa by motorcycle became more than one woman's adventure. That journey evolved into a search for meaning where I became in tune with my intuition and knowingly felt that the many chance encounters and coincidences that came my way were the guiding hand of a greater force. I wanted to share this insight with the world. I continue to live my life this way
Heather Ellis
If I don't write every day, I start to feel depressed. It's a bit like not exercising every day. Writing is what I do and who I am. There are so many stories in my head wanting to come out. While I am writing the sequel to Ubuntu, I'm also thinking of my next book, which will be a novel based on a rags to riches story in outback Australia. This can be quite distracting so I package up these thoughts and store them in the back of my mind for when the time comes to write that story.
Heather Ellis
The sequel to Ubuntu, which is based on my motorcycle journey home to Australia via Central Asia and all the trials and tribulations of that journey following my HIV diagnosis before effective treatments were discovered. I was given five years to live so what was I to do, lay down and wait to die or have one last adventure, one last search for meaning... but it also became one last search for salvation.
Heather Ellis
Write every day. Make it a habit. Find a time that suits you and your lifestyle. I'm a morning person so I wake early, at 4am and write before my kids wake up. I also am lucky enough to work from home so I can also write during the day. I don't touch social media until the evening. It is a total time sucker.
Heather Ellis
Sharing stories and helping make the world a better place one word at a time.
Heather Ellis
Writing is a habit. The more you do it, the better you get and the better you're able to stick to it. I write what comes into my head without thinking whether it is good, bad or ugly. Just write.... and edit later.
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