E.M. Rensing, Cyber Operations Officer turned author of hidden realities and future possibilities
The Creative Council
Welcome to The Creative Council, where I interview creatives about their lives and work and the ups and downs of being a creative soul.
Today’s interviewee is E.M. Rensing!
It was only after graduating from the Air Force Academy in 2008 that E.M. Rensing discovered that the U.S. Air Force does not, in fact, have aliens hidden at any of their bases.
Despite this disappointment, she enjoyed a thirteen-year career as a Cyber Operations Officer, traveling all over the world, working everywhere from Space Command Headquarters to the Texas Air National Guard. Now, E.M. Rensing writes what she loves; hidden realities and future possibilities.
When not writing, she enjoys sewing, raising the next generation of little readers, and planning a trip to Mars. E.M. Rensing lives in South Texas with her husband and daughters. Her newest book, Engines of Winter, is on Kickstarter now!
The Interview
Hi E.! It’s so good to have you here! Let’s dive right in.
· When did you start creating? Do you remember what pulled you in?
I’ve been writing stories since before I could write. I used to draw pictures and dictate the stories to my very patient mom. She still has some of those! But beyond that, I was bullied viciously from elementary school on, and spending time in other worlds was my escape. Reading and writing kept me sane. I don’t have school bullies to deal with anymore, but I still love that exploratory aspect of crafting stories.
· When did you start pursuing your current craft for real? As in, when did you begin to take yourself seriously as a creator?
I spent seventeen years of my life in the US Air Force, as a cadet at the Air Force Academy and then as a Cyber Operations officer. Publishing a book with that on my shoulders wasn’t really feasible. But when I left the service in 2022, that burden was lifted.
· Are you still having fun? If yes, how are you making sure it stays fun?
I don’t think anything is ever always fun. Sometimes, writing can be a real slog. Sometimes, you just have to get that transition scene down on the page. Sometimes, you have to write seventy thousand words in a month to meet a deadline with your editor.
But I enjoy the process of creating new worlds and characters and seeing what happens. It’s fascinating. And I don’t ever think I’ll write a book about something that doesn’t fascinate me.
· What has been your biggest ‘mistake’ thus far, and what would you tell people about to make that same mistake?
In writing? Not starting sooner. The early gold rush days of Amazon are well and truly gone. How do I get traction now? But then, I spent that time honing my skills and I’m a stronger writer for it. So maybe the lesson is, don’t be in a rush to publish. Work on your craft. Shove a lot of words through your keyboard. You’ve got all the time in the world.
· Of all the milestones you’ve reached thus far, what has been your favourite? How did you celebrate it?
Is there anything better than the first time you hold a real book in your hands? I’ve written millions of words in my life, but that first proof copy of my first novel was real in a way that nothing before was. But as far as celebrating… I was eight months pregnant with our second baby and our toddler was running me ragged. There wasn’t much time to do anything other than have a glass of sparkling apple cider after dinner and try to not let the heartburn keep me up all night.
· What do you struggle with most as a creative person?
The rules. The rules. Ugh, all the rules people insist on. Now some rules, like lane dividers on the highway, are very important. Sometimes, limits on the creative process or the genre, or structure within it, are actually quite helpful. We should always respect reader desires and needs. But, sometimes, the rules stifle creativity, or don’t work for everybody, or might actually be detrimental to somebody’s specific writing process or storytelling style.
For example, one of the biggest ‘rules’ out there is that you have to write what everyone else is writing, the way they’re writing it. And that us authors should pick a tiny niche in one single genre and stay there forever. Neither of those work for me. I want to give you something unique, immersive, fun, and maybe even thought-provoking. And this is speculative fiction, after all! If I can’t speculate, innovate, dream here in this genre, then where can I do it?
· Have you always had that struggle, and what advice would you give creatives dealing with the same?
I’ve always been the odd girl out. Remember the bullies? I’ve never really liked being told what I had to do, or what I couldn’t. I can’t force myself into somebody else’s mold. (Me and the military got along great, let me tell you!)
And while I know there are a lot of people out there hungry for what I write, I know that even they won’t love every book I put out.
For anybody else like me, you have to be comfortable enough with yourself to be okay with not being somebody else. I think it’s important to accept that not every book is going to ‘hit’ with readers. It’s also super important to know what rules you can break, and which you shouldn’t, and that you still accept criticism when it’s offered! But the flip side of that is that—hopefully—there are going to be books that are huge.
It’s a different path to success than what a lot of the big gurus in indie publishing would recommend. It’s entirely unpredictable. But then, this is all unpredictable. So why not stay who I am?
· What do you do to stay inspired?
I write science fiction mostly, but am dipping my toe into fantasy right now, and what doesn’t inspire that? I watch a YouTube video on owls and I’ve got half a dozen ideas for stories. Spec fic is about ideas, the what-if and why-nots. So if I need inspiration, I start doing research. Origins of life on earth, the nature of time, ant colonies… literally anything.
In terms of the business side of it, I have two daughters and a husband who works very, very hard. Being able to someday replace his income with this is a dream of mine. At the very least, I don’t want this to be a burden on him. It makes me want to get to those books that’ll ‘hit’.
· What would you do if you weren’t afraid?
I have a crippling fear of heights. I’d love to go skydiving if I didn’t have that. There are some limits I know I can push myself through and some I can’t, and heights is one that I just can’t.
· What is the biggest compliment you ever received about your work?
Somebody once told me that the thing they liked the most about what I write is that no matter how bad it gets, my characters always do the right thing in the end. I really appreciated that. I’m not into nihilism or existentialism or anything. The real world is messy and quite often disappointing, but these are my stories. Here, people can be honorable and good can win in the end.
· What’s the best creative advice you ever received?
My junior-year high school Satire teacher was a real misanthrope. Or at least, that’s the way he came across. Endlessly cranky. Very sarcastic. Utterly and completely inconvenienced by our presence. But he knew literature and his class was fantastic.
Our final assignment that semester was a short story. Everyone else in the class got theirs back with the usual terse one letter grade on the top. But mine had a note along with the B- I had received. ‘You’ll have to write better than this if you want to get published.’
He was right, and I knew it. But I had never thought that I would ever be good enough to publish anything, ever. And I have never said anything to him about writing being a passion of mine. It was feedback offered completely out of the blue. It made me realize it was possible.
· As you might know, I’m pretty woo-woo. On a scale of 1 to ‘I was burned at the stake in a previous lifetime’, how woo-woo are you? And how does that express itself in your life and/or your creative practice?
After almost two decades in the military, I tend to be pretty quiet about what I do or don’t believe in. It’s such a varied cross section of people (I’ve served closely with everybody from Hindus to pagans to hardcore evangelicals to anti-theists) that you learn real quick how to navigate it. Old habits die hard, I think.
But I also grew up in Arizona, where the land has a deep and quiet magic to it, and I adore old folklore and mythology. I’ve got a gaslamp fantasy series I’m going to be setting in the American West to explore all of that. I’ll be Kickstarting that first book in the spring, so keep your eyes out!
You can find E.M. and her work on her website, Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon.
E.M. Kickstarter campaign for Engines of Winter, an all-new science fiction fantasy retelling of The Nutcracker, with mechs, monsters and plenty of action, is now live and runs until 14 October.
Are you a creative and would you like to be interviewed next? E-mail me at marielle@mswordsmith.nl and we’ll make it happen!