A Glimpse Inside The Life Of Stephanie Bradberry 2023

Ms. Stephanie J. Bradberry, a proud mother of two children. A business woman in her own right.

She has 12 Top Stories to date. All of her Top Stories occurred since November 2022 (so all of them are super recent). She was a Runner-up in the Christopher Paolini’s Fantasy Fiction Challenge.

Mariann(New York): Where are you from?

Ms. Stephanie (New Jersey): I live in Ewing, New Jersey. Where I am from is a bit more complicated. I was born in Trenton, NJ. When I was two, we moved to Tacoma, Washington (yes, The Evergreen State on the other side of the country). A decade later we moved back to Trenton. After that, while home base was Trenton, I was in Pennsylvania for high school—as a boarding student—and also undergraduate.

Mariann: When did you realize you wanted to write?

Ms. Stephanie: Hmmmm. Short answer is never to a good extent. But one day as I pondered the next direction in my life, I figured my best bet was to ask God. My life was literally falling apart and I was at the surrender moment. So I said, “God, what am I supposed to do?” The answer came back immediate and crystal clear, “Write.” Writing was like the bottom of the list of where I wanted to focus businesswise or as a means of self-improvement. For goodness sakes, it took me up until almost 10 years ago to start writing here and there in a journal. And that was after spending a thousand dollars for a few months of life- and spiritual coaching. So I never realized I wanted to write. My past with writing always centered around being utilitarian: Reasons like to get a degree, have another stream of income, et cetera. I essentially got pushed here as a humble servant. Tada!

Mariann: How long does it take you to write a story?

Ms. Stephanie: In some cases a few hours. Then I put it aside and come back to do the rest of the writing process: revision and editing. That all amounts to a few days. But that’s rare. I’m a thinker, so most of my time is spent creating, brainstorming, drafting in my head. Very little actually hits the paper or the notepad on my phone. As mentioned in another interview, writing “Rinthybal” for the Vocal Fantasy Fiction Challenge is truer to life of how long it takes for me to write a story I really care about. When asked by Vocalites for keys to success in placing in a Challenge, my best advice is to really put in effort and follow the guidelines. I am far from joking when I tell people I nearly died writing “Rinthybal.” It was exhilarating to write because I was so passionate about challenging myself as a writer to craft in a genre I never dabbled in. But it also took almost everything out of me. I lived, breathed, ate, slept, pooped all things “Rinthybal.” This was all while running my business, meeting other obligations and deadlines, taking care of my children, and so on. I said to myself, “I’m probably not cut out for this level of stress in writing.” Ha, ha, ha.

Mariann: What is your real life schedule and how do you fit your writing in it?

Ms. Stephanie: Picking up from the end of the last response, my real-life schedule is a well-managed, orchestrated pastiche of many moving components. Writing basically gets in where it fits in. I am a huge fan of block scheduling. And that seems to drive a lot of people crazy around me, until it’s their turn and they get all of my undivided attention. Writing happens during my blocks of floating time. Yes, I even schedule when I have flexibility in my schedule.

My day-to-day schedule changes a lot because I own a business while also taking on contracts for schools and other W-2 employment. I believe in multiple streams of income, so I have a mix of investing and passive income to go along with the traditional-type employment and entrepreneurship. I have two children (13-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son) and a super wonky 50/50 parenting schedule. Most days are spent working, sometimes multiple locations in a week; shuttling the kids to soccer, baseball, karate, wrestling, cross country, music rehearsals and event, special school events and other extra- and co-curricular activities; getting the kids to their jobs (umpire for baseball, referee for soccer) or getting supplies for their businesses (mowing lawns, crocheted crafts); handling all aspects of my business; being an Admin for Vocal + Assist on Facebook; me-time things like self-defense, kick boxing, watching anime.

Then there’s all the fun bonuses. Like this past week I couldn’t finish this interview because my son had three days of Model UN in New York, I was preparing for a pre-trial that they canceled last minute and I didn’t receive the notice until sitting on the conference line for 1 hour, and helping finalize school visits in New Jersey for my artist colleague friend from California who has a ton of his artwork in Hollywood movies and popular shows like The Matrix, Iron Man, HBO series, and so on (the bonus is free meals on him for helping him add new schools to his Skidmore Project!).

Fun Fact : Ms. Stephanie is a teacher as well as a business woman

Mariann: What do you like most about writing?

Ms. Stephanie: The way I psych myself out that I’m really going to get a writing done this time is super fun, but comes with a low of disappointment as I look at stacks of unfinished works. I start with a ton of positivity, excitement and enthusiasm. Since I am an idea person, the brainstorming turns me on more than anything. Finished projects are not my strong suit. I literally dread the process of publishing. My paralysis by analysis, type A personality, and perfectionist monkey in my brain keep me from being a wildly successful writer. LOL. However, I do enjoy the feeling of a polished product that gets to see the light of day.

Mariann: What’s your main goal in your writing?

My main goal is to get it done. Seriously. A quick glance above and you’ll understand why. I literally have so many ideas coursing through my brain at any given moment that it is difficult to capture them all. I’ve tried recorders, carrying around notebooks, using the notepad on my phone, etc. None of them do justice to what is swirling around in my head. My other goal is to continually challenge myself, especially when it comes to creative writing. So I like to take on Vocal’s challenges and put some sort of twist on it to see what I can accomplish in a genre I lack experience in.

Mariann: What’s the best word to describe you?

Ms. Stephanie: Elusive. While I think I am an open book, I get the same comments from people who have known me for a while or just met me. They think I am extremely interesting, would pick me to be stuck in an airport with, the first they would invite to a BBQ, I’m some type of alien, endlessly entertaining, hard to figure out, always changing but yet super stable, and the list goes on. Technically, I’m an introvert. However, for business and such I put on my big girl panties and grace the world with bits and pieces of my personality. Around my tribe (spiritual people who are not off their rocker), I am an extrovert.

Mariann: What does your writing space look like?

Ms. Stephanie: My writing space looks like wherever I am and have an idea. I tend to run to the nearest stack of notebooks, loose-leaf paper, folder or printer paper to jot things down. When it is time to actually type, then my workspace looks like my laptop that is perched on top of a black plastic tray table. To the left are bits of paper, small spiral notebook and sticky notes with amazing ideas, my phone, and blue light glasses I always forget to put on. To the right is a scrunchy, USB thumb drive, and a jar with pens, pencils and a pair of scissors (There used to be a highlighter. I think one of my kids stole it). At night I put an LED light behind my laptop so I can cut off the big lights and not be bombarded by the blaring radiance of bigger lights.

Mariann: What kind of business do you have?

Ms. Stephanie: This is the most loaded question of them all. The main way to describe my business is consulting. I provide health, business, personal and education related consulting. Each tangent has subsets. Under health, I offer lifestyle change services like health and product consultations, workshops, seminars, and products. The biggest component is my handmade, all natural, customizable product line of bath and body items (this is what most people know me for these days). I do product parties, teach classes and give presentations about health and wellness. Under business, I help small businesses with development and planning. Often, I’m hired to be a webmaster, do payroll, keep books, craft and edit documents, be a change agent, create aspects for onboarding, create logos, and so on. Under personal, I work as a life coach. Under educational, I provide professional development for schools, teach, tutor, create curricula, and take part in a whole host of school-based activities, jobs and projects.

Fan Vocal Fact of Stephanie Bradberry:

Stephanie’s first Top Story , Crantastic Cranberry Sauce

The story I liked the most was Kobudai 0.5: Adam and Eve Return on the Congregation of Endless Nights. I wanted to play around with the concept of sex versus gender from an anime I liked.

Thank you, Mariann, for your patience. I’m super glad I was able to get your interview done. There are still some interviews I have not gotten to in over a year (no joke). But I’m always thrilled to share a bit of my world with fellow Vocalites!

Thank you, Stephanie J. Bradberry ❤️ Happy Mother’s Day 🌹💐