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Leanne Ely by Lisa Beamer

"You're not from around here, are you?" This is a question Leanne Ely hears when people notice that her "strange" Californian accent doesn't fit in around the very Southern Rutherfordton, North Carolina, where Leanne, her husband Scott and their two children make their home. "I am not even worthy of the Yankee title, but am called a Foreigner because I am from California, the Land of Fruit and Nuts," says Leanne. "This is all good natured ribbing...although I can't help but think there could be a few who are whistling Dixie under their breaths and trying to figure out how to get me to return to that Foreign Land!" Luckily, Leanne has a great sense of humor, as is evident from her local newspaper column, "The Manic Housewife."

It was only a year ago when Leanne started to get serious about her writing. In that time, she has a lot about which to be proud. "I am most proud of my chutzpah, to tell you the truth. I took chances, went outside my comfort zone and it paid off." One of the chances Leanne took was pitching her column idea to the paper. "They let me do one, liked it and asked me to do an accommodating feature front with it." Soon she was doing other features for them.

From the age of twelve, Leanne has always known that she wanted to be a writer. "When I was in eighth grade, my English teacher didn't believe I wrote the short story I wrote for an assignment," recalls Leanne. "It was weird -- something magical happened as I was writing that story, too. I remember reading it and thinking, "This is good!" I read it to my mom and she didn't believe I wrote it. And when my teacher didn't believe I wrote it, I was both dismayed and delighted at the same time...a wonderful paradox. I decided right then and there I needed to be a writer."

In addition to writing, Leanne homeschools her two children, Caroline (11) and Peter (9). Homeschooling led to Leanne's first publishing credit, an article entitled "Encouragement," which was published in "The Homeschool Digest." Her publishing credits have grown to include her own ezine, "Healthy Foods," which she sends out every Friday, her newspaper features and, of course, her column. "I really love that...the "research" is a snap -- my own family is fodder for that fire, much to their chagrin."

Leanne's biggest publishing coup to date is her recently published book, "Healthy Foods: An Irreverent Guide to Understanding Nutrition and Feeding Your Family Well." The idea for this book grew out of a little book she self-published a decade ago. A friend encouraged her to write a proposal based on the book and send it off to a publisher. Her proposal was accepted last June and at the end of this past January, the finished book arrived. "I have had this goal since I was twelve," says Leanne, "but I am completely amazed at the lightening speed with which everything has happened." Along with the book, two accommodating Unit Studies (for two different age levels) were also published.

Working now on her next book, Leanne says she has to be in front of her computer to work. "My favorite thing is to have kids and hubby gone for the day with all the housework done. *Then* I can really get some quality work done!"

Leanne's mom has always been an encouragement to her in her writing. "She always believed in my talent. My mom is a frustrated writer herself, so I can't help but think she's sort of vicariously "writing" through me." The fact that her mom never pushed herself to follow through on her writing dreams has served to push Leanne even harder to realize hers.

In her free time, Leanne loves to read, cook and garden, but her biggest task right now is redoing a 125-year-old farmhouse. "So far, the painting is almost complete, the kitchen is half there...actually, everything is half there. I would love to see something complete!" Making their *family* complete is quite a menagerie of pets including a black lab, three cat ("...my hired hands...great little mousers," notes Leanne), two ducks who live on their roof, two roosters and an assortment of hens including a bunch of Rhode Island hens that have never been named because the family can't tell them apart.

Some Fun Facts about Leanne:

FAVORITE BOOK AND AUTHOR: "Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women," hands down. I wanted to be Jo March since I was ten. I wrote my own Pickwick Papers in my room at night when I should have been sleeping. I did, however, use a ballpoint pen..."

FAVORITE WAY TO RELAX: Sleeping tops the list, though reading and gardening are also top choices.

BIGGEST PET PEEVE: She has two. "One is those bog boom box things in cars that make your insides vibrate as they go by. And the second is snapping gum in public." She admits to snapping gum herself when she chews it at home, but never in public. "Tacky!"

FAVORITE VACATION SPOT: The beach. "We lived at the beach in California and though I love it here, I do miss the beach."

LAST MOVIE SEEN: "I think it was "Toy Story II" when my in-laws were here a year or so ago." An old high school chum of hers, John Lassiter, wrote the movie, so she rates the movie "two thumbs way up!"

FAVORITE QUOTE: She's had several over the years, including Nike's slogan, "Just do it!" The quote that is affecting her now, though, is from the Bible, 1 Chronicles 4:9. "The prayer of Jabaz. It's all about breaking through our own self-imposed boundaries and understanding God's love for us and desire to bless us! Unbelievable."

If she could travel anyplace in the world, Leanne would choose England. "That's where my roots are. My father was from England and any living relatives I have are there. I have actually had dreams where I could see the streets and smell the smells. I just have to actually get there at some point!"

If you would like to read an excerpt from Leanne's book, check out the table of contents or some of the recipes, go to: (link is unavailable). Leanne can be reached at manicwife@aol.com.

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