HOUSTON — Houstonian J. Elle will be the first to tell you that she didn't become a New York Times best-selling author overnight.
Throughout her journey, she said she had to ignore the doubters and march to the beat of her own drum.
"It's shocking what happens and how life opens up to you when you step out on a limb and try something new and different," she said. "I really am just following my inspiration."
Elle's first inspiration produced her novel "Wings of Ebony." It's the story of a teenager with magic powers growing up in a community much like where she grew up in Third Ward. She wrote eight more books after that.
Elle goes on nationwide book tours, making it all look easy, but on the contrary, she said writing breaks her brain.
"Imagine trying to solve a puzzle with 10,000 pieces and you have never seen the box," she said.
Elle said she typically writes four to five hours a day while her children are at school. She's learned many lessons as an author while producing countless numbers of bestsellers.
"Trust your instincts creatively," she said. "Trust your eye. Don't be above reproach. Be teachable but expect there will be some people who don't understand your vision."
There were dozens of book agents who didn't see Elle's vision for her first novel "Wings of Ebony."
"That book was rejected by over 60 book agents," she said. "They didn't see the potential."
But all she needed was one agent. "Wings of Ebony" eventually got the attention of folks at Disney who asked her to write a book in conjunction with "The Little Mermaid."
"The editor read Wings of Ebony and liked the sister relationship there so they asked can you write a sister story for the Little of Mermaid and I said, 'Which sister?' They said all seven of them in one book, I was like, 'OK,' and here we are," Elle said.
Elle's book titled "The Little Mermaid Against The Tide" spent 11 weeks on the NYT bestseller list.
All of her books have one thing in common -- fantasy.
"It's because there is power in make-believe," Elle said. "If you can get someone to believe in something that is impossible, they can believe beyond their circumstances. Beyond what they see with their eyes every day. I think fantasy is a breeding ground for hope."
Elle is a journalism major who attended the University of Texas. She taught school for a while, but writing was her passion.