Trish Stukbauer
- Ena-Alese
- Jan 15
- 4 min read
Author Bio: Trish was pretty much born with a pencil in her hand. Now, she does her best writing on a keyboard to help others. She is the former editor of nine homebuilding and real estate magazines, managing editor of an international business magazine and a newspaper industry veteran.
She is an honor graduate of the journalism school at Kent State University.
As owner of a marketing firm, she works with a diverse national and international client base, emphasizing creativity and storytelling to capture tone and the right words. Trish is certified as Non-Profit Executive, Development Executive and Non- Profit Consultant. She has launched and run two multi- million-dollar businesses. As author and editor, her name is on four books and has ghostwritten many more. She is creative partner with REDDjobb Advisors.
Author/Writer Interview:
1.What inspires you most to write?
My own life—and the hope that what I’ve learned might spare someone else or at least sit with them in a hard season. Writing feels like a way to turn lived experience into companionship.
2. What is your favorite genre?
I’m drawn to stories and books that explore faith under pressure—whether that’s devotional writing, literary fiction, or speculative work. I care less about genre and more about emotional and spiritual truth.
3. Who is one author you admire if any and why?
Anne Rice—alongside writers who aren’t afraid of interior struggle and moral tension. She was fearless about faith, doubt, immortality, and desire—and she refused to keep those questions tidy. Her work gave permission to explore the sacred and the profane in the same breath, which deeply shaped how I think about storytelling.
4. How do you overcome blank writing spells?
Caffeine, prayer, and 80s rock turned up loud enough to scare the blank page into submission.
5. What legal publishing advice can you give?
Get contracts reviewed, understand your rights, and don’t assume goodwill replaces clarity. Whether you’re traditionally publishing, self-publishing, or ghostwriting, know who owns the work, how it can be used, and what happens if things change. Legal clarity protects both creativity and peace of mind.
6. How many books have you written, are any a bestseller yet?
I’ve written multiple devotional books, ghostwritten extensively, and published fiction under a pseudonym. I don’t measure success by bestseller lists; I measure it by whether the work reaches the people it was written for.
7. If you had the opportunity to rewrite one movie script which would it be, why?
Dune. I loved the world-building, but I would rewrite it to stay truer to some of the characters I loved in the book. When a story is that rich, even small character shifts change the emotional gravity—and that matters to me as a writer.
8. What are some difficulties you've experienced in your writing career; how do you handle book critiques/criticism?
Like most writers, I’ve experienced rejection, criticism, and opinions that don’t always align with my intent. Over time, I’ve developed thick skin—criticism doesn’t derail me. I listen for what’s useful, let go of what isn’t, and keep writing. You can’t write honestly and avoid critique at the same time.
9. What are your best experiences in your writing career?
The most meaningful moments in my writing career are when someone tells me my first book helped them through grief. That it sat with them during a hard season or gave them words when they didn’t have any. Knowing something I wrote made someone feel less alone is the highest compliment I can imagine.
10. Do you prefer to write in silence and or have some sort sound in the background?
Silence has never been my thing. I write with 80s rock blaring in the background—have since college papers. There’s something about the energy, the rhythm, the unapologetic emotion of it that gets me out of my head and into the work. If the music’s loud, the writing gets honest.
11. What are some encouraging words you'd give to another author/writer?
Don’t wait until your work feels perfect or fully resolved. Write from the middle of the experience if that’s where you are. The honesty you’re worried about is often the very thing that makes your work matter to someone else.
12. How did you decide the pricing of your material; how did you go about promotion/advertising and distribution of your work?
I looked at the competition and decided that I wanted to be in line with it in terms of pricing. I am figuring out the rest, but it’s a combination of personal outreach, press releases and social media.
13. Why should anyone read your book?
People should read my books because they were written for real life—not the polished version of faith we think we’re supposed to present. They’re for the days when belief is quiet, when love is complicated, and when getting through the day is an act of faith in itself. These devotionals don’t try to fix anyone. They sit with people where they are and remind them they’re not alone.
14. Did you have a book coach?
I had a very informal book coach – a friend who shared my experiences and encouraged me to write the book.
15. What was your favorite subject in school?
Political science, which really shows up in the fiction that I write.
16. Are you self-published or have an established publishing contract elsewhere?
Self-published
Comments