Why Ever After in Progress?

The Road to Happily Ever After & Why I Choose Hope Amidst the Heartache

Aug 18, 2025

Hello, readers and writers! Welcome to a series I’ve affectionately entitled Once Upon a Prologue—a place where I’ll share posts focused on my author beginnings. So many author origin stories have impacted and inspired me, especially in my debut years. I hope, in some small way, my origins do the same for you.

If you know anything about prologues, you know there is a debate among readers and writers regarding whether or not prologues are necessary in novels. And, if you’ve read any of my books, you know which side I’ve chosen. ;) 💛 📖

All of that to say, here is where you’ll find my backstory. My “once upon a time,” if you will. I’d be delighted to have you join me as I travel back in time and share lessons I’ve learned, insights I’ve gained, and mistakes I’ve made along the way.

“. . . and they lived happily ever after.”

It’s the line that comes at the end of every fairy tale. A line that is meant to invoke hope in the reader. It’s as if the author is saying, “Don’t worry. Nothing bad happens after this moment. The villain has been defeated, and all is well for our protagonists.”

Except that’s not real life, is it? What is Westley’s famous line from The Princess Bride?

And yet, in the end, Westley and Buttercup still very clearly get their “happily ever after.” Therefore, Westley was surely mistaken. Life cannot be pain if they lived happily ever after, right?

Not exactly. Because it is not either/or, but both/and. Both realities can be true simultaneously. Life can be painful. It is painful. But there is still hope at the end—or there can be hope if we choose it. Which is where my author journey began . . .

Photo Credit: Erin McFarland Photography

Once upon a time, I fell in love with stories. On the silver screen, watching Belle long for “adventure in the great wide, somewhere,” between the pages of A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh, in the parables Jesus told, strolling down Main Street U.S.A. at Disneyland—it didn’t matter. Stories drew me in and shaped the way I saw and experienced the world.

It didn’t change as I grew older. When I entered my twenties, I found myself craving stories more than ever. I lived in a tiny town at the time, where our little library was under construction. In the interim, all the library books were moved to the basement of a house down the street. And that is where I would walk to see my librarian and ask her for the next great story recommendation.

“What sorts of stories do you like?” she asked me in that dungeon-like basement with poor lighting as I stood there with a toddler in tow.

“I want something that feels like reading Harry Potter for the first time,” I said, unsure if such a feat was even possible.

“I have just the thing,” she replied with a twinkle in her eye.

In that basement, I encountered Fabelehaven, The Hunger Games, The Selection, and so many other books that soon became dear friends. If I’ve piqued your curiosity and you want the full story of my basement library quests, check out this podcast interview I did a few years back with author Clint Hall.

The more books I devoured, the more I started wondering . . . maybe I could write a story that made others feel the way those books made me feel. But where to begin? I’d always and forever been a writer. English class was my favorite growing up. At Christmastime, I’d write little poems for my mom to include in Christmas cards.

In middle school, I drafted an entire book (all four chapters of it, thank you very much) by hand on notebook paper. I submitted that book idea to the Pleasant Company, which owned the American Girl brand at the time. They, of course, rejected my idea for an American Girl named Rose who voyaged on the Titanic. I don’t know what they were thinking. My idea was 100% original. ;)

The closer I inched to my thirtieth year, the more I researched things like “how to get published” or “where to find a literary agent.” I learned very quickly that I needed to do more than complete a manuscript. There were these pesky things like “platform,” “brand,” and apparently, I needed an author website. Slowly, I started building from the ground up amidst late nights of nursing and typing over the sleeping baby in my lap.

But how does one find their “author brand?” It felt overwhelming to make such a big decision so early on. I was still writing my debut novel. How was I supposed to know where I would be a decade from then? What if I wrote in a completely different genre? What if my favorite colors changed? What if, what if, what if . . .?

The truth is, my brand colors have changed. My logo has evolved. My headshots are different now than they were a decade ago (and so is my hair color). My books are all young adult fiction, but they span categories ranging from urban fantasy to contemporary to dystopian, and most currently fantasy. And yet, with all those changes over the years, my brand has remained the same.

Happily ever after is never far away. That’s been my tagline from the day I purchased my website domain: SaraElla.com. Maybe I’ll share the story of how the name Sara Ella came to be in another post down the road. (My name is Sara, but the way “Ella” came about is personal.) For today, I want to share why I chose my tagline.

My books are all very different. Unblemished is about a girl who hides behind what she believes is her greatest flaw, only to discover it’s the secret behind her biggest strength. Coral follows a girl looking for hope and longing to know she’s not alone in the world. The Wonderland Trials is about believing in the impossible, and Glass Across the Sea? That one’s about letting your light break free.

As different as my stories are from one another, they all draw from the same core belief and desire to show readers that light and hope exist, even in the darkest circumstances—and that’s where the heart of my brand lies.

Your author brand is not your book or your logo font or your color scheme. Your brand is you. Because no matter the genre you write or the setting you choose or the characters you create, your brand goes beyond one story.

Your brand is your story.

I chose “happily ever after is never far away” to represent my work, not because I believe life comes free of pain or heartache. If 2025 is any indication, I’d say happily ever after is pretty far off, given all the grief and loss this year has brought with it. But my story doesn’t end here, and neither does yours.

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” – Hebrews 12:1–3, NASB 1995

This life is our “ever after in progress” when we place our hope in the Author and Perfecter of our faith. I believe “happily ever after is never far away” because I know how the story ends. Spoiler alert: the King is sovereign. I think it’s why one of my favorite worship songs is “You’ve Already Won” by Shane & Shane. The lyrics to the bridge go like this . . .

“I know how the story ends
We will be with You again
You’re my Savior my defense
No more fear in life or death
I know how this story ends”

We know how the story ends, friends. This life is simply our “ever after in progress.” I want every story I write, everything I do, to point back to the One who is the Author of my story. That’s why I choose to write stories about hope along this bumpy road to happily ever after. Not because life is without pain. No. I write about hope because life is pain. And without hope, it would be an awfully long journey to endure.

Thank you for joining me for this edition of my Once Upon a Prologue series. My desire is to uplift and encourage anyone who happens across my little corner of the internet. I pray this post has blessed you in some way. Thanks for reading!

Learn more about my books by visiting my website or my Amazon storefront.