Lorraine Stephens
I woke up in a bad mood to begin with. Groggy, tired, I squinted at my cell phone as I staggered into the kitchen in search of some coffee and dog food. The kibble was for Sandie and Dolce, the coffee, well, for me. But I paused when I saw an email subject line from an old friend in the east: “Sad news.” And I knew.
Lorraine was my first real editor. While that in itself is important, what was even more valuable was her belief in me as a writer. As an author. She loved my stories, praised them time after time. The edits were grueling; after all, these were my early romance novels and I was still developing my skills. But she once said, of StarCrossed Hearts, “I must have read this manuscript seven times by now, and I still love reading it. Your characters are like old friends of mine.”
She once pitched my book to John DeSalvo, who happened to be sitting at the same table during a romance book convention. For those not in-the-know, John is one of the most popular romance novel cover models ever–he’s appeared on over 1500 books! So John mentioned he was going to become a movie producer and was looking for a big, epic romance to film. Lorraine handed him a copy of my book. Bless her heart.
Lorraine was a founding partner of Wings ePress, which opened its publishing doors just ten years ago next month. StarCrossed Hearts was one of their four launch titles. I was quite proud of that fact. Later, I went to work for Wings, managing their cover art department. It was a lot of work for very little pay, but I enjoyed working with Lorraine, the other partners and staff members. And, of course, the authors, all realizing their dreams of becoming published.
We always worried about how hard Lorraine worked. She would often sit in her recliner until the wee hours, reading and editing on her Rocket eBook device. She was exhausted, but she almost never missed a deadline. She was firm but kind to her authors. She loved her dogs, her friends, her sons (not necessarily in that order). She spoke with a little bit of urgency, but with a Southern inflection I loved. Writing under the name Margaret B. Lawrence, Lorraine was also a fine author of romantic and historical suspense.
I’m sure the long hours and stress took its toll; a few years back, Lorraine had a debilitating stroke that left her unable to work like she had before. Regrettably, at first because I didn’t want to bother her, we lost touch. I’d been meaning to write her. Always thought I would, one day, talk to her again. But last night, her heart decided to take a well-deserved rest.
Lorraine, you did good, girl. You went after a dream and made it come true. You made it possible for hundreds of struggling writers to become published authors. I’ve seen their tears of joy upon getting that first copy, that first tangible evidence of their success. You accomplished that. All those nights of burning the midnight oil, all those aches and pains, the tired eyes, sacrifices—it was all worth it. And in case I didn’t say it enough before…
Thank you, LOLly. I miss you.
Well said, Pam. I, too, was one of those launch titles for Wings ePress ten years ago (mine had your beautiful artwork!) and benefited from Lorraine’s hard work. I shall miss her, too.
Cheryl
The Norman Transcript
NORMAN — Mass of Christian burial for Lorraine Stephens, 74, of Norman, will be 10 a.m. Monday at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church. Arrangements are trusted to the care of Primrose Funeral Service.
I checked the newspapers in the Oklahoma area this morning and found Lorraine’s ‘Death Notice’ in the Norman Transcript. There was no obituary…nothing that told of what a great gal our Lorraine was. I say ‘our’ Lorraine because she gave a little bit of herself to all of us. Each time she edited a book…signed a contract…called to give a bit of advice or took a phone call from any of us she gave us all she could.
I know I was in awe of her and I considered myself a close friend. She, patiently, taught me all I know about editing and copy editing. She was more than willing to share her skills. She wrote three books and had more in the works but when she became a part of Wings ePress she let go of those prospective manuscripts and spent her time helping others bring their books to publication. She was so very proud of Wings ePress and the authors it represented and it was fun to talk to her because she knew her authors and staff so well. I never heard her say a negative thing about anyone in the 15+ years I knew her.
We got to see Lorraine last month. Her death hit me so hard because she looked so good when we went for our visit. We planned to spend about half an hour with her because we didn’t want to tire her but we, reluctantly, left over two hours after we got there. It turned out that we had so much to share with her about Wings and we tried to answer all of the questions she had about authors and the company. She talked a bit about coming back to Wings part-time in the near future.
She looked fine! She sat in her chair and carried on her conversation just like she always had. The only thing in her little apartment that even hinted of the fact that she had been ill was her wheelchair which I sat in because of the lack of seating space. I knew she had suffered some strokes since Bruce and I had seen her last but she showed no signs of it.
She showed me a new quilt pattern she was working on and talked about the quilting class that she has started when she first got there. She joked a bit about trying to teach some of the residents how to quilt. She said she never got past the introductory class. The bad thing about working with the residents with Alzheimers is that they remembered to show up but forgot all that she taught them from week to week. She laughed a lot as she relayed stories about her stay in ‘the assisted living’ place she was calling home. It was nice and she didn’t have to worry about going through the nightmare of falling and not having anyone around her help her. She never wanted to go through that experience again so she felt that the kind of facility she was in served a real purpose.
Lorraine was a wise woman. When we started Wings ePress there was so much we could have done wrong but Lorraine understood the publishing industry better than anyone else I have met since. She kept us from making some major mistakes. She was the kind of teacher that everyone remembered…the one who taught you things you didn’t forget. She will be sorely missed.
Linda Voth
Wings ePress
Lorraine was my first editor as well–in other words, the first person outside my family to believe in my storytelling ability.
I was very sad to hear of her passing because she was one of the nicest human beings I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.