I was enlisted in the Army for almost five years, and it provided me with the foundation for my entire career in radiology. I never served in a war zone, and I am not a twenty-year veteran. But I am proud to have served and will be forever indebted to the US Army for the education, experiences, and life-lessons learned.
I have a brother who retired from the Army after serving two tours in Iraq and he has inspired much of my writing. His wife is also a twenty-year veteran. My other brother was a Marine, and my father was in the Navy. My dad was put to rest with full military honors in 2024. That was one of the saddest and proudest days of my life.
About the Author
I started my writing journey with a passion for storytelling and a unique background in medicine and military service. My writing is a reflection of my life experiences, blending imagination and experience with professional expertise. Four ideas/concepts sat in a file on my computer for a couple of decades while I worked fulltime in radiology. It wasn't until 2019, a few years before retirement, that I started scribbling notes at work and transcribing them onto a word document in the evenings and weekends.
With a commitment to authenticity and engaging narratives, I like to think my work resonates with readers on a personal level, lending my stories a compelling voice in thriller and drama genres.
My protagonists are often marginalized and underrepresented, and my fictional stories are filled with strong female leads, BIPOC and LGBT characters. It is, after all, the world we live in.
I've had ideas for novels as far back as twenty years ago, but I never really embraced learning the craft of writing until a few years before retiring from the medical field. One day, in 2018 while watching a movie I had an ah-ha moment: why not write the stories I've been thinking were going to be novels in screenplay format instead?
So, I jumped in headfirst and learned everything I could about screenwriting. My first attempt at a novel, 'Spartan Mansion,' morphed into a screenplay titled 'Dissension' and my next screenplay, 'Carnage in D minor' was a version of 'Dissension' but with a female protagonist. And that was the story that I adapted into my first novel.
In case you haven't figured it out, I'm a self-taught writer (unless you consider YouTube a legitimate teacher). I devoured everything I could get my hands on about the craft of writing. I even read the how-to's on writing by Stephen King, Anne Lamott, Verlyn Klinkenborg (my personal favorite), and 'The Elements of Style' by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. While I hear it's unpopular to say this, some of these books are part-memoir (mostly memoir) but contain useful insights while others are cover-to-cover usable gold. You be the judge.
Work life
I spend almost four decades in the medical field. I started out as an x-ray tech in the Army. Later, I cross-trained into C.T. (CAT SCAN) and eventually went back to school to become a sonographer (ultrasound tech). I worked in a number of modalities including vascular, Ob/Gyn, neonatal, and general sonography.
The story behind my upcoming movie.
I started pitching 'Dissension' back in 2020. I spent way too much money chasing validation via screenwriting contests, and I broke one of the cardinal rules - NEVER submit it before it's ready. That was an expensive lesson. But, with lots of perseverance and innumerable rewrites, the script actually started winning and getting the attention of producers.
One of those producers was Vesperia Films, with offices in L.A. and Vancouver, B.C. The cofounders, Dakota Daulby and Harrison Houde, contacted me and asked for a zoom meeting. Turns out, it was my writing they wanted, not my screenplay. Dakota and I have been working together for all of 2025 and are confident we will have a movie in theaters in the not-so-distant future.
Connect with Stacey
Reach out to discuss potential writing projects, collaborations, or questions/comments. https://www.goodreads.com/staceyalanspivey