Writer with local roots making her mark

By Rob Vogt
Some times ideas come from the strangest places.
A good example is how Elizabeth Trofimenkoff (née Pedersen) came up with the idea for her debut novel “A Kiss of the Siren’s Song”.
The Claresholm native wrote the fantasy-romance story after a conversation with a friend.
Trofimenkoff was chatting with her friend after she sent her some videos, and suggested her friend write a book about them.
Then Trofimenkoff started sharing ideas, and her friend turned to her and suggested she write a book.
“So I did,” Trofimenkoff said.
The result is a novel about two female pirates, Flora and Sabine, who dress as men, board a ship, and adventures ensue.
The characters are based on two actual women named Anne Bonny and Mary Read.
Trofimenkoff wrote her first draft in 21 days as part of National Novel Writing Month in 2022.
The goal of that challenge is to write a novel of 50,000 words in the month of November.
The first half of the novel was written at home. The second half was written when Trofimenkoff and her mom went on a five-day trip to New York.
“It was a lot of time on the plane which was a lot of time to write,” she said.
It also meant she wrote a lot of the book on her phone.
Once the first draft was finished, Trofimenkoff had her friend read it straight through, although she had seen it chapter by chapter.
Initially, Trofimenkoff thought the novel would be a stand-alone story.
However, two weeks later her friends not only loved the book, they were asking for a second one.
Trofimenkoff had no ideas for a second one though.
“Then, 48 hours later a new character pops into my head,” she said.
So, the second book is connected to a character in the first book, and a first draft has been written.
Trofimenkoff said writing the second book also helped her look back at the first one with fresh eyes.
She also revised her first book, had it go through a number of readers, then sent it to a proofreader.
“It was published a year after writing the first draft,” Trofimenkoff said.
“A Kiss of the Siren’s Song” is independently published and available on all platforms where books are available.
Sales of the book have just passed 300 copies worldwide.
Trofimenkoff is now hoping to release her second book next year.
With the first book out, she can revise material in the second one.
Beyond these books, Trofimenkoff has a lot of other projects as well.
She has another book coming out in the fall, entitled “You and I Collide”.
It is a contemporary romance she wrote during her down time at Christmas.
This one was inspired by how she met her husband Travis.
“People are excited about it,” Trofimenkoff said.
She will employ the same strategy as she did with “A Kiss of the Siren’s Song”.
Her most recent publication is in an anthology called “Sweet Bitter Love”.
Trofimenkoff’s contribution is a short story called “Cerebral Super Nova”.
It dates back to 2017 and won Trofimenkoff the University of Lethbridge Striking Prose Prize.
The anthology contains work from 20 authors from all over the world.
Proceeds from the book are donated to an Edmonton charity called “Women Building Futures”, which is a non-profit organization offering free skills training and support services to women and gender-diverse individuals who want to enter careers in the skilled trades, trucking and related fields.
Trofimenkoff is also part of the organizing committee for another anthology, that is currently accepting submissions.
The theme is re-imagined classical literature, and, again, all proceeds are going to a charity to be determined.
Trofimenkoff enjoys the opportunity to connect with other writers.
“It’s so fantastic to get together and share ideas,”  she said.
Trofimenkoff is the daughter of Carol and Brian Pedersen.
She graduated from Willow Creek Composite High School in 2015. Since then she has been at the University of Lethbridge where she earned a bachelor of science in chemistry with a minor in anthropology in 2020. She then earned a master’s degree and is currently working on her Phd.
Trofimenkoff has never forgotten her home town though.
“You and I Collide” takes place in Claresholm.
“I wanted to pay homage to my roots,” she said.