Interview with a Dreamchaser 🌟 Rachel Stone 🌟

Blooming Against the Odds: How Rachel Stone Turned Fear into a Flourishing Dream

Spring is a season of renewal, growth, and transformation—the perfect time to celebrate a story of second chances and resilience. As nature blooms, so do the dreams we dare to chase. Since I’m fascinated by the resilience it takes to live with big dreams, and find people who actively chase dreams inspiring, I invite them to answer five questions. Here, Rachel Stone, author of The Blue Iris, responds.

Tell me about a time you had to start over, or a dream you accomplished.

I was set to return to my corporate career after maternity leave when a checkup flipped everything upside down. The rare benign tumor in my head (removed in my early twenties) was back against 99% odds. With next steps unclear, I took a year of unpaid leave to focus on my lifelong writing dream.

I worked daily on the manuscript, feeling aligned like never before. A few months later, scans showed the tumor was stable—in fact, it was shrinking. I vowed to see the manuscript through to publication. It took six years, a massive rewrite, countless revisions and over 150 rejections, but having realized the effects of chasing that dream, I couldn’t look back.

A career artist must hustle to sell themselves and their work. What’s your #1 Hustle Tip?

Do it scared. Our goals often conflict with our fears—for example, I was terrified to do author talks, but I wanted my book to have every shot at finding readers, so how could I not do them? I’m still nervous before every one, but I’ve never regretted doing it later. Dream chasing is supposed to be scary. Go ahead, be scared, but do it anyway.

What big hurdle did you overcome to reach your goal?

As I began spreading the word about my book release, people kept asking how I came to writing it. That was a problem, because I avoided the subject of my tumor diagnosis at all costs (never having dealt with trauma surrounding it in my teens). My writing tribe encouraged me to keep trying, pointing out others might benefit from hearing my story. They helped me practice. Today, I can tell a room full of strangers without a single aftereffect.

What’s the main lesson you’ve learned?

Our futures are forever beholden to the past. You can’t ignore your uncomfortable truths forever, so you might as well figure out how to get good with them. That, and good friends can get you through anything.

Do you have another goal or dream?

Yes—to publish another book! The second manuscript is proving just as challenging, albeit in completely new ways, but the key difference this time is, I know for certain it’s possible.

What’s your advice for someone who’s starting over, or wants to achieve a dream?

Forget the odds. Whenever odds try chasing you off your dream, please remember my orbital tumor, the fourth known case, recurred against 99% odds—twice—then shrunk all by itself. Odds promise nothing. Everything is possible so long as you refuse to quit.

RACHEL STONE writes stories of hope and redemption, set against vibrant Canadian backdrops. Her debut novel The Blue Iris has earned widespread critical acclaim, and her uplifting essays have appeared in international magazines, journals, and blogs. She lives near Toronto, Canada, and on summer weekends you'll find her belting nineties pop rock off-key from her paddle-board.

For confessions and practical tips from her debut author journey, check out Rachel's Launch Diaries on Substack. To invite her to speak at your next event, workshop, or book club, reach out here. To learn more, visit https://linktr.ee/rachelstoneauthor