1. What were your goals when you started writing (novels)?
My background is in poetry but novel writing finally grabbed me – and this is how:
I was teaching a poetry class, trying to convince the students that language is always evolving. They weren’t buying it – even when I pointed out their own impact on language via friendly slang and vicious insult.
To better make my point, I brought in some Old and Middle English texts. While I hope they were convinced that language is flexible and ever-changing, I know they were fascinated by the time period. Somehow they’d never learned much about the 1200’s, and they wanted to. They begged me to write a story (which meant a book, of course) that would (I hoped) educate them and (they hoped) be thrilling good fun.
So, I wrote “The Witch of Leper Cove,” a story of 13th century England — and the first book in the Aldinoch Chronicles. Since I am teaching myself this art, one thing that keeps me at it is that I am not good enough yet. The other thing is that I keep getting better so I know if I keep working, and live long enough, I will be a very good novelist. The second book in the trilogy, “The Hounds of God,” is nearing completion. One more in the 13th century and I will move on to something newer, maybe the 1700’s.
2. What are your goals now?
Today’s goal is write more (I have two other books in the works,) read much more, and learn a great deal. The more history I read the more I see its relevance to western and global politics as well as other aspects of life today. It takes effort to read old texts, to study other practices and to learn from historians so you can write responsibly and entertainingly about other times. You must train yourself to remember two things; 1) there are things we have in common with people who lived in, say, the 1200’s or the 1700’s, but 2) there are also critical differences in how we see the world. So I chase what fascinates me and study it with an eye toward another novel.
3. What pays the bills now?
I’m retired from a job as a paralegal. Money put away long ago pays the bills. My husband and I retired to Pittsburgh PA (very cool town) from Southern California for many reasons. One was that it’s cheaper to live here, so I can write, rather than work for lawyers.
4. Assuming writing doesn't pay the bills, what motivates you to keep writing?
Writing’s both a hard taskmaster and deep pleasure. I was amazed when I started writing the first novel how much work it took to get it ready for press. A novel is a big chunk of text to carry – that is, to make interesting enough to justify your readers’ time with it.
And someone said “Writers write to live twice.” There’s something true there for me. I want to think about more than the now. And I want to be free to create a different now. I value makers and the process of making things.
5. Advice for young authors who want to make a career out of writing?
Since I never made a career of (only) writing, I cannot give much advice. I would say it’s good not to be poor and worried all the time. Consider getting a day job you can stomach and write on the side. We used to tell writers to teach, but there are no longer enough spots for all the writers who want those jobs. Doing a different job can feed you and keep you grounded in the world. If you’re both good and lucky you can worry later about the right time to give up your security and dive full-time into the competitive writer’s marketplace.
Take some time to get your feet wet. A writing career means learning a lot about marketing and business. A lot. And even when you know all that, it takes time to find your niche and connect with others. I’m just learning to market this trilogy to the large community of people who already love the Middle Ages, rather than trying to get new people interested in it. From the aged vantage point of nearly 65, I do not regret the years I spent working at non-writerly things. A writer needs to know about a lot more than writing. And don’t romanticize poverty. It kills talent more often than it nurtures it.
You can find Webucator at http://www.webucator.com/blog/2014/11/an-ode-to-novel-writers/
My background is in poetry but novel writing finally grabbed me – and this is how:
I was teaching a poetry class, trying to convince the students that language is always evolving. They weren’t buying it – even when I pointed out their own impact on language via friendly slang and vicious insult.
To better make my point, I brought in some Old and Middle English texts. While I hope they were convinced that language is flexible and ever-changing, I know they were fascinated by the time period. Somehow they’d never learned much about the 1200’s, and they wanted to. They begged me to write a story (which meant a book, of course) that would (I hoped) educate them and (they hoped) be thrilling good fun.
So, I wrote “The Witch of Leper Cove,” a story of 13th century England — and the first book in the Aldinoch Chronicles. Since I am teaching myself this art, one thing that keeps me at it is that I am not good enough yet. The other thing is that I keep getting better so I know if I keep working, and live long enough, I will be a very good novelist. The second book in the trilogy, “The Hounds of God,” is nearing completion. One more in the 13th century and I will move on to something newer, maybe the 1700’s.
2. What are your goals now?
Today’s goal is write more (I have two other books in the works,) read much more, and learn a great deal. The more history I read the more I see its relevance to western and global politics as well as other aspects of life today. It takes effort to read old texts, to study other practices and to learn from historians so you can write responsibly and entertainingly about other times. You must train yourself to remember two things; 1) there are things we have in common with people who lived in, say, the 1200’s or the 1700’s, but 2) there are also critical differences in how we see the world. So I chase what fascinates me and study it with an eye toward another novel.
3. What pays the bills now?
I’m retired from a job as a paralegal. Money put away long ago pays the bills. My husband and I retired to Pittsburgh PA (very cool town) from Southern California for many reasons. One was that it’s cheaper to live here, so I can write, rather than work for lawyers.
4. Assuming writing doesn't pay the bills, what motivates you to keep writing?
Writing’s both a hard taskmaster and deep pleasure. I was amazed when I started writing the first novel how much work it took to get it ready for press. A novel is a big chunk of text to carry – that is, to make interesting enough to justify your readers’ time with it.
And someone said “Writers write to live twice.” There’s something true there for me. I want to think about more than the now. And I want to be free to create a different now. I value makers and the process of making things.
5. Advice for young authors who want to make a career out of writing?
Since I never made a career of (only) writing, I cannot give much advice. I would say it’s good not to be poor and worried all the time. Consider getting a day job you can stomach and write on the side. We used to tell writers to teach, but there are no longer enough spots for all the writers who want those jobs. Doing a different job can feed you and keep you grounded in the world. If you’re both good and lucky you can worry later about the right time to give up your security and dive full-time into the competitive writer’s marketplace.
Take some time to get your feet wet. A writing career means learning a lot about marketing and business. A lot. And even when you know all that, it takes time to find your niche and connect with others. I’m just learning to market this trilogy to the large community of people who already love the Middle Ages, rather than trying to get new people interested in it. From the aged vantage point of nearly 65, I do not regret the years I spent working at non-writerly things. A writer needs to know about a lot more than writing. And don’t romanticize poverty. It kills talent more often than it nurtures it.
You can find Webucator at http://www.webucator.com/blog/2014/11/an-ode-to-novel-writers/