Deborah Bogen

This is not a question anyone asks me. It's one I ask myself - often these days. Because I'm deep in story-land trying to master a craft that is not mine. I'm a poet. I think I am. At least I was a poet. I used language in ways that were magical and mysterious to me as a writer, as a poet, as a woman. As a human being. I used words even as they used me - demanding expression, stretching and snaking along to mean things I could barely articulate. I both led and followed as they drifted, then dove into grottoes where shadows suggested meanings I had not anticipated. Their history fascinated me. Their power empowered me. Their weight bore me up.

But the stories I'm writing right now are much more straightforward. Read my stories and you'll know when you're at the beginning, the middle and the end. So why am I doing this other thing? Why are stories as essential to humans as food or dogs or horses or heroes. We have to tell them, hear them, write them, think about them, dream them and sing them. And I need to learn something now as I write them. Blindly. In faith.  Read More 

And so it goes, one year rolling into the next. I'm almost 65 and some of the sense of January newness has worn thin. Politicians now do what they did when I was 18, trying to fix the world. Literary and intellectual trends have circled around. Even cutting-edge fashion is alarmingly familiar (those "body-shapers" are "girdles" renamed sweetheart) -- but the beat does indeed go on.

I'm about to launch "The Hounds of God," which means investigating help from other authors - indie sources that address the hard facts of publishing life - the need to market, market, market. We all are exposed to so much - aren't we? How do we find what we need to read, eat, love and think about?

I'm thinking smaller, reaching out to the already extent group of medieval junkies rather than try to market to everyone. I want to be more personal, talk one on one, or in small groups about the fascinating times we call the middle ages, times that are the basis for so much of what is good - and what is bad - in modern western life.

This year's book sale thrill is a neighborhood girl (young woman?) who liked Witch so much she is giving it as birthday gifts to her friends. It's her eyes that made my day - she lit up talking about the book.

May your projects be fun - or at least rewarding - to create and may they be well-received in 2015. Send news of what I can do to help you. May we reach for the light, but also embrace the dark. There are things there that wait for us all. Love and health.

Deborah  Read More 

Oh marketing, thou soul-weary-ing exercise, how is it thou art both occult and tedious?

However that truth obtains, this is me letting you that there's a kindle countdown going on for The Witch of Leper Cove right now. That means you can download the book today for .99. Tomorrow it's 1.99.

I hope your Thanksgiving was warm and yummy - and that you have some time today to settle in with a new read.

Tell your friends! Read More 

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/ Read More 

Be sure check out the link at the top-left of this page. It's a guest blog on Medieval Religious Education. Special thanks to Debra Brown for posting it on English Historical Fiction Writers. If you google that site there's lots more to read.

This semester I've been doing some guest spots at the college level - and it's been a wonder and a joy. After decades of trying to learn to write I find I have something to pass on. Those of you who are teachers by trade may find that laughable, but it's taken me till now to know, to really know, that I've lived with this art long enough to say something real about it to new writers. To me that feels both holy and outrageous.

This morning I'm giving a workshop on generating new material. We'll use a great Stanley Plumly poem, one of Lynn Emanuel's and one from Beth Ann Fennelly. An added bonus - the preparation for the session sent me into a new poem of my own. (Thank you to the poets and the I Ching).

The Bible says "In the beginning was the word." I say, in the end is the word as well -- the words that lifted me from a pit and helped me know truth about what is wrong while celebrating what is right in the world. I am grateful. Now off to the holy and outrageous. Read More 

Okay. You're right. That's a bad (a very bad) blog title.

But today the writing was so much fun, inventive and lively and sensible somehow, while just the other day I was slogging through the swamp of confusion I call my outline, pretty sure I was in no way ready to write this book. Even as an exercise. Was it sleep, coffee or luck that turned that around?

I really don't know, but I do know this. I can't let the fun factor count for too much if I want to write this book. Or any book. If I want to do it well I have to keep at it the way I'm keeping at weight lifting. Day after day. Not looking for a fast change - but moving ahead - pas a pas.

For me that means packing up the machine and getting to the quiet table and listening to my characters and taking lots of notes, and checking and rechecking my "facts" (did they eat cabbage in Paris in 1230 A.D. - probably, but I should actually know that.) It means tracing and retracing the paths of these alive-to-me people who will all come together eventually if the outline is right. Oddly, it also means loosening up, floating along some afternoons so that things I missed on a fast day get a chance to surface.

It means getting deeper inside the story, trusting my instincts if something seems to work, but checking back later to reassess. And for me, it means cutting sentence after sentence from first drafts because I intend to write some good sentences in this book.

And it's a little scary putting that out there.

So, tomorrow is another day. Another chance - get a good night's sleep, my friends, and may your writing go well. Read More 

When I arrived at B & N today headed for the table I now think of as "my office," one of the barristers was outside on her break. "How's the book going?" she shouted as I passed. Good question.

But it was a pretty good day. The new chapter seems to be humming and more importantly, I noticed a chapter I skipped. Really. I should have written something there to bring the reader up to speed - how did that happen?

But now I know and I can do some research in order to figure out just how the Arthurian legend gets into this book. And I can hope that his presence is a good idea.

When I got home Jim was still out at his coffee shop writing and I think his day is going well too. I just wish we finished up at the same time so we could hang out and play music. Most days I'm the problem, too involved in my story or my other projects to break easily. Today he's on a roll.

This can't be helped when you are both into writing and ideas. You can control the flow to some extent but when it's happening you better go for it. I'm glad he's hot on the trail of new knowledge right now. Eventually he'll pack it up and we will head to CJ's to hear some great jazz. In the meantime I think I'll get out the old uke and learn some new things on my own. I am currently loving Tom Waits' "Come on up to the House." He's got some true religion - that man.

May your writing go well. Ride that wave as long as it lasts, my friend. Read More 

The first time I heard someone (you, Doug Anderson) describe developing a writing practice with this phrase in mind, I was - well - a little grossed out. But that's me. Prudish, uptight, etc....

However, as I got set up at my table in the Cafe today and opened my laptop something in me relaxed. A/C - check. Good table - check. Coffee - check. Yes, I'm here, where I write the book. I can write it right now. I won't be phoning the Home Depot people or checking on the wash or making lists.

And I best not be blogging either - time for the book.

Wishing you well,

Deborah  Read More 

So who am I writing for? If I was honest I'd admit, it's mostly for me. If I was being fair I'd say, but also it's for you. Is that a boring answer? Maybe, but as I work on the prologue for the new book I realize I am being a better writer this time than I was when I wrote the prologue for the last book. I'm writing and reading and re-writing and reading and looking things up and re-writing and reading again and I'm getting someone else's take. I am doing the things you may already do all the time but I realized - and it shocked me - that I did not do this the last time around.

When I wrote the prologue for Witch I wrote it quickly, mostly as a way of getting past the fear that I couldn't write the book at all. I dashed it off - as if it was an exercise at a Monday night writing group. I got through it so I could begin the real work of writing the book. It was that mad dash across the sand before you throw yourself under the first ocean wave and begin to swim.

So, my apologies if the prologue to Witch seems a little drab. I am (either by nature or by a perversity of my own design) an autodidact. This is not something I necessarily recommend but neither do I wholeheartedly condemn it. There are pluses and minuses to both sides of that coin. What it meant here is that when I sat down to write my first novel at a fairly ancient age I did the thing I know how to do. I threw myself at the project with a will and hoped that my open eyes would make me better by and by.

Before I settled down at the machine this morning I spent some time in the garden with my friend, Paula. It was more fun this year because I finally hired someone who knows more than I do about plants and soil and light. I am re-thinking this autodidact thing in a serious way. Maybe I can get some of you to be beta readers for the new book. You can tell me what I need to fix. Read More