Author Spotlight: Kristen Welch

I’m back with another author spotlight! This time I’m highlighting Kristen Welch, a friend of mine from our days at the University of Arizona. She joins my friends Daniel Paliwoda, Jen Pitts, Liza Woodruff, Algernon D’Ammassa, Charlie Bertsch, and Jayne Conway, all of whom I profiled previously.

My fondest memories of Kristen from our time in the RCTE doctoral program at the University of Arizona involve camping on Mt. Lemmon on the outskirts of Tucson. She and her husband Jerry cooked the best campfire food! And those times together were a welcome respite from the stresses of graduate study. Both Mt. Lemmon and the RCTE program have changed a lot since our time there—Mt. Lemmon was scorched by wildfire and the RCTE program has an almost entirely new faculty since Kristen and I were students—but our friendship remains steady.

Author Kristen Welch (Facebook/Kristen Welch)

Kristen is an accomplished author. She has written three solo-authored and one co-authored book, all of which focus on rhetoric, religion, and feminism. She’s also written and had published several academic articles, some of them focusing on the topics of rhetoric, religion, and feminism, and others focusing on writing centers, writing programs, and writing pedagogy. In addition, she’s written a website, Women and Rhetoric, where you can find details about her publications and more.

In addition to her writing, Kristen is a faculty member in the English department at Spartanburg Methodist College where she also directs the writing center, called The Write Place. In addition, she is director of research and archives for the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. She also volunteers as associate publisher for marketing and advancement with the WAC Clearinghouse, where I also volunteer as associate publisher for design and production.

In her personal life, Kristen’s family relationships are important to her. She is a daughter, sister, wife, mother, stepmother, mother-in-law, grandmother, and stepgrandmother. She also enjoys quilting, sewing, creative writing, and travel. You can connect with her through her website, on Facebook, or on LinkedIn.

I hope you enjoy the following interview, which we’ve edited collaboratively.

When did you first know you might become a writer?

I have always used writing as a way to process my world. I had written a whole stack of diaries by the time I was in my 20s. But there came a point where they were too personal and too much a reflection of the past, so I threw them all away. I now keep a lot of journals for creative writing or note-taking. I still process the world through writing, but in a much different way.

What or who motivates you to write?

One of my motivations is I feel like I have to explore something much more deeply than spoken language allows, and I become obsessed with the journey. I am motivated by strong curiosity and a hope that my writing will contribute something helpful to those who read it.

What is your favorite part of your writing process and what do you most like about it?

My favorite part is discovery. Writing is organic, and it emerges. I often feel surprised when I read my own writing. I think: Who wrote that? The answer is that it was me when I was immersed in the beauty of language, when I was trying to create something out of all the pieces of great writing around me. I love research, but I especially love the way that people reveal themselves in the books or articles they write. I love the sense that I’m “meeting” a scholar in a place so important to him or to her that they just had to write about it, they had to polish that writing, and they had to make sure it would one day connect to readers. I like quoting others for that reason. I appreciate their self-revelation through their words so much.

Where do you do most of your writing and why is that your chosen place?

I either write in my bed, my recliner, or my office. I prefer my recliner because the rest of the family tends to leave me alone, but it still allows me to be a part of things if my husband comes out of his office or if my son comes out of his room or crosses through the living room when he comes home from being out. The dogs have their beds in the living room, too, and I don’t feel like I’m still in bed, waiting to start the day. I feel like this is my “work.”

Whose books do you most like to read and why?

For fiction, I love Jennifer Chiaverini. I learn a lot about quilts, but more than that she can really convey memorable characters that I find myself caring deeply about. For research, I love anyone who answers my questions in a way that connects with me. Right now, I’m reading about the story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez. I heard him speak at a creative writing conference last April, and I bought every book with his name on it. I love how many early Christian leaders were educated in rhetoric. The history of Christianity is incredibly complex, but I feel as if Dr. Gonzalez cared a lot about making it interesting, accurate, and accessible.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

For creative writers, please go join a really good creative writing group. Take your work in to be critiqued. Take the advice you are given. If you can find a good group, you’ll figure out where even a single word can tank your prose. I learn as much from critiquing others, and from hearing how others critique them, as I do from when I get feedback. My creative writing group gets together just to write (and to eat tasty snacks), and they bring in published authors as guest speakers. I have learned more from them than from any book written on creative writing. It’s been transformative. If I could devote more time to this, I could really get somewhere with it.

For academic writers, you need time. More time. Review, revise, and give it more time. Get a reader. Revise. Really revise. Don’t get an echo chamber. Find someone with a different opinion, point of view, or even just someone who will honestly tell you what is wrong with either your writing or your research. I’ll never forget when a teacher at the University of Arizona sat me down and explained that my interpretation of something was off target and why. I learned so much from that. If you are contributing to the academic world, you need a reader who understands the ideas as well as one who can comment on your writing. This is a much different type of help than you will get as a creative writer who can be anyone who enjoys that particular genre. Also, when you think you are done with your research, return to it as though you’ve done no research at all. Get some fresh sources. Go through others’ bibliographies to find sources new to you. Revisit your ideas with a fresh perspective after some new research.

Anything else you'd like to share?

I’ve learned to be very much aware of what is needed for each type of writing I might do. If I’m sending an email to someone at work, I’m incredibly careful and I don’t write a lot. If I’m texting one of my kids, I know I can be funny or silly.

I also get out of bed, no matter what time it is, to write down something that I think is important. I have some words of wisdom interspersed in my journals. I know if I wait, I will lose the words. So I choose to write when I have the thought pulsing in my mind.

That being said, finding the best time to write is important. I will often interrupt my morning coffee and prayer time to write. Ideas received from my prayers will be bursting into a thousand points of light, like firecrackers exploding against a blackened sky. I find that my spiritual life empowers my writing life.

On a more practical note, if I’m doing some type of writing that is more formal, I know better than to trust myself. Spell check and a friend to read things over is always helpful. I also know what not to put into writing. At one point, I read a book on insecurity and learned that writing too much is a result of that feeling. I try to be very careful with my words, but I also enjoy not having to be so careful with friends and family. I think—eventually—creative writing will give me a middle ground I will enjoy—a place I can be less formal and really let my style take over. However, academic writing is deeply infused with purpose for me. I will always choose it first when I have free time to write.

Author Spotlight: Jayne Conway

After a brief hiatus in my series of author profiles to blog about the National Day on Writing, I’m back with another author spotlight. This time I’m highlighting Jayne Conway, romance novelist. She joins previous friends of mine I’ve profiled in my blog: literary critic and memoirist Daniel Paliwoda, mystery writer Jen Pitts, children’s author and illustrator Liza Woodruff, journalist and editor Algernon D’Ammassa, and e-zine writer and editor Charlie Bertsch.

Jayne and I met in elementary school when we spent fourth and fifth grades in the same homeroom. We attended a magnet program together called IGE (Individually Guided Education). In an article written for Education & Culture: The Journal of the John Dewey Society, Pyeong-gook Kim outlined the design of this federally-funded education reform movement as follows:

The planners intended that instructional programming for the individual student should not be interpreted to mean that all students engage in the same number or kinds of activities, or reach an identical level of achievement, interest, or motivation….While instructional programming is done for each individual student, instruction…is provided for groups of students with common learning needs. In practice, such grouping of students usually led to instruction on a content unit for two to three weeks, followed by post-assessment, some regrouping of students, and instruction on another content unit.

Being involved in this program was one of the highlights of my early learning. I have fond memories of the extracurricular activities my classmates and I took part in, as well as of the teachers and my fellow students, including Jayne!

Author Jayne Conway (Jayne Conway: About the Author/Jayne Conway)

Unfortunately, Jayne and I lost touch over the years, mainly because I left public school to attend private schools starting in the sixth grade. Jayne was active in our community, though, participating in a local theater group in the summers, performances of which I attended regularly. Although I have mixed feelings about Facebook and other social media, I’m glad it allowed us to reconnect.

I’m so pleased Jayne agreed to be profiled. She’s written four books, all while working full time as a teacher and being a single mother to three. She has also at times maintained a blog, and she is a skilled photographer. She’s truly multi-talented, a Renaissance woman you might say. You can find synopses of her books along with samples of her photography on her website. Additionally, she has author accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads, and you can contact her via any of those or through her Contact page on her website.

I hope you enjoy learning about Jayne’s writing life! Following is an interview that we edited collaboratively.

When did you first know you might become a writer?

I don’t think I consciously planned to become a writer. I’ve always kept journals and have always been a reader. I love getting lost in another world. When I created a bucket list in my late-thirties, I included writing a book. One day, at a particularly low point in my life, I sat down and the words started flowing.

What or who motivates you to write?

I write because I have a story to tell. Like many people my age, I think about the road not traveled. When I write, I’m exploring alternative realities, the what ifs of my own journey. It’s escapism, pure and simple.

What is your favorite part of your writing process and what do you most like about it?

My favorite part of the writing process is when I finish a chapter or a section of the book and realize it’s all falling into place. The puzzle pieces are fitting and the story is writing itself. I rarely have an outline or plan when I start a project, but I feel when it’s working, and that’s satisfying.

Where do you do most of your writing and why is that your chosen place?

I write at home, usually on the couch or at the kitchen table, but my ideas come to me when I’m driving or taking a walk.

Whose books do you most like to read and why?

Wally Lamb and Curtis Sittenfeld are two of my favorite fiction writers. The topics explored in their books are very different, but their characters are complex and relatable. Other than that, I read a lot of non-fiction. Doris Kearns Goodwin is without a doubt my favorite non-fiction writer. She knows how to transform history into a story and as a history teacher, that’s what I do every day.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Just do it. You don’t need a plan or a fancy set up or even complete silence to write. You don’t even have to start your story at the beginning. I find a lot of people don’t know where to begin and that’s okay. Start in the middle. Dive in and don’t worry about editing until later.

Anything else you'd like to share?

Writing has been a form of therapy for me. It’s something I do because it makes me feel good. It’s also something that will live on long after I’m gone and I find comfort in knowing a piece of me will live on.

All About the National Day on Writing

I’m interrupting my blog series profiling authors I know—in which I’ve highlighted literary critic and memoirist Daniel Paliwoda, mystery writer Jen Pitts, children’s author and illustrator Liza Woodruff, journalist Algernon D’Ammassa, and writer and editor in the e-zine space Charlie Bertsch—to post an entry about the National Day on Writing (I’ll get back to the author profile series soon). Those of you who work in or have children in the educational system, whether K-12 or beyond, might have heard of the National Day on Writing. Otherwise, you might be unaware of this initiative. Either way, you might not know its origin story or its purpose. This blog entry will fill you in!

History of the National Day on Writing

The National Day on Writing was establisehd by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in 2009. As noted on its About Us page, NCTE is a professional organization for teachers of English and is “devoted to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education.” Because writing is an integral part of language use, it is fitting that NCTE should have founded this initiative.

Over the years, in places around the country, participants in the National Day on Writing have engaged in a variety of writing-related activities, a sampling of which are listed in a toolkit developed by NCTE. Additionally, a 2020 blog post by NCTE staff member Lisa Fink reveals that the US Senate “has passed resolutions declaring October 20 the National Day on Writing” in support of the initiative. And, as NCTE explains on its National Day on Writing website, since the first National Day on Writing in 2009, the organization has used the hashtag #WhyIWrite to draw attention to the initiative on social media.

An information sheet about the National Day on Writing. (National Day on Writing Toolkit/NCTE)

Purpose of the National Day on Writing

As NCTE explains on its website dedicated to the National Day on Writing, the event is meant to “draw attention to the remarkable variety of writing Americans engage in.” I’ve compiled a list of several of these types of writing that I can think of off the top of my head:

• to-do lists
• shopping lists
• lists of questions to ask your doctor at an appointment
• listicles
• text messages
• emails
• notes in holiday/birthday/thank you cards
• public service announcements
• memos
• briefs
• flyers
• brochures
• blog posts
• calls for proposals
• proposals
• reports
• manuals
• guidelines
• journal articles
• book chapters
• books
• poems

What other types of writing do you do? The National Day on Writing is a great time to reflect on the writing you do on a regular basis. What do you like about it? How do you accomplish it? What do you achieve through it?

My Involvement With the National Day on Writing

I first became involved with the National Day on Writing in 2010 when I started working at North Dakota State University. Prior to my arrival, the day was observed by one faculty member in the Department of English who had her students write on the sidewalks with chalk in response to the #WhyIWrite hashtag. By the time I left NDSU, I had led seven campus-wide observances of the National Day on Writing, in which more than 10 offices and departments participated. I spearheaded several of the events myself, and I assisted others in organizing their events as well. The events that were held over the years included the following:

• writing retreat
• information table with word games and writing activities
• rotating story, aka “exquisite corpse,” on Facebook
• dissertation writing and thesis defense information session
• presentation on workplace writing by a guest speaker from a local company
• display of library resources related to writing
• writing center open house
• calligraphy lesson
• activity on the intersection of art and writing
• presentation on open access publishing
• found poetry activity on Facebook
• help desk on library resources for citations
• author book talk
• pictures of writing in action posted to social media
• multi-language sidewalk chalking and social media posting about the power of words
• grant writing help desk
• e-publishing workshop
• infographics workshop
• thesis formatting workshop
• writing to learn activities workshop
• open access publishing panel discussion
• free verse poetry activity and display
• letters to the President write-in
• 6-word story writing
• Prezi presentations workshop
• literature review workshop
• breaking writer’s block workshop
• PowerPoint posters workshop
• writing game prize drawing

As you can see, I was busy every October 20 with coordinating, publicizing, and running events over those years! In 2011, I even served on the NCTE National Taskforce for the National Day on Writing. Now I’m glad to use my blog as a platform for sharing information about this nationwide event. What will you do to participate in the National Day on Writing?

Author Spotlight: Charlie Bertsch

I’m pleased to bring you the fifth in my series of blog posts profiling authors I know. So far I’ve profiled literary critic and memoirist Daniel Paliwoda, mystery writer Jen Pitts, children’s author and illustrator Liza Woodruff, and journalist Algernon D’Ammassa. This time I’m profiling a leading writer and editor in the e-zine space, Charlie Bertsch.

I met Charlie when I was a doctoral student at the University of Arizona. He taught one of my favorite classes ever (not just in graduate school), which focused on the philosophy of language. I came across the field of philosophy too late as an undergraduate to make it my major (I took my first philosophy class as a junior), but if I had found it sooner, I think I might have become a philosopher instead of an English major who ended up focusing on the study of writing.

The class Charlie taught introduced me to language theorists I ended up citing in chapter four of my dissertation: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Paul Ricoeur, Judith Butler, J. L. Austin, and Jürgen Habermas. I drew connections between their theories and theories of written composition and rhetoric to propose a new way of teaching academic writing that emphasizes building mutual understanding between people rather than focusing only on persuasion. I was honored to have Charlie serve on my dissertation committee and also to serve as a model for me of one of the strongest interdisciplinary thinkers out there.

Charlie is perhaps best known professionally as a co-founder of the e-zine Bad Subjects: Political Education for Everyday Life. One collection of articles from its 25-year run was published by NYU Press and another by Pluto Press. He also co-founded the e-zine Souciant which was published from 2011–2020. He’s currently affiliated with The Battleground, another e-zine, based in Brussels, where he serves as Music & Film Editor. He’s published two book-length collections of his articles from The Battleground. The first, published in 2021, is titled Listening for the Future: Popular Music for Europe, while the second, newly published this month, is called End of Story: European Cinema in a Post-Narrative Age.

Author and editor Charlie Bertsch. (Instagram/Charlie Bertsch)

I’m so pleased to introduce you to Charlie’s writing life. Following is an interview that we edited collaboratively. If you’d like to connect with Charlie, he’s available on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

When did you first know you might become a writer?

In retrospect, I should have had inklings in second grade when I won a competition in my school district for a short book I’d written and illustrated and got to participate in a county-wide program. But the event was held at a school in a very wealthy school district in Philadephia’s northern suburbs, and I found the experience alienating. I mean, the school had an indoor swimming pool!

I started to get a clear sense of being a writer in high school. During the fall semester of our junior year, I was taking a course with a beloved teacher. He distributed a photocopied handbook covering various topics, including complex ethical quandaries. The English teacher who supervised the humanities became angry at him for not getting permission to distribute this handbook before giving it to us and initiated a disciplinary action that eventually led to him being dismissed, though he was allowed to continue teaching for the remainder of the semester.

Because this man also ran the theater program at our school, he had a lot of support from current and former students. A movement sprang up to protest his dismissal, in the hope of getting it overturned. Even though our school was small and out of the way, this movement was eventually reported in local newspapers, as I recall.

Up until that point, I had been a marginal figure in school. After ending up in the outcast role in seventh and eighth grade, I tried to keep a low profile in high school. But something about this protest movement inspired me to become more visible. My general misery and lack of motivation made me more fearless than the students who had initiated the protest, the sort who are always striving to please and worried about getting into a good college.

After the beloved teacher left, I began to write pieces for our school magazine, which he had founded. I discovered that I had a gift for satire and could critique the administration while still maintaining plausible deniability. Knowing that my pieces were making an impact, even though everything in them was coded, and that they were understood both by my fellow students and by our antagonists in the administration transformed me into a more confident person and someone who was willing and able to take risks in my writing.

What or who motivates you to write?

First and foremost, I am motivated by my passionate belief in the power of the written word to promote change. I know that it is extremely unlikely that anything I write will achieve mainstream success. But more than three decades in the alternative media have taught me that it’s still possible to have a meaningful impact on society without that mainstream success, provided you reach enough people who will, in turn, pass your ideas onto others.

I am especially proud of those pieces I’ve written that have moved readers outside of my usual orbit, such as one I wrote in 2012 about my neighbor across the street, a Promise Keeper whose political views were radically different from my own. Although I agreed with very little this man said, he was still a great neighbor who worked hard to make life better for the people around him. This piece made some of my conservative acquaintances on social media—mostly from my high school—feel seen and also helped like-minded progressives to remember that we shouldn’t reduce individuals to the positions they occupy in the political landscape.

Although I have rarely had a large audience for my work, the readers I do have inspire me. It means a lot to know that I’m reaching the people I want to reach and that they are responding to my writing in ways that please me.

At this point, another motivation to write regularly is my own mental health. During the comparatively rare periods in which I haven’t had regular writing assignments, I’ve drifted in and out of a paralytic state that I now recognize as depression.

What is your favorite part of your writing process and what do you most like about it?

My favorite part of the writing process is the initial stage when I’m doing research and formulating ideas. If I’m in a groove, that work fills me with positive energy and generates enough hope to get me through the most difficult part of the process, which is when I sit down at my laptop and try to come up with a way into my piece.

Where do you do most of your writing and why is that your chosen place?

I do most of my writing at home, in the wee hours of the morning. The official reason for this is that I work for a magazine based in Belgium and need to communicate with my editor when it’s morning in Europe. But I also find it difficult to work when I might be interrupted by my family. Although my kind of ADHD makes it possible for me to focus intently when the setting is right, it also leads me to be easily distracted. Interestingly, during daytime hours I typically find it easier to write in a crowded café, where the ambient noise helps to offset the tendencies of my own brain.

Whose books do you most like to read and why?

These days, I am more likely to listen to a well-narrated audiobook than to read a physical one. I suffer from a kind of dyslexia that makes it difficult for me to match up the end of lines, which often causes me to get stuck in a loop, staring at the same page for minutes on end. Although this dyslexia has always been a problem, it became much worse after I endured a serious health crisis and long hospitalization in 2021.

That is why, when I returned to Thomas Mann’s novel The Magic Mountain during my long recovery process, I abandoned my paperback for the excellent Audible version. I typically listen while on the go, which helps me to remember text better than when I am sitting in my chair at home. In the case of The Magic Mountain, I experienced the second half of the book while learning to hike again on my favorite trail in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson. I wrote a long piece about the novel, broken into three parts, for The Battleground, incorporating photos I had taken during my hikes. Although most pieces of mine attract more readers, that one is dear to my heart.

My type of dyslexia makes it much easier for me to read from flat surfaces than curved ones. As a consequence, I read much faster on screens or photocopies that lie flat. That’s fine for research but feels strange to me when I want to immerse myself in a fictional world. So I generally read non-fiction on my laptop these days and listen to novels.

In terms of what I like to read, detective and espionage fiction are my go-to genres for pleasure reading, which in 2024 usually means pleasure listening. John Le Carré’s Cold War narratives have been a favorite of mine since I was a teenager, and I enjoy revisiting them periodically. One of the reasons why Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer, recently adapted into an HBO mini-series, places high on my list of recent novels is that it takes me back to that mode of storytelling but approaches it from a different angle. Another reason is that he is the only recipient of a Macarthur Genius Grant that I once defeated at Scrabble!

Over the past decade, I have been trying to read classics of world literature in translation, since my professional training left me little time for literature that wasn’t in my fields, nineteenth and twentieth-century American literature. Some, like Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, I read in book form. But I found it much easier to listen to Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust than to tackle it in print and not only because of my dyslexia.

I also read cultural theory because I enjoy it, perverse as that may sound, because I appreciate getting a lot out of a little. The same applies to poetry, though I haven’t engaged with it as much lately as I would like.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

The standard advice always seems to be to read widely and as much as you can. I think that’s definitely the case for children and teenagers. But once you are in your twenties, I would argue that it becomes just as important to read well instead of just reading for the sake of reading. That means SLOWING DOWN and reflecting on what you read, rather than rushing to the next book.

One exercise I’ve found valuable is copying down a paragraph that I particularly like by hand, in a notebook, and then writing notes about it. Something about the particular hand-and-brain connection there seems to make the words on the page or screen sink in differently and opens my eyes to details I might otherwise overlook.

Anything else you'd like to share?

For a number of years, I taught a class for first-year students in the honors college of a major university. The idea behind this course was to get these students, who were almost always the hard-working and motivated sort, to make their writing less impersonal, since these students often had difficulty later in their undergraduate years writing the kind of self-descriptions required for applications to graduate and professional school.

I came up with a variety of exercises designed to bypass the habits these students had learned in high school, when they were trying to please their teachers instead of themselves, and to help them mobilize personal experiences in their writing. My favorite one of these involved giving them twenty minutes to respond to a prompt in class. I would ask them to leave their name off of these in-class writing assignments. Once they were done, I would distribute them in such a way that each student ended up with someone else’s in-class writing and could not tell who had written it. Then I would ask students to read the in-class writing carefully several times in preparation for presenting it to the class. I told them to imagine that they had experienced what the other student had and would then take volunteers, asking them to read the in-class writing aloud in such a way that it seemed like their own work.

This seemingly simple exercise led to some very powerful moments in my classes. Afterwards, students often reported that it was their favorite thing about the course. Somehow, the work of impersonating someone else would unlock a capacity to write more convincingly about their own experiences going forward.

I mention this because I think that doing a modified version of this kind of exercise can be very helpful for writers. You can read published work, of course. Or you can get in a writer’s group where you do something along these lines

Author Spotlight: Algernon D'Ammassa

Continuing my blog series profiling authors I know personally, this time I’m profiling Algernon D’Ammassa. (Previously I profiled Daniel Paliwoda, Jen Pitts, and Liza Woodruff.) Algernon is a journalist, currently serving as the managing editor of the Las Cruces Bulletin in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He’s been in this role since December 2023. Previously, he was editor of the Deming Headlight, reporter and columnist with the Las Cruces-Sun News, and reporter and columnist with the Deming Headlight.

Algernon hasn’t always made a living as a journalist, though. He’s also been an actor, a professor of theater arts at several institutions, a K-12 performing arts teacher, a co-founder of an acting studio, a Zen meditation instructor, and the abbott of a Zen center. He’s also a former board member of the New Mexico Humanities Council.

Journalist and editor Algernon D’Ammassa (Personal collection/Algernon D’Ammassa)

I was fortunate to meet Algernon when we went to middle school together at The Gordon School in East Providence, RI. My first year of existence there in the sixth grade passed pleasantly enough, but in seventh grade, for some reason I became the chosen object of the class bully. Algernon, though, stayed a true friend. He performed countless acts of loyalty over the next two years, including performing a soft-shoe duet with me to a rendition of “Me and My Shadow” sung by the class chorus when our music teacher latched on to the idea that I should perform a dance solo once she found out I took dance classes—Algernon came to my rescue. He also phoned me daily with our homework assignments when I was out of school for a surgical procedure. There are many other examples, but you get the idea. Algernon was a gem.

We went our separate ways in high school and completely lost touch for many years, until we reconnected via Facebook. These days we mostly keep in touch through old-fashioned letter writing, of which Algernon is a proponent, or an occasional Facebook message. I’m so glad to be back in touch with him, and I’m glad to introduce you to his life of writing.

If you’d like to connect with Algernon, you can find him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X. You can also reach him through the Las Cruces Bulletin. Following is an interview I conducted with Algernon, which we edited collaboratively.

When did you first know you might become a writer?

I think of my father as the writer in the family, although both my parents wrote. My mother did not write much for publication, but my father turned out book reviews, articles, short stories, and novels. I grew up thinking of writing as an ordinary activity. I wrote letters to the editor, guest opinion pieces, fanzine articles, and plays without any serious ambition most of my life. I was just having fun with it. For decades I thought of myself as an actor and sometimes still do.

What or who motivates you to write?

Most of my published writing is for the weekly newspaper I edit. Plays come to me initially in patches of dialogue, a theatrical image I want to help convey, some way of using live theatre to portray an idea alongside its negation, a theatrical action, or an intriguing relationship.

I try to approach opinion journalism from a nonpartisan angle, sometimes to persuade but often to portray how an ordinary person reasons through problems or propositions that news reporting presents to us. At other times, I feel more reactive, so I use satire instead.

What is your favorite part of your writing process and what do you most like about it?

A few years ago, I reformed my handwriting and got into fountain pens. The tactile pleasure of writing by hand has been a welcome surprise. As a result, I write more personal letters than ever and write notes to myself in journals. My eye, hand, and the flow of the ink work together in a way that pleases me as words and sentences take shape. Sometimes I draft my columns by hand with good results.

Usually, however, I must type, and somehow the process of selecting words and diction are different as I type and watch the words appear on screen.

Either way, I hear a voice and try to direct it to be conversational with the reader.

Where do you do most of your writing and why is that your chosen place?

In my office, people interrupt me constantly, so I do my newspaper writing in cafés or the tiny cabin I rent in town. If working by hand, I have a slanted tabletop writing desk for journaling and writing letters. I have a lovely reading room at my home with a comfortable chair, but I don’t do much writing there. Too much relaxation doesn’t help. I’m kind of a lazy writer.

Whose books do you most like to read and why?

There are certain books or writers who feel like companions, and I enjoy spending time with them. S. J. Perelman makes me laugh and often sends me to the dictionary. Jacques Barzun is such a lovely writer and interesting thinker; I enjoy spending time with any of his books. Plutarch’s biographies are not always good history, but they are good storytelling about the formation of character and values. Joan Didion’s essays. The English playwright Edward Bond is eclectic and fascinating, but it’s his essays I go to repeatedly. Montaigne. Barbara Ehrenreich. Terry Pratchett. There are lots: Books and writers have served as a rich community.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

It’s been said a million times because it holds true: Write. Write every day. Even if most of it is garbage in a throwaway notebook, just exercise moving words through yourself onto a surface and then read that output to see what is effective, what expresses you, what might be useful. If it’s for publication, read a draft out loud. Reading to somebody could also be informative.

Anything else you'd like to share?

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg and Simple and Direct by Jacques Barzun are books I often snatch up at used bookstores and give to people. Feel free to look for them. They might be helpful.

Author Spotlight: Liza Woodruff

With this post, I’m continuing my blog series profiling authors I know personally. Previously I profiled Jen Pitts, author of cozy mysteries, and Daniel Paliwoda, author of literary criticism who’s currently writing a memoir. This time I’m pleased to shine the spotlight on Liza Woodruff, a children’s book author and illustrator.

I met Liza when we were in nursery school together. I was three years old and she was four. We spent only that one year in school together before she moved on to attend elementary school. After that, we attended different elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and colleges. In fact, we attended rival high schools when it came to sports…I’ll never forget the thrill of beating her school, and the agony of defeat when we lost, when I played on the basketball team! But, because we grew up in the same hometown, in the summers our families would occasionally bump into each other at one of many local events, such as the summer concert series.

With the magic of Facebook and the ability to find friends of friends, Liza and I reconnected a few years ago. At that time, I had already purchased one of the children’s books she had illustrated after hearing about it in our hometown’s local newspaper, which I’ve subscribed to over the years. I was impressed with her talent then and I’ve remained so as she has transitioned into not only illustrating but also authoring children’s books.

Author and illustrator Liza Woodruff (Liza Woodruff Children’s Book Author & Illustrator/Liza Woodruff)

Liza has been listed as an illustrator in Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books of the Year 2024 (for 2023 publications) and as an author and illustrator in 2021 (for 2020 publications) for her book Once Upon a Winter Day. I’m sure her forthcoming book, Phil’s Big Day, all about Punxsutawney Phil of Groundhog’s Day fame, will be equally as lauded! You can find a list of all the books she’s illustrated and also authored and illustrated on her website.

In addition to her website, Liza maintains a Facebook page, an Instagram profile, and a LinkedIn account if you’d like to reach out and connect with her. I’m pleased to introduce you to her work! Following is an interview I conducted with Liza, which we edited collaboratively.

When did you first know you might become an illustrator? an author?

I loved art as a child. I drew and painted on my own and took classes outside of school that RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) offered to kids in the community and at a local art shop. It wasn’t until after the first year of art school that I knew I wanted to be an illustrator. I loved painting and sculpture, but the practical side of me was concerned with making money. A career in commercial art seemed much more certain than one in fine art. Luckily, I fell in love with children’s picture books in art school, which made my path clear.

I didn’t imagine I would also be able to write for children at first. About ten years ago, I took a job that I really wasn’t suited for. The story really didn’t interest me in the way that it should have, and my vision for the story was different from the publisher’s. This happens sometimes in commercial art, and as the artist, you have a choice of giving up your artistic vision and doing exactly what the client wants or staying true to yourself. As I tried to get through this project, I realized that the time had come to fully commit to my own artistic voice. In order to illustrate the characters that I was coming up with and the stories they had to tell, I needed to figure out how to write. It has been a long slow process, but it is so satisfying when I can make it work.

What or who motivates you to write or create art?

My writing is inspired by events from my childhood, experiences in my life, and my children. It has been helpful to look at life with a sense of play and wonder. The first book I both wrote and illustrated, Emerson Barks, was inspired by our dog, Emerson. When he could still hear, he barked a lot, and we spent so much time telling him to stop that I wondered what might happen if he tried to hold his barks in. His story came from that seed of an idea.

My book A Quieter Story came from the number of books that I was writing that were rejected because they were too quiet. There really wasn’t enough going on in my stories to make them marketable to editors. I decided to go against my nature and add things that would really fill the story with action and adventure. That took the main character and her cat on a journey through the story. My book that comes out in December, Phil’s Big Day, was inspired by my own and my son’s shyness and stage fright.

Illustration of Phil in the bathtub. (Liza Woodruff Children’s Book Author & Illustrator/Liza Woodruff)

What is your favorite part of your writing/artistic process and what do you most like about it?

 

I love creating characters and then bringing them to life through illustrations and stories about their lives. I think my favorite part of the process is storyboarding. With sketches, I can work out how to tell the characters’ stories in the best way. It’s like being a cinematographer. You choose which moment to capture in the image. I like to use as many tools as I can to create mood, tone, and suspense for the reader. I also do like to create subplots within the illustrations. If I am able to make the story work on multiple levels, that complexity can create engagement that makes the reader return to the story again and again.

Where do you do most of your writing or create most of your art and why is that your chosen place?

 
Most of the time, I work in my studio which is located right off the kitchen in our house. I have lots of windows that look out onto our yard. I have multiple desks set up which give me lots of surface area to spread out. This is good because I cover that space with books and art materials which make a huge mess. I like working in the house also because our pets are there to keep me company. We have two old dogs and two cats who wander in and out of my studio all day long.

Whose books do you most like to read and why?

 
This is one of the hardest questions for me to answer. There are so many books that I enjoy–each one for a different reason. I love poetic books with beautiful language, books with lovely or interesting illustrations, funny books, books that make me think, books that teach me new things, and books that surprise me.

I do think books that capture and articulate the feelings of children while including humor are my favorites. I recently reread Creepy Carrots, by Aaron Reynolds, and it is so good. The story has a strong child perspective, is very funny, and has a surprise ending. I also like that the reader sees something in the illustrations that the main character doesn’t.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors or illustrators?

 
Work hard at what you love. Read lots and lots of books and then practice, practice, practice. That is the only way I have found to improve.

Anything else you'd like to share?
It is a great privilege to write and illustrate children’s books. I love knowing that children are reading my books and perhaps even finding some comfort from them. Because books really do provide a sort of refuge for many children, it’s very important for all kinds of children see themselves represented within their pages. I am happy to see diversity in current publishing. I do think these more inclusive books have had a very positive impact.

Children in years past have needlessly felt “othered” because of the homogenous nature of what was being published at the time. Books benefit children in all kinds of ways. Reading about the experiences of other people is a great way to see the world through someone else’s eyes and to develop empathy, and I think that’s amazing!

Author Spotlight: Jen Pitts

With this blog post, I’m continuing my new series of posts profiling authors I know personally. In the first of the series, I profiled Daniel Paliwoda. This time I’m profiling my friend Jen Pitts. I’m excited for you to learn more about her and her writing! 

I’ve known Jen since we went to Rollins College together in Winter Park, Florida, where we were both English majors and became sorority sisters. Back then, I admired her positive outlook, her sense of humor, and her creativity. Not much has changed, as I still admire those things about her. Now, though, I admire her for even more. 

After a career in retail marketing and while she and her husband raised two children, Jen gradually transitioned into a career as a full-time creative writer. To make this transition, she first published a blog, then she switched to publishing books. I admire her for juggling so many changes in her life so successfully!

 

Author Jen Pitts (Jen Pitts Mystery Author/Jen Pitts)

Jen writes cozy mystery novels. For those not familiar with them, cozy mysteries are a genre focused on crime solving by an amateur detective surrounded by a small circle of friends or family. Works in this genre tend not to describe in detail any sexual or violent acts, hence the “cozy” moniker. Wikipedia offers a comprehensive overview of the genre as well as a list of some books, TV shows, and radio broadcasts that fit the mold.

Jen’s first series of cozy mysteries, called A French Quarter Mystery, contains seven books so far, all of which take place in the French Quarter of New Orleans. She has also started a second series, The Witches of the French Quarter, and she recently released her second book in that series. She’s accomplished all of that in four years, making her a pretty prolific writer! You can find all of her books on her website. She also maintains author pages on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Goodreads. If you subscribe to her newsletter, she’ll gift you a free short story, which is a prequel to her first cozy mystery novel.

I’m pleased to share this interview I conducted with Jen, which we edited collaboratively. 

When did you first know you might become an author?

I realized I was a writer in college, but I didn’t imagine I would become an author until I was about forty-eight years old. I wrote a handful of fiction pieces in college, but I concentrated on personal essays. Those stopped when I entered the corporate retail world. My entire writing time revolved around work—newsletters, ads, and catalog copy. I left that world to focus on being a stay-at-home mom and returned to personal writing. Yet, fiction writing was constantly on my mind.

When my youngest child entered elementary school, my husband suggested I go back to fiction writing. For Valentine’s Day in 2015, my husband gave me a drawing he did of a fleur-de-lis with a dagger and a pen. His artwork is now my logo for my company.

With his encouragement, I started working on my idea for my first book, The Key to Murder. I devoted time to it occasionally. When I became part of an arts community, attended classes, and joined a critique group, I finally believed I could be an author. It took me until March 2020 when I published my first book that I called myself an author.

What or who motivates you to write?

I love sharing my love of mysteries and New Orleans with others. At first, I was thrilled to get these stories out of my head and onto paper. When I began publishing, the demand for my books brought me joy, excitement, and a bit of worry about keeping pace. But I am keeping up and I love writing even more.

What is your favorite part of your writing process and what do you most like about it?

I love plotting. Planning mysteries, selecting characters, settings, and clues is fun. My outlines are always subject to change and they always do. New characters, different settings, more puzzling murders always pop up as I write my stories. And of course my characters always want to add in their two cents.

Where do you do most of your writing and why is that your chosen place?

I love my office at home. Behind my desk are bookshelves filled with all kinds of books. Some are for pleasure, some for work, although my “work” books are ones I enjoy, too. Once I tell visitors I’m a mystery writer, they’re not as concerned about the Voodoo and witch handbooks on my shelves.

I also love to write in coffee shops and not just for the coffee. Now, some might call what I do there eavesdropping, but I call it research. I’ve found unique names for characters, interesting bits of dialogue, and an occasional dramatic scene.

Whose books do you most like to read and why?

I love all kinds of mysteries! From cozies to police procedurals, I’ll read just about anything with a mystery element. I also enjoy psychological thrillers.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

It’s never too late to go for your dreams! Once I started writing fiction again, I wasn’t sure if I would finish a story. But I wanted to at least try. I’m so glad that I wrote that novel. I published my first book at fifty-one years old and I’ve released eight books with one available in prerelease and more to come. Don’t let your age or fear of failure keep you from trying!

Anything else you'd like to share?

I’d love to say thank you to my family and friends. They have been an amazing support group through these last four years. Not just my friends I see every day, but also those I’ve reconnected with on Facebook. And a special thanks to my sorority sisters, especially you, Karen! You’ve been a steadfast supporter from the beginning. Now it’s time for you to write a book!