Member of the Week: Deborah Bouziden

And member since 2002!

Q: When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
A: I think I have always had a desire to be a writer. When I was young I read Jack London’s, Call of the Wild. In second grade, every month, I’d check the book out from the school library and read it. Finally, my grandmother gave me the book for Christmas. That book was the very first book I owned. (I still have that book BTW.) I loved London’s descriptions and the way the story unfolded. As a teenager, I wrote articles and won trophies locally, state wide, and regionally for them.

Then after my children were born, sometime in 1982, I wanted to do something so I could stay home with them. One day, while I was lying on the couch, the sun came shining in through the front door. Like a spotlight, it illuminated one of my writing trophies sitting on the fireplace hearth. I thought, maybe I could do some writing.

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Q: When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

A: About ten years ago at age 42, I entered college for the first time. I had bought a business when I was 21, it was successful and kept me busy but I always wondered about college. Luckily because of scoring high on the assessments, I was able to bypass the basic writing classes and take the most advanced writing class at the university called: How to Write a Major Project. There I decided to write my first book, If the Battle is Over, Why am I Still in Uniform? It was a story I wanted to write for my two children who were 3 and 5 years old at the time when I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer at age 39. It tells about going through colon cancer in a funny and poignant way. One night as I was writing, I heard a weird sound, looked up from my writing and realized it was birds chirping. I had been writing nonstop all night long and was totally engaged. That is when I realized the writing bug bit.

Q: How and when did you make this dream a reality?

A: A few years later I published my first book, two years after that, the second book came out, I’d Like to Buy a Bowel Please! I also started writing a humor column in a medical newsletter regularly as well as a blog with a medical thread to it. You can read that at www.C3life.com.

Q: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned so far in your writing career?

A: Show, Don’t Tell! and how powerful a sentence is without superfluous words.

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Q: When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

A:  I’ve written poems since I was in my teens; it was a wonderful way to express my thoughts and feelings. I’ve always been an avid reader, and I loved the different ways in which authors communicated with the reader.  I guess I’ve always wanted to write, it was simply a matter of time.

Q: How and when did you make this dream a reality?

A: When I began to experience bouts of depression in my late 20’s to mid 30’s, I searched for information on the subject but could find practically nothing that addressed the illness. This was during the mid 1970’s through the 1980’s, long before personal computers enabled you to simple “Google” something for information.  Books on the subject were practically non-existent.  I simply wanted to know if other people had experienced this “darkness of the soul” that seemed to encompass my life.  Later on, I was determined that I would somehow provide anyone else going through what I had experienced, the realization that they were not, as I had felt, alone.  My book, Running Uphill, is my personal memoir of my journey through depression and bipolar disorder and my subsequent recovery.  I began writing it in 2003, put it aside at times, and finally had it published in January 2008.

Q: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned so far in your writing career?

A: That even when you think you’ve written the perfect book, there’s always room for improvement.  Tenacity is imperative while procrastination is your worst enemy.  I’ve also learned that a good editor is critical, particularly in a first book.  Finding them, however, is a major stumbling block for a new author.

If I could have had my book reviewed prior to publishing, I feel I would have infinitely more knowledge as to how to put it all together and it would have been a much better literary piece.  Nevertheless, it did win the POW! award in the autobiography category.

Q: What are you working on right now?

A:  My main objective now is promotion of Running Uphill.  I’ve been asked to ghostwrite a book for a friend about her parental abuse growing up, which I look forward to working on.
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Q: Name some authors or books that have influenced your writing life in a positive way.

A: “Putting Your Passion Into Print” was the most helpful.  I read several others but the titles elude me.  Writers whose styles I admire are Mitch Album, Margaret Atwood, and many, many others.

Q: What have you recently read or what are you reading right now that you would consider an outstanding work?

A:  Among the greatest, I would choose “To Kill A Mockingbird” and “Grapes of Wrath”.  Most recently, “A Thousand Brilliant Suns” stands out as excellent.

Q: What excites or ignites your soul?

A: Observing the joy of a child or elderly person receiving something they’ve longed for but never expected; watching the waves splash against cliffs in the Pacific Ocean; giving something of myself that makes a difference in someone’s life; and riding in a convertible up Highway 1 the entire length of the Pacific Coast with the wind in my face.

About Lora Inman

Originally from California, Lora Inman has lived in many states across the U.S., from the Pacific Northwest to the east coast of Florida.  She and her husband, Michael, currently divide their time between their homes in Jacksonville, Florida and Kirkland, Washington.  Between them, they have three grown children: a son in Washington State, a son in Wisconsin, and a daughter who lives in Jacksonville.  As a member of several support and writer’s groups, she has been a speaker at several events.  Lora Inman may be contacted at lki49@aol.com or by phone (904-343-6511).   Website: www.inmanwriting.com.

Technorati Tags: Lora Inman, NAWW, National Association of Women Writers, To Kill a Mockingbird, Grapes of Wrath, A Thousand Brilliant Suns, Mitch Album, Margaret Atwood, Running Uphill

Q: When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
A: Actually I started out as a Publisher and worked for many years in-house initially with an independent publishing house and then also with Penguin and Random House.

Then in 1999 when I was at a Penguin sales conference in Cyprus, in front of several hundred people, a falling stage spotlight hit me on the crown of the head and knocked me clean out! I was off work for over a year in recovery … and during that time completely reassessed my priorities in life.

As a result I decided to give more time and space to my own creativity and wrote my own book “The Writer’s Journey: From Inspiration to Publication”.

I also set up my own business offering aspiring authors coaching on the process of writing a book for publication, and as part of that, began to deepen my connection to my own writing through sending out regular newsletter articles etc.

I’m still doing so now (available from www.JuliaMcCutchen.com) and I find that the more I write, the more I love writing. Making the transition from publisher to author felt strange at first but now I can’t imagine my life without writing!

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Q: When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
A: I started reading at the age of two, because my mother read books to me all the time. She was a lover of books and a writer. I’ve always loved good stories; reading books, and watching movies. I started writing poems in high school and by college I tripped over the thought, “Maybe I could write for a living.”

Q: How and when did you make this dream a reality?
A: I’ve never stopped writing or studying the writing process, nor talking or teaching others about writing. I’ve been blessed with knowing the writer’s psyche well enough to be aware of the patterns writers go through to sabotage their own writing. I also have some different kinds of “knowing” skills that help me move deeper, beneath the surface, to bring to light what a writer already knows by doesn’t know she knows that’s keeping her from finding her writer’s voice.

Q: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned so far in your writing career?
A. Tenacity. You never know when you’ll be in the right place at the right time, doing the right activity. And because of that unknown, a writer must keep writing, without expectation. Writing is not an end to a means, it’s a lifelong process of self-discovery.

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