Djuna Shellam Interview

I was a voracious reader as a child. I wanted to be an author but didn't think I was smart enough. It took me until my 30s to realize that yes, I am quite smart, and I can write a book. 

I don't care for rules in general, and I especially don't like an elite group of people getting to decide whether I get to make art or not. And, if they decide I get to make art, they would also insist on having a strong input on my art. No, thank you. Early on, I decided to be my own boss. I'm an author and a businesswoman. I've never regretted it. Not for a second.

I'm a bit of a mashup of a plotser and an pantser. I start with a "What Happens" which is where I write down the story as if I were telling a friend about the book I'm about to write. This happens, then that happens, and then so and so does this... and so on. That's my plotser contribution. From there, once I start writing in earnest, I'm almost more along for the ride than the writer in charge. I use my What Happens as my guide, but I've often had new characters just walk into a scene with no warning, and I'll just go with it. That's the pantser part.

Indeed I have. I've had about a million jobs and about as many college majors. A normal person might find that rather disappointing, but as a writer, it's been great. Add that experience to a vivid imagination and voila! Creative writing!

All of my characters have something of me in them, so yes, there are times I understand various characters all too well.

Not really. Not in the traditional sense. The only time I don't write is when I don't want to. I don't subscribe to a writer must write every day, because then it becomes work. I love writing (even when I hate it), and I want it to remain something I love. I've tried the whole "write every day" thing and the whole time I was writing when I really didn't want to, it felt like I was watching the clock (actually, I was watching the word count I'd set up for each day). Then, I began to dread my writing sessions. Never again. I write when I want to and I have something to say. I think having writer's block has become somewhat of an "in" thing for writers, but I've never been "in," so...

Oh, absolutely. Even though I lived through the time I wrote about, I wanted to make sure my recollections were accurate. There were also a lot of details I just don't remember. I love researching my books because I learn so much, or am reminded of what I've forgotten.

I do. I have the first and last word.

I'd like to write Vol 2 of The True Life Adventures of Djuna Shellam. Vol 1, Nom de Plume, An Extraordinary Life was such an epic tale, I'm almost scared of Vol 2 in that I may not be able to live up to its expectations. Then, I'll write Highland Park which I plan as a one-off spin-off of The Em Suite. The Em Suite will have a #6, but when, I can't say at this point in time.

Too long. It took about two and a half years. Of course, shortly after I started it I decided to have a grand adventure which seriously impacted my writing time and mood. The grand adventure is an even longer story and still in progress.

I enjoy writing wherever I'm comfortable. It could be in my bed, on my sofa, a coffeehouse, on the porch... I do not care for writing at my desk. I have back issues, so I can only last about an hour at my desk. It may go 'bye-'bye in the future for that very reason.

Absolutely! If possible, I try to listen to music from the same period in time in which I'm writing. In nearly all cases I've lived in that period so it helps me grab onto the feeling of the particular era.

I bowl, I write and perform music and I love photography.