Deborah-Zenha Adams is an award-winning author of novels, short fiction, CNF, and poetry. She served as executive editor of Oconee Spirit Press for ten years, and is currently a reader for Boomerlit. She is also a certified naturalist and a yoga educator, a vegetarian, and a Prius owner. Yes, she’s the living stereotype of a liberal tree-hugger.
When not writing, sauntering, or practicing yoga, she partners with historical societies and yoga studios throughout the southern United States to conduct her signature workshops Write Your Family Story in a Poem (even if you aren’t a poet) and Write Your Yoga Story (even if you aren’t a writer).
An interview with Deborah-Zenha Adams
Why do you write in the genre(s) that you do?
I guess I’m easily bored, but let’s say I have a wide-ranging curiosity. My most recent book, Patchwork, is a collection of previously published stories, CNF, and poems. The book before that was speculative fiction, and before that I was devoted to writing cozy mysteries. I love experimenting with the different genres, and with different forms of the genres.
Do you keep a notebook of ideas?
I have dozens of notebooks, as well as notes written on paper scraps, envelopes, book page margins, and the side of a Kleenex box. I’ll jot a note if I have even the slightest sense that it might develop into something bigger.
Are you more of a fan of plot-driven stories or character-driven stories?
Characters are the reason I read fiction. A well-written character quickly becomes real to me, and I’m able to move into that world alongside her. The plot, then, also has to be sharp and relevant, but if I don’t care about the character first, I don’t care what happens to her.
What are your thoughts on typewriters?
Ah! Well, I’m of one of those generations that had typing as a required course in high school. What’s more, my class had only one of the fancy new sorts of typewriters: electric! We got to take turns using that one, but I don’t have any memory of ever getting the honor. Even so, I managed about 60 words per minute on the manual typewriter, which was quite respectable.
I have an old Royal manual as well as an IBM Selectric stored downstairs. You know…just in case computers and their keyboards disappear.
Would you rather own a bookstore or run a library?
Oh, definitely run a library. I’m sure it’s full of headaches, but I owned a small press for ten years, and I was terrified every day that I’d make an irreparable mistake. I don’t ever want to own another business.
What is your favorite website that you use to promote your writing?
I’m experimenting with anti-marketing. That means I’m trying to find ways to avoid actively promoting my own writing but helping other authors promote their work. It’s so hard for most of us to self-promote. So, I find sharing work by others that I enjoy and admire to be fun and gratifying.
If Hollywood bought the rights to your book, would you want it to be turned into a movie or series?
Give me a TV series every time! Viewers get to know the characters over time, and that makes for a family/close friend vibe that movies just can’t match.
Who is your dream audiobook narrator?
Dolly Parton, of course! Or Helen Mirren. Hard to tell those two apart.
What are your passions/obsessions outside of writing?
I’ve been a yogi for decades, and taught yoga for years. That’s gone beyond passion/obsession and become a lifestyle. I’m also a bit overly enthusiastic about recycling.
Have you made any public appearances to promote your book?
Not lately, no. I did a couple of readings for {This Tale Is True}, but Patchwork exists for an entirely different purpose. While it’s available for purchase, I’ll be giving it to participants in my writing workshops as one of the handouts.
Who is on your Mt. Rushmore of greatest/inspirational authors (choose four authors)?
Mary Stewart, front and center. She gets more respect for the Merlin novels, but her romantic suspense is incomparable!
Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels. She was a stickler for accuracy, but she never let it get away from her. No boring details just because she had them. And her Black Rainbow was so daring and perfectly plotted.
Geri Larkin, the Buddhist essayist. Everything she writes seems so breezy and so happy, but maybe just a little perplexed and quirky, and then…oh. Life lesson that the reader just absorbs.
Mary Oliver. Well, who doesn’t love Mary Oliver? But this is the writer I want to live next door to. Her careful attention to the natural world and to the human spirit is extraordinary.
Is there a book that somebody gave to you that helped you pave the way to becoming a writer, or is there a book on writing that you recommend all writers read?
Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird makes my heart do cartwheels. She has such a light touch, such an easy delivery of Profound Truths, and she writes with humility and…well, with joy. She makes writing seem like a spiritual calling, and perhaps it is.
Is there an idea that a non-writer has pitched to you that you have considered writing?
Not once, and that’s because I’ve never felt passion toward someone else’s ideas. I might find their ideas interesting, intriguing, important, but passion comes from a deeply internal spark, and I’ve never felt that spark when hearing someone else’s idea. I’m happy to encourage them to write their own story, even if they aren’t writers.
Write it down, speak it to a recorder, sing it, paint it, preserve it any way you can, folks. But keep your story alive.
Have you ever gone away to work on a piece of writing? If not, where would you go if you could?
I’ve done that a couple of times, and I’ll likely do it again. I find it helps if I go where there are other writers also working. If I just go away and am accountable only to myself, I’ll end up hiking or meditating or piddling away the time.
What is an annoying thing that a non-writer has assumed about writers or the act of writing?
So many people assume writing is like tweeting. Just scribble a few words and you’re an author.
Hence the often-heard line, “I’m going to write a book some day when I have a little spare time.” It’s all I can do to keep my mouth shut when I want to say “I’m going to perform brain surgery some day when I have a little spare time.”
How do you measure the success of your writing career?
Success is fully equal to the amount of satisfaction I feel when I complete a piece.
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