Spotlight on

Lenora Worth

December 2006

WG:  Welcome Lenora.  Thanks for stepping into my spotlight this month.  To start off, please tell us about yourself.

LW: I was born in Georgia, but I’ve lived in Louisiana for over 25 years. I’ve been married for 32 years and I have two grown children. I attended LSUS but never finished because I became pregnant with my second child and used staying home to raise him as a good excuse to finally start writing. I’ve worked in marketing and public relations and I wrote a weekly opinion column for the Shreveport Times for about five years. I now do freelance work for a local magazine, too.

WG: Let’s talk about your own personal road to publication: Is there some individual, group or event that you can point to as the catalyst/impetus that set you on the road to becoming a writer?  Explain.

LW:  I always wanted to be a writer (from the fourth grade on.) I was the youngest of seven children and I grew up on a farm, so books became my means of escaping. I loved to read and still do. When I got married and moved to Atlanta, my husband worked at night and a friend loaned me some romance novels to read. I was hooked and I knew that’s what I wanted to write. When we moved to Louisiana, I joined the local RWA chapter--NOLA (now the NOLA STARS) and met several wonderful mentors--Penny Richards, the late Sandra Canfield and the late Suzannah Davis. These three women taught me so much about writing.

WG: Tell us about your journey.

LW:  Even though I’d been writing all my life, I got serious after joining NOLA. I had a stack of rejections, but I still decided to stay home after my second child was born and write full-time. Those were lean days--I had to give up shopping for a while. In 1993, I sold my first book to Avalon. I was thrilled, but I was also sick with the flu. When I got the call, I actually thought I was hallucinating! Since then I’ve written over 30 books for three different publishers.

WG:  How many books did you complete before you sold your first?  Have all/any of them sold since? 

LW:  I’d written four books before I sold the first one. I’ve sold all of those except my very first book. But I still plan to write that book one day. 

WG:  What changed most about your life as a direct result of joining the ranks of published authors?

LW:  I guess the most obvious change is being able to do what I love--write--and to be able to do that at home, with my family around. The second change is that I can now go shopping again! I’m able to contribute to my family’s income and well-being and that is very important to me. I’m not rich by any means, but my husband just retired so I feel good about being able to help out with the finances. The other things that give me joy are being able to travel and meet other writers. I have so many close friends who understand this business and help me through the rough spots.

WG:  What  about your writing process:  Do you maintain a set schedule?  Is there such a thing as a typical day for you?

LW:  My typical day starts around 7:30 with yoga, then breakfast with my husband and reading the paper. Then I get dressed and head upstairs to my office. I read e-mail, then I get busy writing. I usually write from ten a.m. to around 3 PM. I take a coffee break around 11 or so, then go downstairs to eat a late lunch and fall asleep watching Ophra!

WG: Do you have a ‘mood setter’, something you use to get you going when you sit down to write?

LW:  Mood setter--DEADLINE. Seriously, I just like to get in my office and get to work each day. Sometimes I play music or light a candle. Chocolate and coffee help, too, of course.

WG:  Do you do a lot of up front plotting before you start or do you just dive in?

LW:  I am a seat of the pants writer. I don’t do much upfront stuff. I just get a scene in my head or I ‘meet’ characters and see where they want to go. I have this strange thing that happens with each book. I can ‘see’ the entire story moving like a fast-forward movie inside my brain. The hard part is getting that on paper.

WG:  Do you normally start with storyline or with character or with some combination of the two?

LW:  I usually start with characters. Sometimes, I’ll get this idea and go from there, but mostly the characters start the story for me.

WG:  Do you find certain themes or character archetypes making recurring appearances in your stories. 

LW:  Since I write inspirational, forgiveness and redemption are big themes in my work. And love conquers all. I love a tormented hero or a beaten-down heroine--I like it when they rise to the occasion and overcome obstacles and challenges.

WG:  Has anything about the way you work changed since you became a published author? 

LW:  Not much--I pretty much do what I’ve always done. Now I just know how to do it a little better--to the point of always having steady work. That’s all I ask for--steady productive work and stories that readers can enjoy!

WG:   Is there anything else you'd like to tell us about your process?

LW:  Just that writing is very hard and it is sometimes very lonely. The business side of things can really bring you down sometimes. But … if you are a writer, you will find a way to write. If I can do it and become multi-published, I know others can, too. It’s a beautiful dream, but it is also a business and you have to know the business and set goals and work toward making those goals become reality.