Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:01
#AuthorInterview | Talking about writing your first novel with Debbie Griffiths
Debbie Griffiths was born and raised in the greater Los Angeles area. She graduated with honors from Biola University with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Organizational Leadership, and this degree helped her advance in the homeowners association industry, where she has written several articles on common interest developments. She is always trying to broaden her horizons, so that is how she chose to write her first novel
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:17
I would love to start out by hearing a little bit more about your trajectory as a writer. Was writing, especially fiction, always something that you wanted to do? Or was there a life event or something else that happened in your life that made you want to write your first book?
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:26
What was one of the most challenging aspects of writing torched and did you have any community support, like a writing group, a mentor or an editor? And what else did you learn from the process of writing this first book? Is there any writing advice that you would share to writers who are just considering writing their first book that was either shared with you or that you've learned from experience?
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:15
I know you mentioned that you are a big reader, and as you know, there are a lot of readers here on Swell. What's something you're currently reading and enjoying? And are there any other favorite books or genres that you tend to like and read a lot about?
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:17
Lastly, now that Torched is out in the world, are you planning on writing any other books, or is there something else that you're currently obsessed with that can or cannot be writing related? We would love to hear anything that's on your heart and mind. Next
You? What a great question. The answer is no. I have never written a books before, including any work of fiction. The only experience I had was writing articles for my industry and I'm in the homeowners association industry. So I would periodically write articles for our trade magazine and they would be public, you know, in in our trade. But as far as writing a fiction or even writing a book or even thinking I had a story to tell was further from the truth
Sometimes I would remember something that I wanted to include, other times I would take something out because it didn't advance the plot of the story. So again, it goes back to you got an idea, just start. And my biggest supporter probably was my publicist. In fact, I know he was my biggest supporter. I didn't have a writing group. I really didn't tell anybody for a long time that I was doing this
It was a great, fast read and a good way just to kind of escape. And I just needed that relaxation at the time. So again, there's no one particular genre I like more than the others. It just depends on kind of where I'm at in my life and what I feel like reading. So there really isn't any bad books out there as far as I'm concerned
So with that said, here we are down a couple of months down the road and I'm now in writing a couple of chapters for a couple of books that are more faith based and showing really how God has worked in my life. More to be used as a devotional type books just to share the positive message. God has been instrumental in my journey and without my faith, I know I personally would not be here
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:42
And for anyone who comes across this conversation later, please feel free to jump in. I think that this is an important conversation that we should keep having and really looking forward to hearing whatever you do next