Originally from Washington, D.C., and born there in "the winter after Watergate to a French mother and a civil servant father," Alice Osborn grew up in South Carolina before she migrated at bit farther west and north. Her past educational and work experience is unusually varied, and it now feeds her work as a freelance writer and as an editor, mentor and marketing consultant for writers. She teaches classes and writing workshops to aspiring authors of nearly all ages ("9 to 90"), both in person and online. For more details on her workshops, visit www.aliceosborn.com.
AFTER THE STEAMING STOPS is her
most recent collection of poetry; previous collections are Right Lane Ends, and Unfinished
Projects. The latter prompted these remarks from author Homer Hickam:
"I love Alice's poetry. She gives me thoughts I've never thought,
and dreams I've never dreamed. She uses words like a master
potter—molding the clay of the mind into vessels that hold not things, but
life, place, and time." AFTER THE STEAMING STOPS seems a book more
of broken dreams than of new or unexpected ones. There is no
sentimentality in the face of death, departures, endings: "Loss reminds
you about change, / and what you are willing to throw away." The funeral
of a princess becomes backdrop for a more intimate loss,
and tears betray determination more than grief: "... I cry for another death coming. / It's time for me to move out of his place, / tell him what he's afraid to say, / and take his fat cat and a few towels in the parting."
and tears betray determination more than grief: "... I cry for another death coming. / It's time for me to move out of his place, / tell him what he's afraid to say, / and take his fat cat and a few towels in the parting."
Order Alice’s AFTER THE STEAMING
STOPS at www.aliceosborn.com.
Deirdra: When did you first know
you wanted to be an author?
Alice: I’ve always wanted to be an author and always felt
this sense that I was different from my peers—I didn’t take writing in college,
but always had excelled in English and writing in high school, because I had
been programmed by my parents that taking liberal studies/humanities is not
something you do to get a job. Turned out that my Finance degree didn’t get me
a job, either! After working for years at Belk first in advertising, then in
store management and lastly as a buyer, I left after my son was born and did
what I needed to do to become a professional writer. I got my graduate degree
in Rhetoric/Composition from NC State, took more classes, read, become a mentee
to many writing teachers, facilitated writing workshops for other writers, and
then in 2006 started Write from the Inside Out. Incidentally, 2006 was also the
year I published my first book, Right
Lane Ends.
Deirdra: What makes you passionate about writing?
Alice: I love unleashing my quirky voice
and sense of humor out into the world as well as taking creative risks with my
work. I know it in my body when I take a risk when I write about things that
are inappropriate or kind of weird—I feel right that I was willing to take that
chance and stretch my writing without an audience or anyone looking over my
shoulder. And the payoff is wonderful when someone reads my work and gets
me—this reaction just fuels the passion and makes me know that I’m doing what I
was meant to do.
Deirdra: What was the pathway like for you to get your first
book published?
Alice: I self-published my first book of poems, Right Lane Ends, with Catawba Publishing Company in 2006. I wrote
all of the poems in Right Lane Ends
over the course of just four months from April to August 2006. Talk about a
real burst of creativity! My poems emerged from auditing a summer poetry class at
NC State and taking a one-week intensive women’s poetry workshop. After I wrote
these twenty or so poems, I had them edited and reviewed by my wonderful weekly
poetry group. Then I consulted with my boss at the time who was a
self-published author herself, and she gave me the confidence to call up
Catawba and work up the contract. At the time I had also scheduled my book’s
book launch for October 13th at our favorite local coffee shop so I
knew that I had to get order my books by Labor Day so I could get my books
delivered a few days before the launch—and it happened!
Deirdra: Where do your ideas come from? How do
you know the idea is good enough to write a book about it?
Alice: I get ideas from anywhere and I know the idea is good enough when I feel
my arms tingle. Have your arms ever tingled when you’ve felt a good idea? For
example, I got the title of my book, After
the Steaming Stops from an Aunt Jemima waffle box—if you check out the
instructions on the back you’ll see some of the boxes say, “Bake until the
steaming stops” after you’ve poured the batter into a hot waffle iron. I love to make waffles on Sunday mornings and
came across this phrase—and thought, “how intriguing.” I changed it to “After
the Steaming Stops,” to reveal what happens after the anger and after the love
is gone. Many of my poems use domestic imagery and I also wanted the title to
have an element of danger—which is steaming. Steam will burn you and it can
also melt your love. Love is represented by the frozen popsicle heart that’s
being lowered via ladle into the pressure cooker. In this case steam, one of
the three states of water, is a metaphor for love in my book. Some love is
solid (you know it’s unconditional), some liquid (it flows all around you and
you know it’s there), some is steam (it’s in the vapors and you don’t know if
it really even exists).
Deirdra: Can you tell us a little about your book, After the Steaming Stops.
Alice: All of my poems in my book are stories, or narrative
poems, about love’s flare-ups and endings. They are mostly true stories of what
happened to me as a three-, eight -or ten-year old and how inappropriate my
parents acted with me. As a kid, I remembered these incidents, locked them into
my head so one day I could write about them. All of the quotations from my
folks are real. Some poems weigh more on the father than the mother to give
them equal time and I’m sympathetic with both. I also love to write about
death! I also have two historical poems about a near death and a death and how
they affected me. My poem “Early” is about a train engineer who kills someone
on the tracks just because he was doing his job. I got the idea from that poem
by reading the paper. The article said that over the course of a train
operator’s career, they will kill three people on average.
Deirdra: What’s your secret to making the characters
in your books come to life?
Alice: My endings! I like to give readers an unexpected
punch in the final line. I use stories and images that will stay in your brain
for years (so sorry about that!) and many of my poems include my dry sense of
humor, too. My poetry is very accessible and easy to understand BUT the more
you read my poetry, you’ll discover more layers and more intrigue! I feel the
emotion and sometimes see the image I want to end on, but have to enter the
writing process in order to find the right words. I investigate where the
emotional hot points are in the poem and either make a statement or find the
right image that captures the essence of that poem. I also work very hard to
make sure that the poem has earned its ending and everything that I’ve already
written has climbed that mountain to the end.
Deirdra: Besides writing what other talents or hobbies
do you have?
Author: I love to sing and have started
voice lessons. I’ve even sung at several of my poetry reading events! I run,
hike and organize a monthly book club so that I keep up with my reading even if
I’m very busy. I love networking and connecting good people with each other.
Deirdra: What are you working on now?
Author: I’m working on a full length collection of poems and
have about 10 written so far. The theme is pop culture, historical figures and
celebrities—sort of like a Jeopardy!
Board. Predator, Kathy Griffin, the Devil, Hamburger Helper, Captain Bligh, and
the Road Runner will all be making cameos.
Deirdra: What words of advice do you have for other writers
who desire to have their manuscripts become books in print?
Alice: It’s all about making an appointment with yourself on
the calendar and giving your own work top priority. I choose certain days of
the week to get my own work done and this further trains my brain to get into
the creative spirit. I’ve also found that contests, publication deadlines and
open mics help me get motivated to produce new work and they can help you! Even
when I was on maternity leave four years ago I wrote every day and used my
online and offline poetry groups to keep me accountable. My advice is to write
down your deadlines in your daily planner or on your smart phone. Also you need
to write down your writing goals and be specific. How many markets do you want
to submit to in a month? When you do you want your first draft of your book
ready? Writing your goals down will make them real and measurable and will fuel
your desire. You can also give yourself a reward when you do reach your goal—my
reward is hanging out on Pinterest or Facebook.
There are consequences when you’re an artist not practicing
your craft: if you aren’t consistent with your work and procrastinate by being
too busy, you’ll lose your creativity and it’ll be so much harder to get back
into the game. I write in some shape or form every day. It may not be a poem,
but it’s certainly rewrites for a client, a blog post, an article, an essay, or
a proposal. Professional writers write and keep producing no matter if they
feel sick or if they know they’re work is crap or if they are too busy. They
just do it.
Deirdra: Where can readers go to find your books and order
them?
Author: That’s easy! Go to www.aliceosborn.com and you can order After the Steaming Stops right from my
home page. You can also order my book through Amazon. I’ll personally sign your
copy and give you a custom-made bookmark.
Deirdra: Any final words you would
like to share?
Author: If you want to be a writer love books and read
everything in sight! Join a book club so you can see how the masters craft
sentences you will one day craft. Take writing classes either online or in
person. Go to Open Mics, conferences and writers’ guilds in your area so you
can meet other writers. Most importantly, you need to connect with other
writers and join a writing group—you’ll need these folks as you ascend in your
career and to keep you accountable.
Thank you so much. It’s a real honor to get your insights.
I enjoyed the interview very much. I loved reading about how Alice drew from her own life to write.
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