Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an award winning playwright and screenwriter. Among my favorite projects are a play and documentary on Cahuilla elder Katherine Siva Saubel entitled We Are Still Here and the one-act play Windstorm for which I interviewed Dr. Elisabeth Kubler Ross. My novels include The Women Debrowska that is (very) loosely based on her own Polish ancestry, Ouray’s Peak which follows the story of one matriarchal Ute Indian lineage, the Mystery Magical Realism Stone Quest series that include Desert Chimera, Gallows Ascending, and the newly released Neuri Shape-Shifter, and my recently completed contemporary western love story, Western Song.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Western Song. This book began life as an eight page play inspired by a series entitled “The Last Gasp,” a series of plays that was to take place in a judges chambers right before a couple’s divorce. Wanting a vivid couple, and having lived in Colorado and fallen in love with the West, I envisioned a cowboy and to complete the “fish out of water” sense, a Thai immigrant bride. I had also been inspired by Thomas Paine in my early teens, and so, I imbued my immigrant with the same love of Paine.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well, define unusual. One writer’s poison is another’s etc. I write; it is my drug of choice.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, Margaret Mitchell and Gone with the Wind, Barbara Kingsolver, Stalag 17…Emerson and Thoreau, Ray Bradbury, Maya Angelou…
What are you working on now?
Marketing…UGH!
I am about to begin adapting my screenplay, adapted from the play AMARA. That’s a very fun endeavor– a Broadway murder mystery containing a play within the play and set in 1949.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have recently discovered the benefit of LIVE promotion, and so moving forward, I am hoping to make more use of LIVE appearances. I am planning to make presentations of my historical fiction THE WOMEN DEBROWSKA, and OURAY’S PEAK as well as my Psychic Mystery Series STONE QUEST and try to book appearances. I have found that running Internet promotions not to be very effective. A 99 cent has been the most effective– but how disheartening. Writing a book is a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to offer for less than a dollar. You never make your money back– never mind the effort. And it does not build an audience– they re just off to find the next bargain– preferably one for free. I am really so sorry there were EVER any FREE book promotions ever offered. We are worthy of so much more than that.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Never give up. Write.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never give up. Write.
What are you reading now?
The Center Cannot Hold: Elyn R. Saks
What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to begin a multi-generational novel that covers the 20th and 21st Centuries and all the craziness we have seen. We have lost our way in our great nation from “Give us your tired, your poor, your teeming masses yearning to be free,” to ” I’ve got mine, eff you…” and I would like to document that. What the hell happened to us? And can we be saved?
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Poisonwood Bible: Barbara Kingsolver
The Madd Adam Trilogy: Margaret Atwood
The Magus: John Fowles
Author Websites and Profiles
Leigh Podgorski Website
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