Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve written one book under my own name. Throughout a long career in the security services, I authored several books on various issues in counter-terrorism that were published under my institute’s name. In fact, one of the reasons I took early retirement was in order to focus on writing under my own name. Even introverts can get tired of living in the shadows!
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my most recent book is Returning. The title can be interpreted in a number of ways: returning to a painful memory, returning to oneself, returning to life… All of these themes play a role in the story.
The book was a response to a memory that had plagued me since I was a child. For most of my childhood, I couldn’t make heads or tails of what I was “remembering”. Was it something out of my own warped imagination? Something I’d seen on TV? A story someone had told me?
I had no answers. I only knew that there was something terrible in my past that haunted me, shamed me, and at times threatened to derail my life. Nightmares, phobias… And yet, I also knew that the things I remembered could not possibly have happened to me. Often the memory took the form of “waking dreams” during which I would disengage completely from what was going on around me. I had nightmares from which I woke in a panic, without being able to remember a thing. Completely innocuous stimuli could set off extreme reactions of fear. I did have some idea that it was all connected — that the fragments of memories, the fear, and the ever-present feeling of doom somehow told a story. I just wasn’t sure what story, or whose.
By the time I was a teenager, I had begun to have a vague idea of what sort of place I remembered. I had learned what subjects to avoid, which books not to take off the shelves in the library, which words I couldn’t bear to hear or say. We didn’t have a television, but if I was at a friend’s house, I learned when to change the channel and when to leave the room. Beyond the few fragments that I had seen, I knew what was in my memory only by what I couldn’t face.
Then, when I was 15, I got a job training a horse way up in the Texas hill country. Since I didn’t yet have a driver’s license, I found it prudent to drive the roads less traveled. One day, on my drive, while trying to find something interesting on the radio, I happened upon the most haunting song I’d ever heard. Suddenly, happier memories came flooding back — memories of the sound of the sea, of friendship and laughter, of walking home singing into the night through dark cobble-stone streets…a memory of home. Only these were not my memories, nor was this my home.
The song provided the key I needed to unlock the past. It also led me to the Jewish community, and eventually to conversion to Judaism. And so, at the age of 18, I started my life over again in Israel with $200 in my pocket and a Ladino song in my head.
I’ve spent most of the years since then working in counter-terrorism and intelligence, doing everything in my power to keep a remembered tragedy from recurring. After retiring from active service, I taught trends in terrorism, threat assessment, and asymmetric conflict. But when I was diagnosed with PTSD, I decided it was time to switch gears, to deal with life, rather than death. It was time to face the memory.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not sure how unusual this is, but one thing I find extremely helpful is to read back over my writing in a different place, and on different media. This puts me in “reader” mode, rather than “writer” mode. So once I type out an essay, a book chapter, or a blog post. I’ll take a break, leave the computer, and head over to my reading chair. There, perhaps with a cat on my lap, or a glass of wine at my side, I’ll read the piece I just wrote in a completely different mindset. Often, this will help me to see the flaws in the piece, or to shore up its stronger bits. The “reading” me is often creative in different ways than the “writing” me.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Oh, so very, very many authors and books! I think Ursala Le Quin is one who has been a very big influence from day one. Her ability to truly understand the cultures she created–to really get into the heads of her characters–is astounding. And her writing is beautiful, bordering on lyrical.
And while we’re on the topic of science fiction, David Brin is another writer whose works inspired me, in particular, his Uplift Series.
And then there is naturalist Loren Eisely. If often find that if I’m having trouble bringing a bit of description to life, just rereading one or two of his essays can open the floodgates of creativity and help me over the block.
In writing about Jewish philosophy, Avraham Yehoshua Heschel has been a profound influence, as have the Hebrew language works of Rav Kook. Both of them have a style that is allusive and quite beautiful, and both of them tackle difficult issue head-on. Their courage inspires me as much as their writing style.
What are you working on now?
I’m now working on my second book, a light-hearted romp through the Talmud with a cynical cat as a writing partner. The book is tentatively titled Havruta with a One-Eyed Cat, and will hopefully be volume one of a series. This first book will be a look at how Jewish source texts (the Bible and the Talmud) answer the question: What makes us human. Along the way, Pixel the One-Eyed Cat will bring up ideas from the secular world: the works of evolutionary biologist Steven J. Gould, Yuval Harari, and philosophers like Michael Wyschogrod. The idea is to tackle these weighty matters in a way that is light-hearted and enjoyable, while still giving the reader something to think about. You can find a few sample essays here: https://www.yaelshahar.com/category/feline-havruta/
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Good question! I’ve worked with a publicist (paid for by my publisher) to get a few critical reviews. However, in terms of actual sales, I’ve had the most success through posting my essays and opinion pieces on high-profile media sites. In addition, I’ve put together two study guides based on excerpts from Returning that can be used by book clubs, or by discussion groups, even without having read the book. I’ll usually see an uptick in sales when a book club uses one of these guides to run a discussion.
I having found a single “magic bullet” when it comes to book promotion. I often hear the advice: to promote your book, write another book! I think this advice is quite sound, even though my next book will be in a very different genre to my first book. But getting essays published elsewhere can also help a great deal to get your name out into the world.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write! Critique! Rewrite!
Yes, I know, this is not exactly new advice. But really, it’s the best way to hone your skills. Be ready to rewrite what you’ve written, to cut out scenes or chapters that don’t support the story. Be aware of the elements of story structure and open to the critiques of readers.
And, if you’re self-publishing, pay for an editor! Don’t try to do it yourself. A new pair of eyes will see issues that you, as the author, would miss, simply because you know the story too well. It pays to hire a good professional content / proofing editor, as well as a cover artist who can make your book the best it can be.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I think the best advice I ever heard was to treat my writing as part of my “day job”. There was a time when I thought of writing as something I did after hours, after I’d taken care of making a living. But this meant that, if it got done at all, the writing got shunted over to my least productive hours. Once I realized that writing was part of my job description, I made sure to put aside the hours needed to do it, and to keep plugging away at it, even when I didn’t feel inspired. The result was that I was able to do both my writing and my “paid” work, without the one getting in the way of the other.
What are you reading now?
This will sound really nerdy, but I’m currently reading Yoram Hazony’s Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, and Richard Wrangham’s superb book on human evolution, The Goodness Paradox. Both of these will provide themes for Havruta with a One-Eyed Cat.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Riches? Fame? A new chainsaw to replace the one that quit in the middle of tree pruning the other day? Who can say?
I hope that I’ll continue growing and learning new things, and that every new bit of learning and growing with be reflected in my writing. What more could one ask?
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?
Well, if I’m feeling nerdy, I would probably say 3 volumes of Talmud and an Aramaic dictionary! That would keep me happily occupied for months.
But then, in a more literary mood, I would probably settle on The Lord of the Rings, plus one volume of Talmud. Food for the soul on all levels!
Author Websites and Profiles
Yael Shahar Website
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