Author Interview – Lisa Jones

Broken: A Love Story

Lisa Jones’ first non-fiction book, “Broken: A Love Story”, was recently released. It is more a story of climbing a spiritual mountain than a book about horses, but horses do play a supporting role. More about Lisa and her work can be found on her website (brokenalovestory.com) and her blog.

Tell us a little about yourself for those who haven’t yet read the book
I spent my childhood in Scotland, and since then have lived almost exclusively in Colorado. After graduating from the University of Colorado, I wrote for newspapers and magazines for two decades, and I was on assignment for Smithsonian magazine when I met the subject of this book — a quadriplegic Northern Arapaho horse gentler and traditional healer named Stanford Addison.

I currently live in Boulder, Colorado with my husband.

What is your earliest memory of writing, and do you remember what you wrote about?
When I was five years old I slipped a poem under my father’s office door. He kept it. It said (and I think I’m getting the spelling almost right):
A doll is a doll
An ape is an ape
Wot is the matr?
I cant fynde the tape.

Do you have any secret rituals (that you are willing to share) to help you through writers’ block?
I don’t think I get writer’s block, at least not in a complex or psychological sense.

That said, sometimes the process flows and I write well, and sometimes I wake up with about 100 fewer IQ points than I went to bed with and feel like I have a head full of gravel. I dose that with coffee, or exercise, or read some writing that inspires me.

If that doesn’t work, I just sort of wait for the smooth, flowing days to return.

What kind of books did you read as a young girl, and do you remember which ones were your favorites?
My family lived in Scotland when I was young, and my sister and I were absolutely hooked on a series of books about a young pony enthusiast named Jill. The first was Jill Enjoys her Ponies. And we read all the Pippi Longstocking books. When I was 14, we moved at the beginning of the summer so I had no friends and spent the entire summer reading Dickens.

Are there certain authors or other people who helped to influence and shape your writing?
My boss at High Country News — a terrific twice-monthly nonprofit environmental publication — was named Ed Marston. A former physics professor, he was a very serious, thorough, wonderful journalist. He pushed me to go beyond gathering quotes and arranging them around simple concepts; he pushed me to come up with my concepts of my own. And Annie Lamott showed me you can self-disclose, even have fun doing so — even if what you’re disclosing is painful.

What is the best advice that you ever received regarding your writing?
Hmmmm… That’s a good question.

The best advice is tell the truth. Don’t go for fancy language. Make every sentence true. Make each description true.

Don’t inflate things (or deflate them) to have them fit some (usually unconscious) concept you may have of how people need to have their sentences/images/emotions delivered to them.

That means being emotionally honest. It means not dramatizing your subject, but going in and finding the minutia of what makes your characters human (or your descriptions of nonhuman components of your book.) My friend Laurie recently gave me a great quote she had read somewhere: Every honest person is an interesting person.

What is the worst advice that you ever received regarding your writing?
I can’t remember it. And that’s good. Hmmmmm. I will say this: When I was younger, I diminished “emotional” writers, first-person writers. My heroes were straight journalists with flair. Usually men. But it was good for me to realize that although I was a competent straight journalist, it just wasn’t my calling.

Was the publishing process what you expected and in what ways?
I had no idea what to expect. I’d heard all kinds of horror stories, especially about being abandoned by your publisher when it comes to publicizing your book. That hasn’t been my experience. I’ve worked hard on publicizing myself, but Scribner has been good as well.

What is similar about the spiritual path and the writing path?
They’re both demanding as all get-out. They both require a lot of work and a lot of surrender, but there is NO GUIDE BOOK regarding when you should push and when you should let go. But there are definite times for each.

For me, writing BROKEN was just as emotionally difficult as the experiences that form its content.

What are you working on right now?
Ha! I’m publicizing my book. I wrote a couple of tiny articles for magazines — including one I really like about buying a swamp cooler for my ancient car rather than buying a new car with A/C — for the July issue of ORION. But going back to journalism is a bit daunting right now — the industry has downsized so much since I was an active freelancer that I feel like Rumplestiltskin.

If you hadn’t become a writer, where do you think you would be right now and what would you be doing?
Hmmmm. I hope something wholesome like a farmer or a landscape designer or kayak instructor or ski lodge owner. Or a teacher.

What book is on your nightstand right now, if any?
I’m on vacation right now and I read Ann Patchett’s BEL CANTO. It was lovely — totally transporting.

Many Thanks

Thanks to Lisa for answering the interview and sharing more about her. Be sure to subscribe to her Broken Blog to learn more.

And thanks again to Eleanor for putting the interview together, you can subscribe to learn more about her and her palomino Sage on her horse blog.

Stay tuned for more interviews with horse artists, photographers & authors.