Ask the Author: Jenai Auman
Answered Questions (8)
Jenai Auman
Othered tells the story of how I found wholeness and belonging after spiritually abusive people smashed my sense of self and my system of support apart. It isn't a memoir, but it does include pieces of my story. And it was my way of detangling the Creator God from the abuse of power that has so often been committed in his name.
Jenai Auman
In his book Wishful Thinking, Frederick Beuchner wrote that "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."
I write because I think it is the place where my deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet. I avoid using the word "calling," primarily because I think "calling" is a spiritual word used to hide self-serving desires. But I do believe each and every person is called to image God in their agency. In the beginning, humanity was called to tend the Garden and keep it. For me, writing is my way to tend the Garden and keep it. It is how I choose to practice resurrection.
So, in many ways, I don't wait for inspiration to strike in writing.
Writing is a part of living my life. Living my life includes writing.
I write because I think it is the place where my deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet. I avoid using the word "calling," primarily because I think "calling" is a spiritual word used to hide self-serving desires. But I do believe each and every person is called to image God in their agency. In the beginning, humanity was called to tend the Garden and keep it. For me, writing is my way to tend the Garden and keep it. It is how I choose to practice resurrection.
So, in many ways, I don't wait for inspiration to strike in writing.
Writing is a part of living my life. Living my life includes writing.
Jenai Auman
Aside from prepping to launch Othered, I'm working on a proposal for book 2. I realized there was so much more I wanted to say in Othered, but I didn't have the room to say it. So, by the time I finished the manuscript for Othered, the idea for book 2 was already starting to form.
I'm also working on my education, which comes with many papers to write and so many books to read. There's so much I want to speak to and research so that I can be a better writer and communicator. The research part has been life-giving for me, so I'm staying diligent with my time in seminary and am prepping for what applying to a PhD program would look like in the next few years.
I'm also working on my education, which comes with many papers to write and so many books to read. There's so much I want to speak to and research so that I can be a better writer and communicator. The research part has been life-giving for me, so I'm staying diligent with my time in seminary and am prepping for what applying to a PhD program would look like in the next few years.
Jenai Auman
If you write words, you are a writer. I think qualifying it with the word "aspiring" suggests there is a standard you need to reach before you can call yourself a writer, and I don't believe that to be true. If you write words, you are a writer.
Now, if you want to grow in the craft of writing or have writing goals, that is another thing entirely.
So, to answer the original question, if you aspire to certain writing goals, start working toward them. Be willing to fail. Put your words out there and see if they resonate. Do the hard work of internal healing so you have the capacity to be vulnerable with your words. Healing internally makes rejection sting less. Rejection becomes lessons to learn from. Learn from the failures. Let yourself be a beginner again. Give yourself the freedom to say, "I don't know."
And if you well and truly do not know where to start, look to other authors and writers whose words have meant something. Pay attention to what they are saying, but also pay attention to how they are saying it.
Now, if you want to grow in the craft of writing or have writing goals, that is another thing entirely.
So, to answer the original question, if you aspire to certain writing goals, start working toward them. Be willing to fail. Put your words out there and see if they resonate. Do the hard work of internal healing so you have the capacity to be vulnerable with your words. Healing internally makes rejection sting less. Rejection becomes lessons to learn from. Learn from the failures. Let yourself be a beginner again. Give yourself the freedom to say, "I don't know."
And if you well and truly do not know where to start, look to other authors and writers whose words have meant something. Pay attention to what they are saying, but also pay attention to how they are saying it.
Jenai Auman
I love writing because I am able to use my voice. I am able to say the things I've been wanting to say, but likely held myself back from saying for fear of how it would affect my belonging with other people.
When I write, I practice what it means to belong to myself. And through writing, I am able to invite others to do the same.
When I write, I practice what it means to belong to myself. And through writing, I am able to invite others to do the same.
Jenai Auman
I'm not sure I've ever had writer's block.
When I was writing my debut book, Othered, there were a few times I wrote myself into a corner. I was well and truly stuck. It's not that I didn't know what to say next, but I was stuck because I couldn't figure out how to say it. The thoughts and ideas existed in my head and made sense, but communicating them to someone else is another thing.
I had a due date for the manuscript, though, and I gave myself a goal word count to aim for every day. So, I approached the stuckness, which I suppose was writer's block, like it was an escape room. I tried breaching the topic from a bunch of different angles. I also would try to communicate the idea by switching my writing style. Sometimes writing or journaling on the same topic in poetry gave me the words I needed to write it in the book.
But if I ever have writer's block, and I really have no idea where to go, I go for a walk or find another way to let my mind wander. Sometimes if I can move my body, the words move too.
When I was writing my debut book, Othered, there were a few times I wrote myself into a corner. I was well and truly stuck. It's not that I didn't know what to say next, but I was stuck because I couldn't figure out how to say it. The thoughts and ideas existed in my head and made sense, but communicating them to someone else is another thing.
I had a due date for the manuscript, though, and I gave myself a goal word count to aim for every day. So, I approached the stuckness, which I suppose was writer's block, like it was an escape room. I tried breaching the topic from a bunch of different angles. I also would try to communicate the idea by switching my writing style. Sometimes writing or journaling on the same topic in poetry gave me the words I needed to write it in the book.
But if I ever have writer's block, and I really have no idea where to go, I go for a walk or find another way to let my mind wander. Sometimes if I can move my body, the words move too.
Jenai Auman
I would read in The Shire.
Jenai Auman
I have a family member who once helped fake the death of a friend years before I was born. This person then had to flee the country to avoid prosecution years later. It sounds like an episode of Law & Order, but I assure you, it is very real. It made for a weird year when I was in the 6th grade.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more