Juul Martin Williams interview
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
When did your love of books begin?
Can’t remember a moment in my life there weren’t books. My father was an avid reader. Read the most wonderful children’s stories to me. Also taught me the importance of literacy and the printed word, and its value in a democratic society.
When did you start to have the wish to become an author?
Very young, I guess. I remember writing a nonfiction thing on Chopin when I was eleven. Our music teacher had told us about him and how he missed his fatherland. The story had really moved me.From the age of fourteen I have written poetry, plays, short stories and many first chapters.
How have you found the process for becoming an author?
Quirky and unnecessary long. In the early nineties I had to stop writing fiction because I somehow tend to get absorbed by the story and that is not compatible with studying, working and raising a child. Writing nonfiction has never been a problem. I have done that professionally since my mid thirties.
What would you say to those wanting to become an author?
Search your deepest ambitions and motivations; be honest with yourself and ask yourself if you really are a writer; do you carry stories inside you? Just wanting to become a writer for the sake of it, makes no sense. Like that man I once read about. Quit his job, installed a desk and computer, sat himself down on Monday morning and then wondered what he should write.
Tell us about your book/books:
I have written ‘Naamloze Kleuren’ (Nameless Colours).‘Interbellum’ (‘Between Wars’, being translated into English right now) the first part of the MacEwen trilogy.About to finish number 2 ‘Uit het puin de levenden’, (From the debris, the living).
What do you love about the writing/reading community?
Exchanging tips, support, and just a kind word at times. Writing is a lonely profession, and most Dutch writers very much keep to themselves in their own literary scene.
If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?
Turn off your TV. Read books. Not necessarily mine. Just read books and learn to use your imagination again. There is a whole universe in your head to discover, and it’s all yours, and yours alone.
Where can people connect with you?
I am on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I have a website www.wordstoliveby.eu
My agent is Hanneke van de Water.
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