In this new feature, I ask a fellow author seven questions about their lives and their work. My hope is that it will help you grow more acquainted with their talents and personalities, their work, and their love of the written word. We take our first steps on this journey with my good friend and mentor, Gene Strother.
Gene, you and I have known each other for a solid chunk of years now, and you’ve always struck me as a man who not only thinks about what he says but how he says it. Is that a family trait, a skill you’ve honed over time or just the way you’re uniquely wired?
Well, first of all, you give me too much credit. I have been forced to dig my foot out of my mouth more times than I care to recall. I do, however, believe that over time, I have become more thoughtful and deliberate. Words have fascinated me for as long as I can remember. I believe the communication gift was passed on to me from my dad, who was a gifted communicator, colorful, conversational, and passionate. Dad never sought to hone it or cultivate it like I have tried to do. But he surely handed it to me on a silver-tongued platter.
We share a love of Texas, tacos, and the written word among many other things. I know why you love those first two, but tell readers why you keep coming back to writing.
It feels like it is not even optional. I try not to write because I “have to say something,” but rather because I have something to say. One of the greatest American communicators of all time, Benjamin Franklin, said, “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” The Do Something ship may have sailed, but I will keep paddling the Write Something boat.
We recently wrote forewords for each other’s poetry releases. Of the two of us, you’re the poet people should be reading…and that’s not humility on my part. It’s just a recognition of talent. What draws you to poetry—an art form that folks don’t seem to appreciate much in modernity?
I disagree on whom your readers should read. I was inspired by your poetry long before I tackled putting mine into a book. To answer the question, I think it was Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright who lit the fire in me. I don’t mean the great inventors of human flight themselves but the poem written about them by Rosemary and Steven Vincent Benet. I had to memorize and recite the poem when I was in, I believe, the 3rd grade. Maybe 4th. I never got over it. I love cadence, verse, rhyme, and rhythm. Most modern poetry hates all of those things. Well, I feel the same about most modern poetry.
Like myself, you “did time” in pastoral ministry. How would you say that influences your writing?
The King James bible strengthened my reading skills and drew me in with its almost foreign language mystique. Preaching and teaching required writing sermons, outlines, and lessons. Before I was a blogger, I was writing little devotionals for our Sunday school bulletins. The responses to those devotionals opened a portal in my soul and I was soon sending them off for publication in other places, like monthly devotional booklets The Upper Room and Our Daily Bread. The ministry imbued me with a passion for people, especially the hurting, forgotten, or overlooked. So many of the characters I write today fit that profile.
You’re a busy man these days, traveling with your lovely wife for work and pleasure, with kids and grandkids to come home to. How do you find time for the muse with many lovely folks who undoubtedly enjoy your attention?
If you can answer that, please tell me! It is a constant struggle to carve out quality time. I try to be disciplined about it and set aside certain times per week but a sometimes erratic schedule makes that difficult. I steal moments like a pick-pocket where and when I can.
Who are your writing heroes and what about them or their work inspires you?
My first hero was Mark Twain. Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer fired my imagination and created in me a thirst for adventure. Max Lucado and Gene Edwards were spiritual writers who impacted my view of the power of simplicity and succinct, direct writing. They painted elaborate pictures with such few pen strokes. Frank McCourt wrote Angela’s Ashes. Despite being an English teacher, he wrote his sentences and paragraphs the way the Irish think and talk, often defying and corrupting syntax and structure…and it was beautiful! Charles Frazier helped me rehab after back surgery with his epic tale in Cold Mountain. As a boy, Louis L’Amour made me a cowboy for life. A lesser literary light, Carol Talbot, wife of the great seminary founder Louis Talbot, wrote her husband’s biography, “For This I Was Born.” I have read it four or five times. In poetry, Longfellow, Byron, Dickinson, and Frost are top-shelf for me.
Where can folks find you on social media and where’s the best place to dive into your work?
On Amazon, I have books under my pen name L.A. Holly, and my birth name Gene Strother. My books are in other places, too, like Apple and Barnes & Noble. On Facebook, my author page is LAHollyWrites. On LinkedIn, it is just me – Gene Strother.
My most recent book is Word Warrior, a book of poetry. I wrote it under my birth name. On Amazon, it is available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook. For the ebook version, there is a universal link for all of the platforms where it can be read.
My most recent published work is a short story, which will be one of 12 in a book of short stories, which I plan to publish in time for Christmas 2024. The title of the published story is Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John. It can be found here.
Thank you, my friend. My best to you and your readers.
Thank you, Gene. Always a pleasure.
Love this ❤️