Lynn

Gotta Write: Tell us about your experiences as a Chicago area journalist? I understand you worked for WBBM-TV. What were your responsibilities as a news department production assistant?

Lynn: That was my first job out of college. I agreed to work New Year's Eve and since I was graduating a semester early, I got a job there in the winter. It was not as glamorous as it sounds: $100 a week to run around and gather scripts for the anchors and director. My first REAL journalism job was as a reporter for Pioneer Press in the Chicago suburbs. Then I went to Los Angeles where I landed a vacation-replacement worker job in the winter, and worked there until they didn't need me anymore. Then I went back to Chicago and got a job at Suburban Sun-Times, which eventually was folded into the Chicago Sun-Times. I was there a total of 17 years.

Gotta Write: You also worked for the LA Times and the Sun Times? What position did you hold at the Sun Times and what type of articles did you write there?

Lynn: At the L.A. Times I did anything they asked me to, mainly news stories. Nothing memorable. At the Sun-Times I worked in the entertainment section where I reviewed plays, movies, books, some movies, and classical music. I also was the dance critic for a while. I got to interview many stars including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), Sally Kellerman, Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Nick Nolte, Rodney Dangerfield, and many more. Then I moved to the Internet section when they were first developing their online site. That was a great job and I did a lot of technology stories. I left after they eliminated that job. There were too many management changes at the paper and I was itching to do something new. So, I freelanced for a while (mainly for the Chicago Tribune) and wrote my fiction.

Gotta Write: You've been a guest on what radio and TV talk shows? What were those experiences like?

Lynn: I was a semi-regular dance reviewer on WBEZ-FM's "Artistic License" show and was a guest twice on WTTW's "Chicago Tonight." I never felt nervous because basically you are just in a room talking with people and can't see the audience. I have learned not to freak out when speaking in public, but it's much harder on the nerves. Give me radio or TV any day! I also found myself fascinated with all the equipment they used. It was a lot of fun.

Gotta Write: Let's talk about your novel, "Excited Light." Tell us about Alex Griffin's many secrets and the life he's had to live.

Lynn: Alex is a precocious child. Some might call him an Indigo child. He lives in a world of science-fiction and dreams while he tries to endure living with a single, alcoholic mother. Alex is only 10, but he really is the caretaker in that family. He finds adult friends who help him out. And he has a divine connection with what might be angels. The angels give him the strength to carry on. They help him understand that his mother is suffering from a disease and is not neglecting him out of lack of love. When his mother is at death's door, he uses his divine advice to save the day. It's an inspirational novel, and you don't have to be a believer in angels to appreciate it. A lot of readers said they felt the angels were a metaphor for hope.

Gotta Write: How does he cope with his mother's addiction? Does he have to help her get through each day? How has this affected his childhood?

Lynn: He talks to his stuffed animal, Dudley, and plays in his own little world. He also reads a great deal. He does have to help his mother get her act together, mainly by talking to her and letting her sleep when she's hung over. He's learned not to be a needy child, which is typical in alcoholic households. Because he's an only child and has to rely on himself, he's very resourceful and can entertain himself. He also prefers the company of adults to children, who strike him as silly.

Gotta Write: What coping mechanisms did he have to establish to stay strong?

Lynn: Mainly he learns to take care of himself without his mom dressing him or making dinner. One interesting thing he learns is how to make alliances with adults who come to his aid. He seems to have a sixth sense about who will be able to come to his rescue.

Gotta Write: Who befriends him and how does this add to the quality of his life? What other guiding forces help him and his mother?

Lynn: He makes a special friend in Jack, a young graduate student at the University of Iowa. Unbeknownst to Alex, Jack is from an alcoholic family and just knows that there is something wrong with the relationship between Alex and his mother. Jack becomes his savior. There is also Julie, his godmother, who allies with Jack to help the boy. A strange herbalist and Tarot reader, Mrs. Wildwood, pops in to give Alex advice that helps him immensely.

And, as I've said before, there are the angels who guide Alex every night.

Gotta Write: What inspired you to write this novel?

Lynn: I had always wanted to write about the single parent experience, since I was a single mom for 11 years. There's a special bond between mother and child in that situation. But I needed to add a crisis to the story, so I made Allegra, the mom, an alcoholic. Then I introduced Raf, her ill-fated love interest, to really make things spin out of control. (Raf is also an alcoholic.)

I also really wanted to write about a talented child. Alex is based on the way my own son was when he was 10 and I've dedicated the book to my son.

Gotta Write: Did you ever have a unique spiritual experience?

Lynn: Yes, I had an angel experience. I was very sick once and I believe they "talked" to me. I believe they were instrumental in the fact that I got better. It's awfully personal though, and I don't like to discuss it too openly. A lot of people think that if you hear angels, you must be nuts. But look at all those "talk to your angels" books out there. Some other people must be having the same experiences!

Gotta Write: What research was necessary for the novel?

Lynn: Well, I set the book in Iowa City, because I was trying to find the area where the most normal people in the world lived. I wanted Allegra to be a fish out of water. I went to Grinnell College in Iowa, and I thought I knew Iowa City pretty well. Still, I went back there to get things right, like making sure I had the streets correct and stores in the right areas. The funny thing is that much later, someone I know in Iowa City laughed his head off when I said normal people lived there. He said there are just as many nuts in Iowa as anywhere else. And I guess he's right. But, still, Allegra would just have blended with the alcoholic drifters had I set the story in Chicago.

Gotta Write: Are you writing any others?

Lynn: Yes. I have written two other novels. One is with my new agent. Another I took off the market and am going to re-title and fix up a bit. My work-in-progress is really exciting. It's about a caste of priestesses who lived in ancient Egypt and were second only to the pharaoh in power. It's new and cutting-edge stuff even for Egyptologists. I'm just about to go to Egypt for a vacation and I hope to get all the details just right.
One thing about my writing: it's all magical realism. I never write about anything that doesn't have a whiff of mystery and magic to it.

Gotta Write: How can we order this book for a gift?

Lynn: Angels for Christmas! It's a perfect gift. I'd recommend it for teen to adult. (It's a bit too intense for middle schoolers.) I intended it for adults, but I'm amazed at the people who say that teens get it. And since it has an anti-drinking message, it's a good pick.

It's available at all online booksellers, such as Amazon.com and bn.com. In Chicago you can pick it up at the Book Cellar and Women and Children First Bookstore. It's also at Planet Earth in Evanston, IL. The Angel Museum in Beloit, WI, has several copies in their gift store. I also think they have one copy left at Prairie Lights Book Store in Iowa City, IA.
Contact me at my website, www.lynnvoedisch.com
if you'd like me to send you an autographed copy.
Make sure you see my book trailer at my website, too.
Thanks for having me, Denise!