About the author....
Plenty of people out there started writing when they were seven - give or take a year. Unfortunately, I was not one of them. Sure, they have a leg up in their writing career, but I think I've got some advantages of my own. For instance, I have a lifetime of living - in three different countries - to tap into for creating my characters and story-lines. And I intend to spend the rest of my days doing just that. Why? Because it gives me a natural high.
When my nest emptied, my brain started smoking and my hands started twitching. So I found some writing workshops and seminars here in Germany, where I listened and learned, wrote "finger exercises" in German and gradually filled my toolbox with the skills of the trade.
And since I had a German story to tell, that was the language in which I wanted to write my first novel. It turned out that writing in German, for me as an American who has only lived here all her adult life, was like running a cross-country marathon in high-heels with lead weights on my ankles and blinders around my eyes. Not to mention that insistent German teacher, Frau Müller-Meier-Schmitt-Schulz, barking grammar rules at me through a bullhorn from the sidelines. She was very distracting.
Well, not wanting to blame the teaching profession for my shortcomings, I must admit it was more likely the rational left side of my brain interrupting the story flow with awkward questions – like does that verb need a dative or an accusative object? A sensitve question indeed. Or is that the correct preposition for that idiom? Creating a story in German was thus fraught with grammatical pitfalls that tripped up the right side of my brain. I could not get on with telling the tale. And I had a monster-size tale to tell, one touching on a great deal of Germany's twentieth-century history.
So…it was a huge relief when two things happened in the spring of 2008 – two things that changed my writing life. First of all, I conceded that if this novel was ever to be written by me, it would have to be in English. What a relief! It was like pulling on winged running shoes. They helped me jump the obstacles coming at me and enjoy the challenge of reconnecting with my native tongue.
Secondly, I discovered online courses - in English! - and signed up for one through Writer's Digest. When the course finished, I had the first 6,000 words…and I just kept running that race. On April 9, 2009 at 20.41 CET, I wrote THE END on the last page of THE PEACE BRIDGE. Of course, that wasn't the end of the work. In many ways it was only the beginning. As they say: Writing is re-writing.
Like my protagonist Hannah Zimmer, I came to Germany from the US as a language and history student, but that is the only overlap in our biographies. From living in the greater Frankfurt-Mainz area for many years, I know the locations used in the novel intimately. Revisiting the sites while writing grounded the story in its natural environment. On visits to Berlin I researched the setting for the episodes that take place there.
My life as a “German by choice” has provided me with an insider’s understanding of the German language, history and way of life. It has given me insight into the German mentality and soul. All of this has flowed into my writing and, I believe, lends my story authenticity.
And now, updating my introduction a few years after writing my novel in English, I have in the meantime written and published many a short story in German. I have also translated, edited and produced two story collections in German. Those projects were huge learning experiences for me.
dchubbardwrites@gmail.com
Plenty of people out there started writing when they were seven - give or take a year. Unfortunately, I was not one of them. Sure, they have a leg up in their writing career, but I think I've got some advantages of my own. For instance, I have a lifetime of living - in three different countries - to tap into for creating my characters and story-lines. And I intend to spend the rest of my days doing just that. Why? Because it gives me a natural high.
When my nest emptied, my brain started smoking and my hands started twitching. So I found some writing workshops and seminars here in Germany, where I listened and learned, wrote "finger exercises" in German and gradually filled my toolbox with the skills of the trade.
And since I had a German story to tell, that was the language in which I wanted to write my first novel. It turned out that writing in German, for me as an American who has only lived here all her adult life, was like running a cross-country marathon in high-heels with lead weights on my ankles and blinders around my eyes. Not to mention that insistent German teacher, Frau Müller-Meier-Schmitt-Schulz, barking grammar rules at me through a bullhorn from the sidelines. She was very distracting.
Well, not wanting to blame the teaching profession for my shortcomings, I must admit it was more likely the rational left side of my brain interrupting the story flow with awkward questions – like does that verb need a dative or an accusative object? A sensitve question indeed. Or is that the correct preposition for that idiom? Creating a story in German was thus fraught with grammatical pitfalls that tripped up the right side of my brain. I could not get on with telling the tale. And I had a monster-size tale to tell, one touching on a great deal of Germany's twentieth-century history.
So…it was a huge relief when two things happened in the spring of 2008 – two things that changed my writing life. First of all, I conceded that if this novel was ever to be written by me, it would have to be in English. What a relief! It was like pulling on winged running shoes. They helped me jump the obstacles coming at me and enjoy the challenge of reconnecting with my native tongue.
Secondly, I discovered online courses - in English! - and signed up for one through Writer's Digest. When the course finished, I had the first 6,000 words…and I just kept running that race. On April 9, 2009 at 20.41 CET, I wrote THE END on the last page of THE PEACE BRIDGE. Of course, that wasn't the end of the work. In many ways it was only the beginning. As they say: Writing is re-writing.
Like my protagonist Hannah Zimmer, I came to Germany from the US as a language and history student, but that is the only overlap in our biographies. From living in the greater Frankfurt-Mainz area for many years, I know the locations used in the novel intimately. Revisiting the sites while writing grounded the story in its natural environment. On visits to Berlin I researched the setting for the episodes that take place there.
My life as a “German by choice” has provided me with an insider’s understanding of the German language, history and way of life. It has given me insight into the German mentality and soul. All of this has flowed into my writing and, I believe, lends my story authenticity.
And now, updating my introduction a few years after writing my novel in English, I have in the meantime written and published many a short story in German. I have also translated, edited and produced two story collections in German. Those projects were huge learning experiences for me.
dchubbardwrites@gmail.com