Q1. Hello, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
A1. My name is George Russell, I publish under the pseudonym, ‘G.E.Russell’. I’m a retired Senior Paralegal, having spent my career primarily in corporate and intellectual property law. I’m married, the father of five wonderful daughters and one remarkable son. I’m a veteran of the Viet Nam War era, a former musician, college linebacker, middle and high school coach and school board member. I’ve enjoyed an eventful, sometimes challenging life, and survived some extraordinary circumstances and events. While a devout believer in the teachings of Jesus Christ, I also find others moments of wisdom from various sources through the ages compelling. I have been remarkably blessed to recognize, experience and appreciate a number of moments where the human spirit and creation are astoundingly brilliant.
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing your book “Deferred Redemptions”?
A2. ‘Deferred Redemptions’ is my second book of short stories and novellas. Each story attempts to show some experiences of emotional questioning by the protagonists. One of my basic tenets regarding the human condition is its resourcefulness and determination to survive, although such may not manifest until an external challenge or crisis demands response. In all my works, I want to be deeply respectful of the reader’s time and not beat them with redundancy or verbosity. I’m still working to show the reader what I call ‘threads of commonality’ between various peoples, settings and circumstances, hoping readers are encouraged and satisfied. Writing these stories, I wanted to show how self-reflection, particularly over past experiences, may provide clues or signals to finding a better sense of self, or self-acceptance.
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
A3. Wow, that’s quite a question. I have only one sibling, a sister, seven years younger, which essentially created a sort of ‘only-child’ life for me. During my school years, I was an outsider due to multiple relocations and my red hair. I found comfort in reading when I was twelve years old after a vacation trip to Hannibal, Missouri. Obviously, Mark Twain’s works became a primal influence, particularly his acute assessments of human beings and their flaws or frailties. M I’m appreciative of Melville, Kipling, O. Henry, Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, Steinbeck, Sinclair, Orwell, and Robert Penn Warren to name a few. More recent authors I admire are Harper Lee, Cormac McCarthy, Thomas Wolfe, Frank McCourt, Mitch Albom, and I have a very special appreciation for Joan Didion.
Q4. What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
A4. I am an American, my ancestors came primarily from England, Scotland and mostly Ireland. That being said, I was born in Texas, grew up mostly near Chicago, served in the U.S. Army in the east and west (as well as Europe), and have travelled the country. I have found remarkable peace and satisfaction in the Rocky Mountains; I take great inspiration from the Grand Canyon; For a while, I worked in downtown Chicago, one block east of Michigan Avenue; I’ve been within eight feet of a bull Buffalo in South Dakota; experienced a wonderful encounter with GOD and the universe in the Sonoran Desert; been humbled with gratitude at Bunker Hill; played some terrible golf on Hilton Head Island; eaten delicious barbeque in Dallas. I’ve been to European capitals, Pacific islands, white sand beaches in the Carribean: America is my favorite spot.
Q5. What inspired you to write the book ‘Broken Windows, Renovated Souls’?
A5. ‘Broken Windows, Renovated Souls’ is my first work of short stories and I wanted to portray another personal tenet; life changes in some of the most subtle, innocuous moments and some people recognize and capitalize on their own self-resilience in response. I tried to show in each story, how the protagonist recognized a need for a re-interpretation of their priorities, their abilities and existence. Life events cause each character finds a new way to see themselves.
Q6. How long did it take you to write your book ‘Deferred Redemptions’?
A6. I started writing some of the stories as early as 2019. I’m constantly writing moments of observation, overheard conversations, or simple thoughts in any number of spiral notebooks I keep. Often, once I start a story, I’ll write it from start to finish, and that can take anywhere from two weeks to six months. I tend to set the work aside for at least two weeks before beginning my first round of edits and expansions or redactions. ‘Deferred Redemptions’ collectively, represents about fifteen to eighteen months of effort for all four stories/novellas.
Q7. On what platforms can readers buy your books?
A7. Presently, both books are available in ebook, hardcover and paperback at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title ‘Broken Windows, Renovated Souls’?
A8. I find it most curious how sometimes, people will view themselves or their surroundings a certain way until something completely and irrevocably changes that perspective; like a brick through a window pane. Only afterward can the viewer distinguish between the clear air and diffused light, or a dust covered remnant, that once held a fixed image. Once the view has been changed or clarified, a new interpretation is possible. I also think that sometimes, people lose themselves, their ’soul’ if you will, to the mundane, constant pull of daily life. Since the first story, ‘Neighborhood Watch’ tells of a woman facing a crisis that leads to a new life circumstance, a re-working that goes to her soul, I felt the female figure looking through a broken window pane out to a brighter setting was appropriate.
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
A9. I’m constantly reading in addition to my writing. I like to read everything, books, magazines, newspapers especially (although, many are slipping away in the digital age) and I’m always fascinated by watching other people, trying to understand and see life through their eyes, minds and hearts. I’m learning that when conflicted, blocked or simply ‘dry’, the best thing for me is to get up from the desk and go outside. Getting sunlight, walking, looking or listening to everything or anything, is a refreshing distraction that opens me up to hearing the characters, seeing the plateaus or feeling the staleness of my work to that point. Sometimes, the author and creation need time away from each other in order that both may breathe.
Q10. What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?
A10. Work at it every day. My ancestors from Ireland left their home and everything comfortable to cross the Atlantic and come to Chicago where my great-grandfather worked as a common laborer. In my heritage, we accept hard work and believe we can prevail. Writing, law practice, teaching, living and surviving is work; nobody is born knowing how to do any of it. Doctors and Lawyers commonly speak of their ‘practice’ without hesitation: Writers and Authors should do the same. Also, I really cherish this statement; “When inspired, write; when uninspired, read.”
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