An Interview with Avalon Author L. W. Rogers

On the first of each month, I intend to post an interview featuring a different Avalon author so that our readers can get to know the men and women behind the books. L. W. Rogers is my first victim...er...interviewee. I hope you are as delighted with these answers as I was.


Q: Tell us the first thing, in 50 words or less, that pops into your head when I say: Tell us about yourself.

A: I Think, oh my gosh, I’ve lived with myself all my life, but what do I really know about me?

Q: And the second thing in 100 words or less.

A: I’d like to pretend I was someone really exciting and glamorous, that way when people read about me they’ll think that because I write entertainment fiction that my life is as adventurous as the people and places I write about.

Q: When did you know you wanted to be a writer? What was the biggest influence on this decision?

A: Long before I was old enough to hold a pencil in my hand and know how to spell words, I’ve been making up stories. My audience was either the animals on our farm or my dolls. When my daughters were little girls, I used to make up stories for them. Then as an avid reader, I’d read stories and think, “Hey, I could write better than this.”

Q: Tell us about the first thing you ever wrote.

A: I think I was about seven years old, and I wrote a sermon. I used a cardboard box as my pulpit, and my younger brother was my only audience. My mother came outside and wanted to know why I was yelling at my brother and telling him that the big bad wolf was going to hell for eating the three little pigs.

Q: Tell us about your decision to write about the old west? Why there?

A: The elementary school I attended didn’t have an in-house library, so students had to wait once a month for the rolling library to visit. As we were only allowed to check out six books, I was always hungry for words. My father was an avid reader of Westerns. Back in those days, the word ‘damn’ was a huge no-no. For this reason Daddy kept his Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour books hidden in his sock drawer. I’d sneak his books and read them, making sure I carefully put them back in their hiding place. Thus grew my love for the Western genre. I write about the old West because there is a mystique that lures me to outlaws, horses running wild on the Plaines, the lawmen and the frontier women who lived in this time period. It’s almost as if they are begging me to tell their stories.

Q: What do you like to do besides write?

A: When I’m not sitting at my computer, I enjoy taking trips with my husband on our Suzuki motorcycle, and of course, I relish the quiet moments with a good book. And then there’s my grandchildren. . .need I say more?

Q: What would you like us to know about you or your writing above anything else?

A: I write because the characters inside my head won’t leave me alone; I write because it gives me joy; I write because hopefully my novels give readers a pleasant place to escape.

Q: Where else can readers find you, besides clicking on your Avalon Author link on this page?

A: www.lorettacrogersbooks.com www.twrpcactusrose.blogspot.com/ www.historicalhussies.blogspot.com/