Author Interview – Rae Richen

We work together to create a space for each voice. We help you along the process and allow you to be in a place with like-minded people. You have a story to tell, the world needs to hear it. We talk with Authors to discover what their journey is like and what they want to share with aspiring writers.

Rae Richen’s short stories, poetry, and articles have appeared in anthologies of Northwest authors, in Pacific Northwest newspapers, and in the Writers’ Northwest Handbook. We enjoyed having this Author Interview – Rae Richen for our blog. Check out this fantastic author and follow them for more amazing stories.

Rae Richen has been a landscape designer in the mornings, a violin and viola teacher in the afternoons, a chamber musician during some evenings, part owner of a family tree farm (growing lumber for your home building), and is definitely retired from climbing mountains.

She works with the Interfaith Alliance on Poverty to advocate for policy changes that will reduce barriers to a stable, productive life for all and mentors students learning English as a second language. Rae Richen’s short stories, poetry, and articles have appeared in anthologies of Northwest authors, in Pacific Northwest newspapers, and in Writers’ Northwest Handbook.

She has taught junior high, high school students and adults since the ice age, and has always been impressed with the wide-ranging curiosity and the persistent search for answers among her students. Rae Rachen’s young adult novels, Uncharted Territory and the Scapegoat series: The Price of Freedom and The Hounded, are written for young adults and adults who enjoy a triumph of life over fear.

Her Historical Romance novels, Sentinels of Solitude, In Concert, Frozen Trust, and A Fool’s Gold, are adult adventure and suspense novels. Her novel, The Ones Who Curse You: A Tale of Family and Fear, will appear on June 15, 2023.

Rae Richen lives with her family and teaches in Portland, Oregon. She served as president of a regional organization supporting writers for several years.

Rae Richen has taught writing to adults and, with mystery author Bill Cameron, has taught short story writing to middle school writers. She has also taught classes on creating an effective and supportive critique group. Look for Rae Richen’s recent mystery, Without Trace, featuring Glyn Jones and Grandma Willie as they try to locate Trace Gowen, the drummer missing from Glyn’s band. They discover a lot more is at stake than they ever imagined.

When did you start writing?

I wrote stories and doggerel that I believed were poetry for my mother (a poet) during grade school. I tried to illustrate them as well. Many years later, I found them in her bookcase next to her favorite authors.

I am not an illustrator. As an adult, I returned to writing when I was asked to write the history of a large children’s service organization as part of the celebration of its one hundred years. That book served the organization as a fundraiser and a way to train new care providers. It is now out of print. However, this experience showed me that I loved writing about people working together to accomplish unbelievably difficult tasks that strengthen a community.

What was it like growing up?

As an adult, my brothers and I look back on our childhood with wonder. We were extremely lucky in having parents who loved each other through many difficulties. We were encouraged to ask questions about the most fundamental assumptions, to test new answers to old problems, and to be curious about the world, about other cultures, and about people whose lives were not the same as ours.

We were enrolled in a public, integrated school, and there we grew in our understanding of the many ways that some of our friends were denied services, mistrusted, and mistreated because of the color of their skin. As a result, my brothers and I can see clearly the power play involved when others are selling hate and fear of those who are different from us.

That power play normally pits one group against another as if that will solve the financial problems and self-worth problems that actually are caused by those in power. This is the power play that all dictators use to maintain power.

How was your early life?

Early life was moving from rural Colorado to a very small town in Southern Oregon, where we could play without fear of anything but the trucks and automobiles on the main drag and the large swans in the local park. Running free in a town where everyone knew who we belonged to built a feeling of safety and adventure.

When we moved to the city of Portland, that feeling of safety continued for us and made us able to reach out to new adventures and new ideas.

What has been the biggest influence in your career?

Classes with Ursula LeGuin and Molly Gloss taught me to enjoy exploring ideas outside my normal experience. James N. Frey and Larry Brooks taught me how to organize those ideas and not just splatter thought and action willy-nilly on the page.

Bonnie Bean Graham, Judy O’Neill, Mitch Luckett, and other members of my earliest writing-friend group helped me hone my work for better transitions, better dialogue, and more depth of character.

Tell us about your newest release.

My newest novel, coming out in June 2023, is The Ones Who Curse You. It is the story of two families in danger because they are searching for the missing teenager from one of the families. These are not ordinary parents-with-two-children families. Abe Hallowell is a foster parent for three children whose rural communities cannot supply their medical needs. His relationship with the foster children, their families of origin, and the medical services in the big city is a balancing act.

On the other hand, the family of architect Sarah Rohann has been created by apprenticing three children who otherwise would be living on the streets. Sarah and her oldest son help their apprentices succeed in school while giving them life skills in building homes. Sarah’s company is hired to create a more livable home for Abe’s family — a home where wheelchairs can navigate corners, and bathrooms are an easy negotiation. When one of Sarah’s apprentices receives a letter from his imprisoned father, he disappears. And threatening graffiti begins to appear in the locations where Sarah and Abe work.

Which book of yours would you call your favorite child?

No author has a favorite book-child, but I learned from my first novel that I could write deeply and help others think in new ways about family. Uncharted Territory was my first novel. It focuses on Mallory and Jack Huntington, father, and son, whose only relationship is sports.

Both are great athletes and avid mountain climbers. When a disastrous climb reveals that the son is not well and may never regain his athletic life, the relationship falls apart. If they are ever to have a deeper tie, the son must gather the courage to confront his father’s emotional barriers. But the son has his own emotional blocks that make confrontation appear impossible.

I have had teachers tell me they want to use Uncharted Territory in their classrooms to help students discuss what makes a family and what can be seen as courage. Because the son, Jack, is an avid fan of the Lewis And Clark Expedition, the story also includes hints about that adventure and how reading about the lives of expedition members helps Jack gain perspective on his own present-day predicament.

Teachers in my region of the West like that aspect of the book as well. One teacher acquaintance said, “You drop the history in, so they don’t even know they are learning it.”

What inspired you to write this book?

An adult member of my family has the auto-immune disease that Jack develops. When a child in their family urged the parent to “Just get up and exercise, and it will all be better,” I thought that child had a right to fear losing the parent. The child had a right to hope exercise would solve a disease.

But what if the situation were reversed and the person who could not face the disease were the parent? What if the parent refuses to recognize that there is a real health problem? From there, the story began.

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What are you usually found doing when you’re not writing?

I am often found practicing music or gardening, either at my house or at a friend’s or family member’s home. I’m often asked for garden design help. I also co-chair an alliance of 14 faith communities working to change regional policies and laws that keep people from climbing out of poverty. (think red-lining and its present-day equivalents).

What does your writing space look like?

My writing space is a stand-up desk and, a sit-down desk, bookcases with research resources. The second-floor room has windows from which I can watch children and families off to school or playing hide and seek, hummingbirds nesting, raccoons hunkering about the upper story of the street trees, cats stalking everything, a chase of squirrels (did you know that squirrels eat maple flowers?)

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My walls have photos of children who have been finger-painting in their hair with peas and a photo of a child trying to play my ukelele. I enjoy my photos of Oregon’s beautiful mountains, paintings of my home state of Colorado, and many other examples of what might act as distractions or inspirations (depending on the day).

If you wrote your autobiography, what would you name it?

Still Asking Questions

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How long did it take to write your novel, and what was your process?

It normally takes a year to write and do the first several edits of a novel. Each day I back up to previous scenes and take a running start at the new chapter or scene. My method is like the long run by a track team member before taking off over the high bar.

When finished, I send the novel to my friendly and honest Beta readers for a fresh perspective. Meanwhile, I write short stories and essays for my work with the Interfaith Alliance on Poverty. About six months later, I’m ready to do another novel rewrite and get it ready for publishing.

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Favorite reads?

I’ve been re-reading Great Possessions, The Journal of an Amish Farmer, by David Kline, and also re-reading Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness of Everyday Places, by John R. Stilgoe. Every time I re-read these books, I get a new appreciation of the world of rural farms and our man-made landscapes.

They are a respite from the ‘gotcha’ aspects of politics in the news. I also read the Atlantic magazine, where thoughtful articles open my mind to new ideas and new ways to look at old ideas about how the world can operate and does operate in some places.

Do you have any book recommendations?

For fiction, I enjoy the books of Ursula LeGuin, Molly Gloss, and Ken Byers—the mysteries of Bill Cameron and Valerie J. Brooks are delightful, if dark. As I read, I came to really care about what would happen to the characters of each of these writers. And isn’t that a great way to spend an hour, or two, or…

What’s your next big project?

I’m collecting together my short stories from over the years. I can see already that I have two collections to get ready for publication. Meanwhile, I am outlining the next Glyn Jones and Grandma Willie mystery. (Yes, I outline. Things change as I write, but a firm foundation for a story keeps it from wobbling too far from plumb).

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

Get used to the idea that writing goes nowhere unless you learn to advertise. I learned that late and am making up for that willful ignorance yearly. I enjoy the writing process very much, but my stories deserve more life than not advertising might have given them.

A good personal assistant is invaluable for help and advice about how and when, and whether to use a certain advertising technique. And read blogs about advertising. However, keep your time for advertising to a schedule so you don’t neglect it and also so you don’t tumble down the rabbit hole of too many Things-To-Do. Save time to write. It is what you wanted to do in the first place.