Creative Writing, an Interview

with author and creator Lisa Bogart

It's not an exaggeration when I say I want to be Lisa Bogart when I grow up. I attended a workshop she led about incorporating creative outlets into your writing. Since I dabble in art, photography, and music it resonated with me. I was thrilled when she agreed to an interview so I could learn more about her creative process. If you are a Christian Creative and you want to share your story, use the contact form to get in touch with me. Meanwhile, enjoy my conversation with Lisa and check out her recent work.

Knitting with Joy

KDL - Please tell us a little bit about where you grew up.

LB - I’m a Midwesterner. I was born in Illinois and have lived in Kansas, Maryland, and Colorado during my growing up years. I liked the four seasons, the freedom to bike around my neighborhoods, and going to the library. I had the childhood of the 1950s in the 70s. teehee

How did you get interested in writing?

My mom read us a lot of poetry growing up. I liked to rhyme and wrote a lot of sing-

song poems. I was also one of those teenage girls who kept a tortured diary for a while. When my son was born, I lived far from family and so I started keeping a journal of his growing up and would send off updates to the grandmas, aunts and uncles. It was fun practice. Eventually I found my way to writing devotions when I had an ah-ha moment on the hiking trails near our home.

I got to know you a little bit by attending a workshop you presented on incorporating creativity into writing. Besides writing what do you create? How do those activities inspire your writing?

I am a crafter. I’ve used a lot of different mediums: ceramics, basketry, collage, needlepoint, but my favorite is knitting. I am a daily knitter and have been for over twenty years. I also love to draw and color. The knitting led to a devotion collection called "Knit Purl Pray," as well as a book called "Knit With Love, Stories to Warm a Knitter’s Heart." Both of these are an obvious outgrowth of my crafting life influencing my writing. Write what you know as they say.

I knew I was never going to be a novelist. Devotions are my genre of choice, short and pithy. Give me five hundred words and I can sing. More recently my drawing has been influencing my writing. To get ready for a pilgrimage to the Isle of Iona last summer I drew Celtic knots and phrases as a practice of daily quiet time with God. The whole thing became my latest book, "Quest: A Pilgrimage to Be Still & Know."

The cover art for "Quest"

So, you see my creative life is entwined. I can’t tease out my writing as separate from my crafting life.

I know you recently self-published a book. You also have some books that were published traditionally. Which of your earlier works helped you the most in your recent book?

Being traditionally published through a royalty house means that I was well aware of time tables, deadlines, and all the milestones in the process of getting a book on the shelf for the reader. Editing, cover design, distribution lines - all of this takes time to complete and establish. Doing all of that with a traditional publisher the author feels a little out of the loop sometimes. But that is because the author is not the one doing all that work. Once you’ve written good words you have to step back and let others do their jobs. It takes time to get all the pieces in place.

When I self-published all the things that come after the story was written were up to me to figure out. I had been through the process before with traditional publishing which meant I had an idea of what to do next. However, I asked for or found a lot of help to see me through. You have to be your own project manager. I was the one who hired an editor. I found the book designer. I worked with the printer. I figured out the pricing and distribution. From writing to finish it was an 18-month process just as if it was traditionally published. Self-publishing is not a short cut if you still want a quality product when you are done.

What’s the main message you want your readers to take away from your current book? How have you seen that message ring true in your own life?

My main message is joy! My cup is always half full. All seven books I’ve written from hospitality to knitting, coloring to pilgrimage they have each been about joy. I find joy in the world and my deepening connection to the Divine.

As for my current book, "Quest: A Pilgrimage to Be Still & Know," I want the reader to find joy in a quiet personal connection to God and Mama Earth.

Lisa at work on a drawing

Do your creative activities impact your personal worship? How?

Two things are really important to me these days. Yoga and drawing. Both of these offer quiet time with God. I stretch daily on my mat. I find that I follow my breath and know that my body moves and grows because God allows it. He is the breath that fills my lungs. I find that joyful. I’m also proud of myself that I can still do a headstand!

My other expression of personal worship is drawing. I collect phrases, verses, and quotations that give me insight and inspiration. Then I draw them. But it’s more than that. I sit at my art table. I light a candle. I wait in quiet or leap in with inspiration. Then I lose hours creating with God. It truly feels like He is spurring me on or looking over my shoulder. Not every drawing is a gem but every one brings me closer to Him.

How do you balance all of your creative work, or is it more of a juggle?

I have the luxury of being at the retired end of life. I am no longer the mother of a child at home, our son is 31. I have the usual household chores but if I skip the laundry for a day or am late to the grocery store there are not big consequences. I am in a slower time of life. This means I have to be careful to guard my creative time since it would be easy to hike or read or walk with a friend or go out to lunch. I can get distracted with good things.

Lisa Bogart, creative author

Serving God with my gifts is a good thing. I have to remember that too. So, it’s a juggle. I have to plan time to do all the writing and drawing I want to get done. Accountability helps. I have friends who keep asking about my work and that makes me want to

stay on track to produce my next book. I also want to produce my spiritual memoir so I’ve signed up for Susy Flory’s memoir class. Monthly word counts and meetings keep me on track.

All that to say I fit things in catch as catch can. I will get inspired and work all day or I’ll skip a day or two and come back to creating with new urgency. As I said I am in a more spacious time of life, yet the fit-it-in-where-you-can model of work has always been my style.

Thank you, Lisa, for sharing your story with us!

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