Once a poet, always a poet. But how does a writer’s career start? How does someone feel compelled to express themselves through writing?
Sr. Lou Ella Hickman, OVISS, remembers the moment well. She was a teenager, and during the summer, on her family’s ranch in North Texas, she found herself outside at night looking at the stars, feeling an overwhelming sense of beauty never experienced before. “I think at that moment, I sensed that I wanted to become a writer. It was a first spark,” she shares.
Writing was always a part of her life, but only when she retired from her work as a teacher and librarian did she have the time to focus more on her poetry. Besides being published in major magazines, her first poetry book, Chavah’s Daughters Speak, was published in 2015. Six years later, James Lee III, a young composer, used some of her poems for his composition, which had already been performed several times.
Her then-superior, Sr. Annette Wagner, had suggested that she publish another book during a conversation. “It was two years in the making,” Sr. Lou Ellen says. Her publisher reached out to her, too, which was another sign that this book was supposed to happen. Some poems were written years ago, while others are recent. They center on the small, often overlooked things. “Several of them are encounter stories,” she explains – like hearing a blind singer fresh from Juilliard or standing in line behind a Shoah survivor in a post office.
Now, after working for months together with her publisher on the last edits, Writing the Stars will be published on October 4, “the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi – I could pick a date, so I chose his feast day.” It will be available on Amazon for $17.95. There will be an online book launch, and several book presentations and readings will follow.