Books Are Magic: Interview ~ Jordan Rosenfeld ~ Author of "Forged in Grace"

Friday 5 April 2013

Interview ~ Jordan Rosenfeld ~ Author of "Forged in Grace"

Tell us a bit about your family.

I am born and bred in the wilds of Northern California, which is to say my parents were good old-fashioned hippies with a flair for the New Age, and I learned to “speak” that language and pursue holistic paths and esoteric spirituality, which most definitely factors into my writing. My own little family consists of my psychologist husband of 17 years (yes, we were 12 when we met, wink), our superhero-loving four year old son and one little Tuxedo cat, “Elvert.” Yes, our son named him, but it also doubles as his “Middle Earth” name.

What is your favorite quality about yourself?

Self-motivation. It’s taken me a long way through all my pursuits, from being the kid who got herself up and dressed without any help in the mornings, to starting my own business and running it for over a decade, to sticking with the challenges of writing and publishing, which are myriad.

What is your least favorite quality about yourself?

I have what I call “empathy in the extreme”…a tendency to care a little too much about other people’s problems in a way my darling husband might call co-dependent.

What is your favorite quote, by whom, and why?

“We must let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” Joseph Campbell

As a control freak, I am always seeking to move into that soft center of trusting and having faith; the single most astonishing lesson I have learned over and over is that staying open and listening to intuitions/signs/messages is a much more profound way to live than with a tight clutch on the reins. You get surprised more often, have more fun.

What are you most proud of accomplishing so far in your life?

I am most proud of having started and maintained a successful writing/editing business, and living the creative life I love by the age of 30.

What is your favorite color?

Turquoise

What is your favorite food?

Much too much of a pleasure seeker to have only one favorite food. A big fan of comfort food-y pasta and grain dishes, and I really am freakishly a fan of vegetables. I’m gluten-free by necessity so there are things I MISS, like sourdough bread.

What’s your favorite place in the entire world?

Again, no single favorite. I live in the best of all worlds, California. Ocean, snow, mountains, meadow, redwoods and more in just a few hours drive.

How has your upbringing influenced your writing?

I was raised in a very liberal, open-minded, new-age leaning family environment. My parents split when I was two but remained friends. You’ll find a lot of these themes in my writing: healing, deep self-exploration, and a twist of the almost-paranormal (I usually use these paranormal aspects as metaphors; I’m not a genre writer)

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?

It began with my ability to read and write, and it was not an interest, it was an impulse so strong it happened the moment I could begin to write.

When and why did you begin writing?

I have hand written, pencil on lined paper no less, stories from as early as age 7, and journals followed thereafter. I have over 100 journals cluttering up my closets. I feel like the urge to write was born in me on one level, but on another, I was an only child until I was 14, and spent a lot of time alone, as both a latchkey kid, and a kid who spent large portions of her summer with adults. I read voraciously. This was before every kid had an iphone or even a personal computer, so my whole world was books…writing was a natural outpouring of that, and also a way to help me make sense of the difficult parts of my early years.

How long have you been writing?

From about the age of 7.