Author Chat with LC Helms on Finding Her Way Home through Writing

I’m so pleased to introduce you to our first featured writer of 2021 who is both my friend and one of my writing critique partners. LC Helms truly has a gift for writing with a literary style that has moved me to tears more than once. Please join me in welcoming her to the blog today and enjoy our author chat.

Q: I love your writing journey and think it will encourage readers. Would you share how you started writing, how “life happened,” and where you are today?

I have always loved reading, and my writing experiences began when I was around twelve. I spent hours in the public library and school library or book truck. Reading brought me so much joy. I began writing poetry when I was around fourteen. I would also write songs while I was trying to learn the guitar. Finally, I began writing stories. English and English Literature were my favorite classes, along with creative writing, of course.

I wrote my first novel by the time I was around twenty-three, and a few publishers asked to see the entire piece of work. I think I only sent it out three times and got three full rejections before I began having children. Novel writing kind of dwindled in exchange for running an insurance agency, household duties, and changing diapers. But I did keep writing articles, poems, and short stories for a while, and began to get them published in small anthologies and trade journals. For me, that was so exciting.

Then life became more complicated with struggles in my marriage, the death of several family members, and other life challenges. Something got stuck inside me and my creativity fizzled. I guess I had writer’s block for nearly thirty years, but I still read ferociously to my children and encouraged them to journal every summer camp, vacation, and to dive into their creative writing assignments. My son, JN Chaney, is now a sci-fi writer and has never stopped encouraging me to start writing again. I finally put pen to paper again about two years ago, and I’m so glad I did.

Q: You’re currently working on your “second, first novel.” Please share why this is the case and what this story is about.

The very first novel I wrote in my early twenties was called ‘The Portal’ and was eerily similar to the Titanic theme, and even included a blue diamond. My jaw nearly dropped when I saw the movie years later. I don’t even know where that manuscript is now. I kept it for years, but it disappeared, and is deservedly buried and put to rest somewhere.

My current women’s fiction is called Frost Flower. It is about a woman who faces a devastating life transition, and this current trauma triggers early suppressed traumatic memories. As they bubble to the surface, she becomes continually depressed and faces nightmares that reveal a deadly and mysterious past. She has no choice but to investigate the past in order to survive the present. The more she uncovers about her early years, the more she realizes her life has been based on a lie.

I’ve rewritten this book three times now and am currently working on a new summary with a different theme. I’m already over this book and want it to go away, so I’m not sure what I will do with it. Maybe I’ll just start a whole new novel.

Q: You write short stories, are editing your novel, and have been published in several places. Of everything you’ve written so far, what is your favorite piece and why?

While in agony over my novel edits, I wanted to start a short story blog, and then I decided against that and began sending these stories to magazines and contests. I absolutely love writing short stories and for me, short story writing seems easier and more freeing than novel writing, but I still want to write the novel. I enjoy writing humorous stories as well as gut-wrenching and painful ones. There is a quicker resolution to the short story world, and I feel more creative and freer writing the short story.

I have written a few stories I love, and they evoke tears every time I reread them. It frustrates me because I think, “Why can’t I write that way in the novel?” But with whatever I write, I want people to laugh or cry when they read my work. I think it’s important to arouse emotion in the reader. I love to read work that makes me feel something.

Q: How has writing helped you “find your way home”?

I love this question. For me, the art of writing and building characters teaches me about myself. As I bring these characters to life through dialogue, action, and interiority, I realize I am traveling with them on their journey, because we are walking together, learning from each other and allowing the past to become part of us without destroying us. It’s like going back home with peace in who I am becoming. Not ignoring yesterday but allowing it to integrate into who I am today.

Although the stories are fictional, they are alive to me, and parts of my soul are sprinkled throughout my work and my characters lead me back to who I really am. Life is about learning. Writing and reading create discovery within each of us, no matter which side of the words we are on. Writing helps me let go and points me in the direction of my true self, of who I really am. I believe a writer must be vulnerable and fearless and allow herself to tap into the soul. That’s the hardest part of writing for me and I think that takes a long time, but all writers, if they keep writing and dig deep, eventually come home to themselves if they choose to be real with their audience.

Q: Would you share how your professional background has shaped your writing and given you a unique, empathetic approach to characterization?

I believe that going back to school and working through the master’s program in professional counseling helped me learn to write more analytically and opened up the world of non-fiction even more for me. I am fascinated with human behavior and the human element. I sit enthralled as I study what makes serial killers tick in the documentaries I watch. (I know … that is strange.)

I like having my characters face severe challenges and battle back through awareness and growth. Isn’t that how life really is? We are learning as we go through our mistakes and trials and traumas. Being a counselor has shown me that for all our differences, human beings have remarkably similar struggles they must overcome. Life is difficult, no matter the decade or era we have emerged from.

Q: The publishing journey is unpredictable, but if you could write your own publishing story, what would be the next step for you?

Yes, the publishing world is constantly changing and evolving. What works today may not work tomorrow and vice-versa. Among all my projects, I’m also working on a non-fiction about anxiety and remedies to relieve symptoms. I’m hoping to self-publish this small book and continue working on my fiction novel and short stories. I’d also like to edge into the non-fiction magazine article world through humorous articles and mental health type pieces.

My biggest challenge is social media. It’s a lot of work, and it’s all new to me since I entered that world last November. It is very time consuming, plus I have two websites and two blogs: one for the counseling site and blog and one for my writer’s site and blog. I would like to master scene writing and eventually write an intriguing memoir, but who wouldn’t, right?

If you want to follow LC’s writing journey or connect with her, visit her online:

• Her writing blog is LCHelmsauthorblog.com.
• Her counseling website is LoriHelmscounseling.com.
• You can also follow her on Twitter or Facebook at @Lchelmsauthor