The RMFW Spotlight is on Angie Hodapp, Newsletter Editor and Retreat Chair

The first Monday of the month the RMFW Blog features one of the members of the board of directors or a volunteer. This month Angie Hodapp has agreed to answer our questions. We hope this helps members and potential members get acquainted with the incredible folks who keep Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers going and growing. And just in case these spotlights inspire other members to step forward and volunteer, feel free to email Judy Matheny, Volunteer Coordinator.

1. Angie, Tell us what you do for RMFW and why you are involved.

I first joined RMFW’s board of directors in 2011, when I answered an ad in the newsletter requesting a volunteer to fill the hospitality chair. Not long after I took on hospitality, I was asked to switch gears and become the programs chair. So for two years, I booked speakers for RMFW’s free monthly programs, which was a total blast! Now, I serve RMFW in two capacities. I am both the retreat chair and the newsletter editor.

I’ve always been a big fan of writing retreats—of sequestering myself away in the mountains for several days, either alone or with other writers, to really focus on my work in progress. I wanted to bring the magic of the writing retreat to members of RMFW, so I put together some numbers and brought a proposal to a board meeting. Funding was approved, and the RMFW Writers Retreat was born! The first retreat took place last September, immediately following the 2013 Colorado Gold Conference. The second took place last March. Our next retreat will be March 11-15, 2015, at the YMCA in Estes Park, Colorado. I can’t wait!

As the editor of Rocky Mountain Writer, RMFW’s monthly newsletter, I get to draw upon my past experience in the magazine industry. My editor antennae are always out, feeling around for stories or regular features. Got an idea? Send it my way!

2. What is your current WIP or most recent publication, and where can we buy a book, if available?

I’m very excited to be published in RMFW’s 2014 anthology, Crossing Colfax. My contribution, “Seven Seconds,” is a superhero story about a guy whose power is neither super nor particularly heroic. (Crossing Colfax is available now on Amazon and includes stories by fifteen RMFW members. Very cool!)

Last February, I really switched gears with my writing. I’d always written science-fiction, fantasy, and speculative YA, but I decided to try my hand at writing contemporary romance. So I did my homework. I read a bunch of bestselling romance novels, studied several how-to-write-romance books and articles, and joined Romance Writers of America. I’m looking forward to attending the RT and RWA conferences in 2015.

The result of this switch is that I’m having a ton of fun! My almost-finished WIP is the first in a trilogy about three very different sisters living in a Colorado ski town. I hope to start shopping it this fall, though I might take the indie-publishing route—I haven’t decided yet, and my plan for the trilogy fluctuates daily. But my romance nom de plume is Holly Anders, so look me up in the near future!

3. We’ve all heard of bucket lists — you know, those life-wish lists of experiences, dreams or goals we want to accomplish– what’s one of yours?

Probably like most people reading this, I’d love to be a full-time writer, one who actually makes a decent living at the writing game. Writing aside, I hope to spend more time traveling. My husband, Warren Hammond, and I are going to spend three weeks in China later this year. I can’t tell you how excited we are! Other locales we’re looking forward to visiting in the future include Bali, Japan, and New Zealand.

4. Most writers have an Achilles heel with their writing. Confess, what’s yours?

I constantly compare myself, rather unfavorably, to my literary heroes. I read China Miéville and think, “I wish I could write like him.” I read Diane Setterfield and think, “I wish I could write like her.” I read Ian Tregillis and Laini Taylor and Connie Willis and Diana Gabaldon and Neil Gaiman and think, “I wish I could write like them.”

If you can relate, then go listen to episode 106 of the Nerdist Podcast, wherein Chris Hardwick interviews Neil Gaiman, and Neil, ever eloquently, tells aspiring writings to stop sabotaging themselves with these negative comparisons. You can’t write like other writers. Stop trying. Write your stories as only you can write them.

5. What do you love most about the writing life?

I love piecing together a story from little sources of inspiration that pop out at me during the course of everyday life. It takes some practice, learning to pay attention to those pops of inspiration, learning to recognize them as whole stories just waiting to be told, or as characters in the throes of an intriguing catastrophe, or as mortar for the bricks of a story idea that isn’t quite standing up on its own yet. Being on a constant lookout for story ideas makes writers see the world in far more vivid color.

6. Now that you have a little writing experience, what advice would you go back and give yourself as a beginning writer?

Get involved with an organization like RMFW sooner rather than later! Or at least join a critique group, attend a conference, take a community-based creative-writing class, find a writing-related Meetup, or do something to get yourself out of the house and into the company of other writers. Online groups serve their purpose, but for me, regular face-to-face interaction with other writers was key to getting, and staying, motivated—not only to write regularly, but also to improve my craft.

Along with that, start showing your work to other people and asking for feedback right away. Don’t be afraid of what others might say about your writing. Give up caring what others might say if they find out you’re a weirdo who writes science-fiction or a sappy sentimentalist who writes romance. I wasted way too much time worrying about such things and pushing my writing off into the future as a “someday” thing.

7. What does your desk look like? What item must be on your desk? Do you have any personal, fun items you keep on it?

I’m a backpack writer. I do most of my writing away from home, at coffee shops, libraries, restaurants, bars, or bookstores.

In my backpack, you’ll find all the essentials for hours of away-from-home writing: Kleenex, lip balm, hand lotion, dental floss, eyedrops, Advil, a comb and extra hair ties, hand sanitizer, earbuds, and gum. Depending on the season, you’ll also find sunglasses, an umbrella, a sweater, or fingerless gloves.

Oh…you want to know about the stuff I need to actually write? OK, well, when I’m working on a rough draft, my backpack contains reference books and my Alphasmart Neo. This is a word processor that neither connects to the web nor allows you to easily edit your work. (Google it. Every writer needs an Alphasmart Neo.) When I’m working on a more polished draft, you’ll find in my backpack my laptop, power cord, and stacks of critique notes from my awesome critique partners: Warren Hammond, Mario Acevedo, Jeanne C. Stein, Aaron Michael Ritchey, and Travis Heermann.

8. What book are you currently reading (or what was the last one you read)?

I just finished Necessary Evil, the final book in Ian Tregillis’s Milkweed Triptych series, which is brilliant alternate history supposing that Britain had employed warlocks during WWII and the subsequent Cold War to battle a squad of terrifying superhumans engineered by the Germans. Stunning writing, excellent storytelling.

Earlier this summer, I read (and loved!) The Hum and the Shiver and Wisp of a Thing by Alex Bledsoe. These novels suppose that the Tuatha De Danann of Gaelic mythology are alive and well in modern-day Appalachia. Very unique worldbuilding and beautifully flawed characters who will stay with you long after you finish the books.

Up next on my to-be-read list is A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.

Thanks so much for sharing with us today, Angie. See you at Colorado Gold.