When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I started writing over 20 years ago when I was an assistant professor at a local university.  I agree to write a textbook on language disorders in children with a number of professional colleagues.  The content of the book and the chapters that I wrote were research-based and very clinical.  The book went into five editions and was extremely successful as a college textbook.  Along the way, I decided to write a fiction-based book, which was a murder mystery.  The clinical textbook was completed in a year with very strict time lines and benchmarks.  The murder mystery was written over a five-year period with many starts and stops. 

Are you a full-time or part-time writer, and how does that affect your writing?

I have always been a part-time writer, and writing has always been on the sidelines of my full-time job as CEO of Tiegerman Schools and Tiegerman Community Services.  I enjoy the writing process, and I also enjoy writing on a part-time basis.  I do not think that writing on a full-time basis would represent a choice for me, given all of the other things that I do in my life.  I think that my ability to step in and out of the writing process keeps my interest and reduces my anxiety about time pressures. 

What are some day jobs you have held, and how have they influenced your writing?

In both of my fiction novels, Past Lives Denied and God Denied, I have used my personal experiences as a professor at the university.  The characters that I created are based on myself and people that I have met while I was teaching.  Some of the events are factual and personal.  I believe that this has added greatly to my storytelling and narrative development.  I believe that using your personal experiences in life can add to the dynamics and creativity of your writing. 

Do you work with an outline or plot sketch, or do you prefer to let a general idea guide your writing?

I have always started my writing by developing an outline and then a chapter-by-chapter narrative for the entire text.  During Covid, I set up a schedule every day to get up in the morning at 5 am, go to the gym for an hour, and then sit at my computer for another hour to write. I never pressured myself to write so many words or so many pages.  Whatever I did for the hour was fine.  I did not have a timeline to finish the manuscript by any set date. I wrote Past Lives Denied over the course of a year, with changes to the content as I continued writing.  I never pressured myself to complete or produce under any time constraint. 

Did you independently or “self” publish, or did you go the “traditional” publishing route, and why?

Initially, I sent my outline to agents and publishers over the course of a six-month period and waited for polite replies and rejections.  I then decided that the project was more important to me than the publishing route, so I completed the manuscript, sent it to an editor for review, and then self-published the book. I have decided to engage in the same process for God Denied and Rebecca Denied, the next books in my trilogy.    

What made you decide to sit down and start writing this book?

I was always interested in writing a murder mystery which took place at a University with a professor such as myself. I thought that it would be very interesting for readers to learn more about university life, particularly given the present political upheaval taking place across Universities in America. I happened to attend a training seminar with Dr. Brian Weiss on Past Lives Regression Therapy. I was so intrigued by his research and work that I decided that the main theme of my murder mystery would involve Past Life Regression. My main character, Professor Caitlyn Morrys, utilizes Past Life Regression to solve the murder mystery in my book.

Who is your favorite character in your book and why?

My favorite character is Caitlyn Morrys, who shares many of my characteristics and personal experiences at Coronado University.  Professor Morrys, just like me, taught classes, met students, graded exams, and participated in University Committees.  Our favorite Committee was the faculty senate on Retention Tenure and Promotion.  I found that basing my characters on people that I knew made the writing process much more fluid and dynamic. 

What is your next project?

I have decided to write a trilogy for Past Lives Denied.  With that in mind, I have completed the second book God Denied, which will be self-published, and I have completed the outline for the last book in the trilogy, Rebecca Denied.  My writing has taken me across several decades, from clinical work to more creative projects in fiction and mystery.  I think after Rebecca Denied is finished, I will take a short break from writing in general.  I might return to some of my clinical projects in research and development.  I think it is important for authors to self-access as they continue to write.

Want to learn more about Ellenmorris Tiegerman?

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