ILLUMINATION Writers

Interview with Holly Jahangiri

Featuring creative writers of ILLUMINATION

Purpose of the Story

In this story, I share an interview that I conducted with Holly Jahangiri. Holly is a different writer. I mean she is an excellent writer but she is also a superb conversationalist.

Holly and I have a lot of chat almost every day on our Slack channel. Holly is one of my go-to-person when I get stuck with anything as she is so resourceful that she always paves the way for me.

I am grateful that Holly accepted my offer to participate in this interview.

Tell us a bit about your background, Holly.

I am an only child — or was until I married and got a sister and two brothers. Best wedding present ever. I was born in Daytona Beach — not on the beach, of course, but across from the Daytona International Speedway, which is what I blame for my congenital lead foot. “Funny story, Officer — um, are you a NASCAR fan, perchance?”

I am happily married to a man whose patience is legendary. I mean, he’s put up with me for 36 years, and we dated for two before that, so he can’t even complain that he did not know what he was getting himself into. We have two children, our daughter and our son, and a precocious grandson who promises to keep our daughter on her toes.

I am an oddity: I appear to be missing the “any interest whatsoever in sports” gene. It’s just not there. But my kids are athletic, so maybe it’s just one of those really recessive traits hidden behind one of the strands in the double-helix.

I started college at 12. Not because I was a genius or a child prodigy — I was bored. I loved to read, and none of my friends could understand why I’d rather hole up in my room with a good book than “hang out” with them. My parents encouraged the reading, but had absolutely no tolerance for that boredom nonsense. My mom was still in grad school, and I was curious to know what that was like, so with my parents’ help, I talked my way into French classes at Kent State University one summer, between 6th and 7th grade. Best summer, ever.

I had kept my summer classes at Kent State University a secret, because I was already seen as a bit of . I’d have gotten by with it, too, but it turns out that summer saw both the youngest and the oldest students enrolled at the same time, and the local paper picked up on that fun fact. So, I was still a freak to my classmates. At that point, it was just easier to own it than to try to “fit in.” I skipped 8th, 11th, and 12th grades and earned my B.A. — in English, of course — at 18.

I thought I wanted to be a novelist, but it turns out I also liked my “creature comforts” — and the idea of struggling for my art in a cold-water flat, living paycheck to paycheck, was not conducive to creativity. I lucked out, landing jobs that eventually led to a career in technical writing. I didn’t even know what a “technical writer” was, when I was first given that title, but it had the word “writer” in it and it paid well.

Funny story: I somehow ended my career as a data scientist, despite the fact that math gives me hives. Logic, natural language processing, text analytics — that’s my happy place, when I’m not writing. Take me, add in someone who eats, breathes, and sleeps stats, and you have a well-rounded data scientist. Now, I’m retired, and after a bit of a break — not quite the summer break I had in mind, thanks to the pandemic — I plan to write fiction in earnest. A novel? Maybe, but short stories are what I do best, and maybe I don’t have a burning need to be a novelist, anymore.

Why do you write on Medium?

Because it pays better than blogging? Because it’s fun. Really, it’s had an unexpected side benefit that has little to do with writing on Medium: It is chipping away at my social media addiction with its fun, positive interactions and it’s encouraging me to write, daily, for the pure joy of it. I choose the topics, I set the deadlines. The more I write, the more of an audience I build. I’m earning less than a child laborer in a developing country and nearly as much as I have with the royalties on three children’s books over a decade, but I’m enjoying it.

What are your values as a writer?

In my bio, I wrote that I don’t aspire to write “..enduring works of great lit-rah-chure… graduate school Lit classes cured me of that, what with playing ‘Let’s all psychoanalyze the dead author!’ with callow enthusiasm. My goal [is] to write entertaining paperbacks that might be left, dog-eared, on a commuter train to alleviate the boredom of the next traveler, or lift a housewife out of the doldrums for an hour or two.” If I should accidentally write classic literature, we all know such works are recognized only posthumously, and there’s nothing like death to keep a writer humble.

What are the top three books affected your life?

This is where I’m supposed to say “The Bible,” isn’t it?

Could you choose a “top three”? It’s a ridiculous question, really — now and then, we read the book we’re meant to read at a particular point in our lives, and it seems as if it touches something deep within our soul, and that’s the one. Until we read the next one, and it seems as if the writer knows what’s in our heart of hearts. And for a while, that’s the one. Until the one we read where we want to pick up the phone, call the author, and ask, “My God, how did you know?” and have a long conversational meeting of the minds with someone who just gets us. I hate ranking my “top three.” Can’t do it, really.

I will say this: As a kid, I shied away from all the award-winning books with little silver and gold foil stickers. For some reason, those always looked like vegetables, to me. Like they were supposed to be good for you, and therefore must taste like broccoli. Instead, I sneaked my grandmother’s gothic romance novels — they taught me what genre was, as I had dubbed them the “girl-running-away-from-the-house” novels. I read the plays of Shakespeare; Lew Wallace’s Ben Hur, and odd books, at least for someone under the age of 12, like Due to Lack of Interest, Tomorrow Has Been Canceled, and I’d have read the blurbs on the backs of cereal boxes for entertainment, if it had gotten down to it. I absolutely loved The Chronicles of Narnia — I so longed to go back, but by the end of the series, I understood I’d need to wait a while, and I’m okay with that. I also loved A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door.

I loved Atlas Shrugged, which is a funny thing for a liberal to say, but when you realize that Rand was a deeply flawed human, but also a pro-choice, rational, thinking woman who had no tolerance for neo-cons, no hatred towards LGBTQ people, and only thought people would do well to live by their real values and not by their pretend piety and others’ perceptions of them, it’s not such a stretch, really. But that’s the trap, isn’t it? I think a lot of her detractors think she advocated choosing buying a hat over feeding a starving child, and a lot of her fans think she gave them permission to choose the hat over the child.

What are your hobbies?

Reading and writing, obviously. But I also love travel — can that be called a “hobby”? I dabble in photography, art, crochet, cooking — all these things give me pleasure.

How do you connect with your readers?

I really enjoy blogging, and that includes Medium, which is considered a “blogging platform,” even if we’re rubbing elbows with publications like “The Atlantic.” Why? Because it allows me to have a conversation with readers, and them with me — I don’t write “just for myself, and myself alone,” because that would be called “a diary” and I have never been able to keep one of those. Three days in, and I’m bored. A diary does not converse with you. It’s an echo chamber.

Why did you join ILLUMINATION and how do you find it so far?

Honestly? Rasheed Hooda suggested it. I’d say he shoved, but he’s too nice to do anything so violent. Nudged? I’m not much of a joiner, and I had no idea how “publications” on Medium worked — none at all — so I dragged my feet a little.

Why do I stay? Because not only does it increase my reach on Medium and help me to build that audience, so that my writing isn’t just me spitting into the wind, it’s a community of writers (and aren’t all writers also readers?) who are supportive and interesting and funny and kind. I love that we have the Slack channel, where we get to know one another and ask questions and help each other out.

How do I find it so far? It’s the writers’ group I’d probably never join, left to my own devices, and I’m loving it so far.

Who are the top ten writers you follow on ILLUMINATION?

Ooooh, this is hard. You know, I’ve read some of these and I’ve been honestly stunned to be named among some of the other writers’ Top Ten lists. Being fairly new to both Medium and ILLUMINATION, both, I’m truly honored and humbled by that.

But choosing my “Top Ten”? I wish, for their sake, I could do it, but the answer here is the same one I gave you for why I can’t choose “Three Books that MOST Affected My Life” — I could never do that “Top 8” on MySpace, either. I don’t rank my favorite authors, books, or friends. Each one is unique and important to me in their own way — different ways, and on different scales of importance. The only people in the world I can say rank higher than all others are my immediate family.

But writers here who have recently made a strong impression on me — can we go with that? Rasheed Hooda, Charles Roast, Timothy Key, Daniel Clark, Bob Jasper, Chris Hedges, Tree Langdon ♾️, Kevin Buddaeus, Elisabeth Khan, Akos Peterbencze, and Elikplim Zanthia

Did I mention that math gives me hives? So does mindless rule-following. That’s eleven. So sue me.

What are your top five stories that you want to share with your audience and why?

Why did I agree to this interview? I knew this was going to be a problem…

First, I think this one, because it’s cheating a little — there are a lot of story links in there that I really hope everyone will follow, because it demonstrates what I mean by collaborative writing, being playful with other writers, and having fun with words.

And maybe this one, because I often hear writers complain that they’re advised to “show, don’t tell,” but no one really ever shows them how to do that. Sure — they tell them. And that’s the problem, isn’t it?

This was my first “curated” piece on Medium, but that doesn’t mean it’s been widely read. And I think it’s important:

I have a love-hate relationship with poetry, including mine. I think the first poem that made me cry was Billy Collins’, “The Lanyard.” It’s just a funny little poem, on some level, but as a mother, I wanted to laugh and at the same time, draw both my kids in for a hug and whisper, “It’s enough, because you’re enough.” Me? I don’t think I’ll ever be Poet Laureate. My claim to fame is writing a sonnet that brought the Society for Technical Communications Board of Directors meeting to Houston, and writing a sonnet ode to roadkill.

Charles Roast wrote a rather romantic poem called “What Turns Men On” — he normally writes humor and satire, so my knee-jerk reaction was to write a take-down in retort, but it turned out to be rather sweet. So instead of a riposte on behalf of women, everywhere, I just wrapped up a riddle in a little enigma, fueled by coffee and chocolate:

I’m currently working behind the scenes with another ILLUMINATION writer on a bit of creative non-fiction, semi-autobiographical, almost a PSA sort of thing. We’ll see where that goes. And then, there’s a planned meeting of the Muses with another writer, but I think our Muses are off having a post-pandemic drinking game without us.

Is that five? No? Oh. Okay — then how about this? It’s a little piece about my thoughts on “luck” — a gauntlet thrown down by Rasheed Hooda (he has a way of doing this, Dear Reader — beware!) to write about luck, lucky charms (magically delicious, unless you’re a rabbit) — and these are mine. I believe we make our own luck, so I’m adding the link in hopes this won’t languish in obscurity:

What are the success factors for you as a writer on Medium?

That I not catch myself whining, “I’m bored!”

That I continue to build an audience of people who enjoy my writing enough to spend a few minutes out of their day to read it. That they take a minute or two to comment on something they’ve read.

That Medium continues to value my contributions enough to share the revenue, because otherwise — well, I have a blog of my own that I’ve been neglecting, badly, and I could just play the Pied Piper and drag everyone over there.

What do you recommend to the new writers on ILLUMINATION?

That they get to know one another — dive in, the people are friendly and oh-so-helpful! That they have fun, be a little bit playful. I think some of my best writing has been inspired by others’ writing, where we started to riff off of one another’s stories, and cross-linked them. This is how grown-ups play. If you’re on Medium to get rich, you may succeed, but may I suggest applying to your local fast food joint? It’s probably an easier way to make money quickly.

What are your future plans as a writer?

To earn that seven-figure royalty check and be richer than J.K. Rowling.

But until that happens — and even afterwards — to remember that not all writing is work, but that even fun, playful writing is worth being treated with professionalism and care, with respect and affection for the audience.

Thank you for your valuable time Holly. I learn a lot from you personally and from your informative and engaging stories almost every day. I look forward to reading more stories from your creative pen. Your daily participation in our Slack channel means a lot to me and is greatly appreciated by our writers. You are an inspiration to our writers and readers on ILLUMINATION.

You may also check writer bio by Holly Jahangiri from the attached story.

If you are a writer on ILLUMINATION and would like to be interviewed, please send a request via this link with title of “Interview Request”.

Other Interviews

You may also check other interviews I conducted with inspiring writers of ILLUMINATION recently. These stories can provide a great opportunity to know more about our creative writers and connect with them.

Ming Qian

P.G. Barnett

Jill Ebstein

Bill Abbate

Terry Mansfield

Kevin Buddaeus

Invitation to writers to join ILLUMINATION

If you want to join our growing, enjoyable, and supportive publication as a writer, please leave a message via this link. We help you become a successful writer on Medium.

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You might check more interviews in the attached collection.

You can find inspiring profiles of ILLUMINATION writers from this story.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

About the Author

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In addition to self-improvement, leadership, technology, and health, I also enjoy writing about essential molecules such as lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, digestive enzymes, magnesium, creatine, choline, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, CoQ10, NADH, TMG, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, and other nutrients for health and fitness.