ILLUMINATION Writers
Interview with MaryJo Wagner, PhD
Featuring creative writers of ILLUMINATION
In this story, I share with you an interview that I conducted with MaryJo Wagner, PhD. Dr. Wagner is a new writer on ILLUMINATION, and I have started reading her interesting and engaging stories.
Dr. Wagner has an academic background, a historian with a Ph.D. in American History, and a strong background in modern European History and Victorian England; however, she writes about eclectic topics on ILLUMINATION which inspire us.
Dr. Wagner has gained good recognition from our readers and writers in such a short time as she is engaging with our writers and supporting their content. I am interested in exploring the memoirs that she has been writing.
Let’s explore the background of this fresh and exciting writer of ILLUMINATION!
Tell us a bit about your background, Dr. Wagner.
I’m a retired college professor, founding editor of the NWSA Journal (the academic journal of the National Women’s Studies Assn.), and past director of two Women’s Studies Programs.
After leaving academia, I made a living writing for other people. Worked for a family tutoring company for kids with learning disabilities and high school kids getting ready to take their SATS. Wrote their blog posts, newsletter, weekly newspaper column, marketing copy, ebooks, pdf handouts, and text on web pages. and even ghost wrote a novel for these folks.
I did freelance editing including for the University of Illinois Press. I also wrote an ongoing column for The Denver Women’s Business Journal (a short-lived publication).
In a nutshell, my background is teaching, editing, and writing. I’m a historian with a Ph.D. in American History and a strong background in modern European History and Victorian England. Passionate about the history of women in the American West, esp. Colorado and Nebraska.
I am adopted and have raging ADHD. So those are the topics I like to focus on and about which I have the expertise and personal stories BUT ADHD sends me all over the place to other topics! I find myself writing a lot about writing. Again, something I know a lot about.
I’m an old woman with gray hair and often walk with a cane while bragging about 7 grandkids and 2 great-grands.
Why do you write on Medium?
Four reasons: Because I get feedback. I discover what people like. What they don’t like. I’m not writing in a vacuum. It’s an opportunity to connect with people. To publish ebook series compiled from Medium posts. To post chapters of my two memoirs, not yet been published. Because I love writing on Medium
What are your values as a writer?
1. To write well (technically and in an engaging way) 2. To teach 3. To entertain 4. To write what others haven’t written or take a well-known niche and infuse it with my own personal story or something or a person from the past. 5. To write unique content
What are the top three books that have affected your life?
Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook
Doc Childre and Howard Martin, The Heartmath Solution
Peter Levine, Trauma and Memory: Brain and Body in a Search for the Living Past
My favorite author is Willa Cather, my favorite book of hers is Death Comes for the Archbishop
What are your hobbies?
1. Collecting antique postcards
2. Classical music especially Johann Sebastian Bach
3. Reading, Reading, Reading
4. For light reading, I’m addicted to murder mysteries that take place in New Mexico and Wyoming, beginning with Tony Hillerman and including Margaret Coel, Robert Westbrook, and R. Alan Chappell
How do you connect with your readers?
In terms of writing, from telling stories that pull readers in, stories that connect. In terms of followers, by adding 50 new followers a day — at least that’s the goal.
Why did you join ILLUMINATION, and how do you find it so far?
JeffHerring.com and Tim Maudlin recommended it in their course on How to Use Medium. I’m loving it. It’s engaging and easy to connect with other writers.
Who are the top ten writers you follow on ILLUMINATION?
Here are the top writers that I follow JeffHerring.com, Tim Maudlin, Joan Kent, PhD, Vickie Trancho, Phil Truman, Tree Langdon ♾️, Timothy Key, Candy L Hill, Venessa Robinson, iWrite!
What are your top five stories that you want to share with your audience, and why?
1. “Post Your Content Everywhere: What a Writer Can Learn from Little Women” (Taking a beloved and famous person from the past and connecting her to lessons for today’s writers.)
2. “Toss Your Chicago Manual of Style” (Explains why the most famous writing guide is no longer relevant and how one can write without following old rules.)
3. “A White Teacher in a Black School” (It’s my personal story that relates to racism and Black Lives Matter.)
4. “My Life Without TV until COVID and George Floyd” (It’s got history and my story fit into our current situation.
5. “He Was of The Greatest Generation” (The story of my birth-father who died on D-Day, June 6, 1944 from Nazi gunfire. An actor would play his part in Steven Spielberg’s Band of Brothers. It’s part of my adoption story. It’s also about a hero who died in World War 2 — a history we need to know about.
What are the success factors for you as a writer on Medium?
1. Writing every day 2. Noticing what stories have gotten good responses, and what haven’t 3. Studying what kinds of stories and topics get the most engagement
What do you recommend to the new writers on ILLUMINATION?
1. Be fresh, new, and different 2. Tell personal stories, including embarrassing ones where you made mistakes 3. Write every day 4. Write what you know about 5. Read what other successful writers have written for ILLUMINATION
What are your future plans as a writer?
To make a living writing on Medium/Illumination To publish Finding My Hero: An Adoption Memoir from World War 2 To publish Growing Up Adopted: Love Wounded
Thank you for your valuable time, Dr. Wagner. I enjoy reading your fascinating stories on ILLUMINATION. Your academic background and writing capabilities are impressive and inspirational to us. I’d like to explore the books you are authoring. I also appreciate your wonderful support of our publication, writers, and readers.
You can learn more about MaryJo Wagner, PhD, from her writer bio.
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 allow us to know more about our creative writers and connect with them.
Timothy Key
Desiree Driesenaar
Holly Jahangiri
Dr John Rose
Ming Qian
P.G. Barnett
Jill Ebstein
Bill Abbate
Terry Mansfield
Ann K Frailey
Woei T
Charles Roast
Julia E Hubbel
Aric D Mayer
Chris Hedges
Paroma Sen
Jeff Hanlon
Besom & Bletherskite
Sherry McGuinn
Sylvia Love Johnson
Maïa Belart
Henery X (long)
Chowa Sekai
conny manero
Sumera Rizwan
Karen Madej 💛
Anita Lesko
Marianna Saver
Suntonu Bhadra
John Cousins
Annelise Lords
Tree Langdon ♾️
Aisha
Aurora Eliam, CMP
Martine Weber
Sharon Hurley Hall
Kevin Buddaeus
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.
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