Meet Flossie Benton Rogers

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Flossie Benton Rogers. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Flossie, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

My interests from a young age involved the unseen energies that bubble beneath the surface of things and spring to life in books and other artistic works. I loved reading and literature and in grade school would devour any new classroom reading book the first day it was handed out. I wrote my first fairy tale at age eight. I was one to tutor my fellow classmates. My career began as a high school English teacher and, thereafter, transferred to library employee, librarian, and eventually library director. The library allowed us to assure availability of reading, literature, literacy programs, information, and emerging technology to the community. We were also fortunate to organize writing programs presented by talented local authors. Following retirement from the library, I joined with those authors in founding a local chapter of a national writing organization. Simultaneously, I committed to becoming a published author. My core purpose of expressing the world through writing became a reality.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Uppermost in life are the connections we make with others. Friends are important, and my circle still includes classmates from grade school. Family is the most precious, as are the values and activities surrounding it. Married for over forty-two years before losing my husband, I am a mom, grammy, and cat mom. A fifth generation Floridian on both the mother line and father line, I have a strong commitment to family history and history in general. A pervasive passion has always been to learn about and acknowledge ancient wisdom and underlying possibilities. Seen through eyes of wonder, life is magical and more than “two plus two equals four.”

Part of the fun of writing is to be able to incorporate paranormal and fantasy elements into ordinary life situations. The reader may see an ancient tree and enthuse, “Oh, how majestic.” Then, in the next moment, a doorway opens from the gnarled trunk and a colorfully robed gypsy pops out dancing. As she swirls, the reader realizes her face changes from young to old and back to young again. Her tale has endured since ancient times, whispered in stories and symbols. She is a wise old woman who writes mysterious messages onto a fish. She is a young girl dripping a tallow candle over a sleeping bear. She is a Janus.

I enjoy writing ongoing series, with each book also able to stand alone. Imagine parallel and subterranean realms where demigods and other magical beings live, occasionally interconnecting with the earth dimension. Imagine gifted humans, with special skills passed down from ancient bloodlines, that help other humans navigate the connections. Such imaginings became my Wytchfae series of paranormal romances.

My cozy mystery series includes resident ghosts that inhabit the Victorian home of the heroine. The heroine has ties with local police and private investigators. My son and daughter-in-law are from the law enforcement field, and my son now runs his own private detective agency. I am blessed with supportive family to help verify the accuracy of investigative details in the mysteries. Adding paranormal elements to the stories enables me to symbolize how important it is not to take the world at face value, but to look beneath and beyond. It also allows me to share with readers my sense of wonder and excitement about the beauty, darkness, and mystery of the world.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

A dedication to three qualities steered my journey toward becoming a published author: inspiration, curiosity, and creativity. Firstly, the childhood tales and stories read to me by my grandmother provided inspiration at an early age. This affinity with the imagery and symbolism of fairy tales and mythology remained strong thereafter. Tapping into their inherent truth and wisdom resulted in poetry and prose over the years and, finally, a passion for writing fiction, including paranormal romance, historical romance, and, most recently, cozy mysteries with paranormal elements.

Secondly, curiosity, resulting in learning experience, wove a powerful thread throughout the journey. I am passionate about ancient knowledge, astrotheology, and hidden realities. As a result, my books contain firsthand depictions of methodologies such as Essential Energy Balancing, Reiki, tarot, rune casting, and astrology, as well as history, ancient literature, and comparative mythology. Curiosity also involves being true to one’s roots, using the power of observation toward the life around us, being willing to learn from one’s contemporaries and those who came before, and sharing with those who come after.

Thirdly, creativity played an important role in my writing journey. Writers must use imagination to put their own slant on things. The world building in my books is vast and varied. The Wytchfae series includes such settings as the forbidding castle of a Sumerian guardian; a dim cave with devolved zombies, led by a shape-shifting sorceress; a watery world mentored by Poseidon; the jeweled domain of a Celtic-Roman goddess; and a frozen palace of ice-encased prisoners.

For those starting out in any field, tapping into your passion and what inspires you is key to being happy in your work. It allows you to become dedicated and committed and keeps you going when times get tough. I believe this goes double for writers and other creatives. Following on the heels of inspiration, an open inquisitiveness toward life, knowledge, and the achievements of others is vital. This is where you bring in what you see, what you hear, and what you know. Then, whatever content you are writing, whatever genre, make it your own, with your own creative twists, turns, and surprises. Keeping yourself surprised translates to excitement and satisfaction for your readers. Lastly, along with the qualities of determined inspiration, curiosity, and creativity, habits and mindset are also vitally important. Books are written one word at a time. The most important task is to stick yourself in a chair and write.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

A million thanks go to friend and amazing author, Loretta C. Rogers, who taught me the ins and outs of the writing profession and continues to freely share her knowledge with me and others. She is generous with time and information and enjoys seeing others succeed. She showed me that writers are alchemists who can rock the stars in the heavens by continuing to learn and by incorporating a step-by-step process into the magic. Writing is a mad mixture of “dream it” and “do it.”

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