We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alexis Rhone Fancher a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Alexis, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I wanted to be a writer. Since grade school, I wrote little poems and short stories, mostly for my own amusement. I wrote all through high school, where my 10th grade Creative Writing teacher, Ms. Bruce, read my work aloud in class, including a poem about apples, which she declared “the only poem written in class that had value.”. I still remember snatches of the poem: It opened with: “I bought tomatoes rotten/and apples with worms inside…” And that final line: “Because I was rotten, too.” Her praise was like jet fuel. And a poet was born.
Then I discovered theatre. Whatever that acting bug was, I caught it. Joined Thespians, auditioned for and got cast in plays. Started voice lessons. Ballet. The writing took a distant second. I majored in Theatre in college. Traveled Europe after graduation. Acted in plays, small films. But the desire for an acting career took a backseat to the need to make a living. Being away from acting was less devastating than I thought it would be. Meanwhile, the need to write became more and more important. I’d lived a full and rather colorful life. I wanted to share my journey. I began to write again. Took several years of classes from Los Angeles legend, writer/teacher/actor, Jack Grapes, who taught me to trust my voice and tell my truth. 10 published books later, I see my purpose as threefold: Photographer. Documenting the people and the world around me. Writer, and teacher/editor, who has the privilege of working with talented writers who want to bring their work from idea to publication.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m the author of 10 published books of poetry and prose, most recently BRAZEN, and EROTIC, both published by New York Quarterly, and DUETS, a collaboration with poet Cynthia Atkins, from Harbor Books, TRIGGERED, a feminist response to “trigger warnings” publishes in November, 2023, from MacQueen. My photos have been published worldwide, including the covers of Pedestal Magazine, Chiron Review, and elsewhere. A book of my portraits of Southern California poets will be published by Moon Tide Press in May of 2024.
As for what’s new, I relocated to the Mojave Desert last June, after being a life-long Angeleno. My photo studio is up and running, and I want to shoot portraits of the fascinating desert dwellers I’ve found here. Editing wise, I am still available to edit work, be it a single poem or a full-length memoir or novel.. I get great satisfaction, helping a writer go from first draft to publishable manuscript. I’ve been called “the Book Doula.”
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three qualities that serve me well are: Tenaciousness, Passion, and Taking Risks. I believe these qualities make a difference in my journey, allowing me to focus on what matters. “What do you want? What are you willing to give up to get it?” is a question I ask myself, and my writing clients. “”Someone out there is writing her truth, bleeding all over the page,” I tell them. “She’s the one who’s getting published.”
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
The book that changed everything for me was my 4th book, JUNKIE WIFE. It was my most personal, confessional book written to that point, and I struggled to find the right “voice” to tell the story of my disastrous first marriage. I wrote it again and again, but it wasn’t working. I put the ms down for a while. Kept going over it in my head. And one day, putting on my makeup in front of the mirror, I had an epiphany. I was going about it all wrong, making my then husband and my then best friend the guilty parties, not owning my part in the unfolding drama. I’d written the book from the perspective of the wronged woman. The epiphany? That I was as complicit in the strange manage a trois as they were! Owning my part in it changed everything. Taking responsibility freed me up to dig into deeper truths, both in JUNKIE WIFE and the books that followed.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.alexisrhonefancher.com
- Instagram: hotnovelist
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexis.fancher
- Other: Contact me at: [email protected]
Image Credits
All book covers designed by James Fancher and Alexis Rhone Fancher. Photos by/of Alexis Rhone Fancher.
