About Me
Let’s Grab Some Coffee
I’m so glad you could meet me at Blooms for a cup of coffee! I live in Texas with my husband and three kids, plus a cat and a hamster who are frenemies. I belong to the DFW Writers Workshop, the Fort Worth Poetry Society, and Art House Dallas.
Here are some random fun facts about me:
- I studied monster theory (among other things) in school
- And taught English in a Chinese university
- And toured the Scottish Hebrides in a car with a needy radiator
When I’m not writing, you can find me going on (unambitious) hikes, experimenting with a baked good of some kind, or scrambling down a research rabbit hole. With coffee. Always coffee.
Upcoming Events
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Follow me on Instagram for details: @helendentwrites
Get to Know Me
Q. Who influenced you in your writing journey?
I’ll answer this one with a little scene. I’m eight, climbing uneven wooden stairs up to the attic in my grandparent’s house, where my granddad has his home office. The attic is always stifling hot and smells like warm coats and old suitcases. I rap on his office door. It squeaks open to a cedar-lined room where the window AC is going full blast. Granddad swings around in his leather chair and then takes a break from charting stocks to flip through a story I’ve just written. “Good,” he says. He’ll make notes on it later, when he has more time. Then he pulls out his wallet and pays me per page.
So I run downstairs and write another story.
Q. Are you a pantser, a plotter, or a plantser (some of both)?
Oh, definitely a plantser! I start with a general idea of where I think the story will go, but that outline is always subject to change, depending on what the characters decide to do (see question above).
Q. What is your favorite part about writing?
That’s a tough question, but to narrow it down to one part – I really love the moment when a scene I’m writing surprises me, when a character does something unplanned or a conversation goes in a direction I didn’t expect. It’s like watching the story world come to life.
Q. How long did it take to write ‘The Burning Tree’?
The actual idea came quickly, but the process of writing – not so much. Start to finish, it took me five years.
Q. Where is your favorite place to write?
That would be my kitchen table, with twinkle lights strung around the room, a substantial mug of coffee and coconut milk steaming next to me, and maybe – depending on the season and the story – a column candle going.
Q. What message do you hope your readers will take away from your books?
Maybe not a message as much as a way of looking at the world: a place where true wonder exists, where there’s deeper beauty than we can take in, where mercy trumps dead ends and suffering doesn’t have to be the end of the story.
Q. What’s one item on your bucket list that you hope to accomplish one day?
I have a great-grandfather who left his family’s island in Norway to come to New York (yes, he left an island. An island!?!) Over the generations, the exact location of the place has been lost, and I would definitely like to track it down
Q. Where did you get the idea for ‘The Burning Tree’?
Well, one day, without warning, the basic idea for this story just struck me. I grabbed a notebook and scribbled it down. So, on one level, it’s always seemed like the idea came out of thin air. But I’ve also heard creative inspiration compared to compost – that heap where eggshells and grass clippings and banana peels slowly decompose into good dirt. I think something similar happens in the imagination. Our experiences, and what we love, and what we fear, and what we read, all combine into a growing place for ideas. For me, this place is filled with memories of my grandparents’ house, long walks in the woods, and very old stories, all jumbled together into something new.
Q. If it were possible to live in a book’s world, which world would you choose?
This question’s tricky, because sometimes what I enjoy most about a story world is exactly why I wouldn’t want to live there – like the White Witch’s treacherous forest in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, or that long slog across Mordor in The Lord of The Rings. And can you imagine being trapped in some of Jane Austen’s drawing rooms?
I would, though, love to spend some quality time in the story world of Meet the Austins by Madeleine L’Engle. It’s cozy without ignoring the sharp corners of life. Plus, there’s a road trip and the beginning of a love story . . .
. . . .wanders off to read it again . . .
Q. What is your favorite food?
This one has to be a list:
- Date night sushi.
- Fried okra in my grandmother’s kitchen.
- Shrimp soup in that hole-in-the-wall restaurant around the corner in China.
- Digestive biscuits. These are best if eaten in a light rainstorm or a drizzle. (If you’ve never tasted a digestive, they’re much better than they sound. Really, they’re basically graham crackers that have upgraded to greatness.)
Q. What is the best writing advice you have ever received?
I really appreciate what Jonathan Rogers of The Habit says about creativity: “always more where that came from.” This really helps when I’m between projects or realize I need to let go of an idea that just isn’t working. Specifically, he writes, “Creativity isn’t a reservoir or a tank of ideas that get depleted as you use them. Creativity is a river. True, sometimes it slows to a trickle and sometimes it’s in flood, but if you stay in the chair, creativity will always flow. It’s just how we’re made.”
There’s Always More Where That Came From
Side note: Jonathan Rogers has a wealth of fantastic writing resources on his website, The Habit. It’s well worth a look.
Guest Appearances
Helen Dent, Author 