We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Duane L Herrmann. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Duane L below.

Duane L, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

He replied that he did not let the abuse of his childhood turn him into a bitter, resentful person. Instead, he transformed his pain into accounts that he hopes other people can learn from and take courage in to overcome their own personal struggles and disabilities.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

When I was a very little boy, probably not yet two years old (because my sister is not in the memory and I was two when she was born), my mother would send me away from her while she read the newspaper. I knew the newspaper had stories. So, I concluded that stories were more important to her than I was. And, therefore, if I made stories too, I would also be important to her. But, I had obstacles. These included dyslexia and ADHD which no one knew about and her own insistance that I do work for her. My first job, when I was two, was to give my baby sister her bottle. My second job, shortly after that, was to fasten my mother’s bra. I could not reach the strap or see the hooks, but that did not matter. Success was demanded. I was forced to achieve. From that, I learned to do impossible things. I’ve never stopt.
More jobs were added until the summer I was 13 when I was put in charge of the family house, my younger two brothers, meals for us and our father, the large garden (we canned 150 qts of green beans & ate as many more), the chickens and their eggs, plus assorted dogs and cats while my mother went out of town for a summer school session. Her sister knew I needed a break from my mother’s constant demands and this was the only thing she could think of. It was the most pleasent summer of my life. When the sussion was over, my father put me on a tractor to farm with him. I did that until he was killed several years later.
As an adult, I built a house for my family to live in, while we lived in it. I’m not a carpenter, plumber, or electrician, but I finished the house from the studs out. Someone else had framed it. Before I built the house, the largest thing I’d built was a six foot tall book case. As soon as it was full of books – it collapsed. So, I built a house.
I still have trouble with the order of letters in the alphabet and reading can be difficult – and spelling is a nightmare. But, I now have published nine books of poetry, a collection of short stories (and another in process), a sci fi novel, a local history, a book on fasting, plus much stuff posted on the internet.
I have also learned that I have cyclothymia, a mild form of manic depressive, an anxiety disorder and PTSD. Yet, I have not quit. I don’t accomplish all I set out to do, but I keep on going. When you keep on going, eventually, you’ll accomplish something.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Some times, maybe many times, working doesn’t look like working. When I’m writing a piece and I get stuck, I have to leave the work and do some other, minor thing that does not require a lot of focus or concentration. While doing that, some part of my mind continues to work on the other, major problem. When a solution comes, and it does, I have to be able to drop that minor thing immediately and attend to the major problem that now may be solved.
Some times “work” is being done while I stare out the window. I’m not looking “at” anything, I’m just giving my conscious mind a mild diversion from the task, so I can return to it refreshed.
I’ve never had a boss or supervisor who understood this process. As a result, I was often “in trouble” for not attending to my job. I was attending, but not outwardly.
When I’m home working, I need huge amounts of time so I can focus on a major project and come and go from it all day long. Because of my ADHD I have to focus intensely, but I cannot maintain that focus for very long. Interruptions destroy the entire process, so I have to wait until the world around me goes to sleep before I can work – when traffic outside my windows diminishes to nearly nothing and it is late enough that no one calls me, except maybe my children – if there is an emergency.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I was recently informed that a short story of mine, published in May 2024, has been nominated for “Best of the Net.” The story is a fictionalized account of my relationship with my abusive mother and a fantasy I had about her death and burial. The story was very important to me and I felt it was powerful. After I got the notice of it’s nomination, I went back to my submission log to see when I first sent it out and how many times I’d sent it out.
I discovered I began sending it out ten years ago, in 2014. It was rejected and rejected and rejected. I made some slight revisions, but could not think of much to revise. It was rejected forty-nine times before this acceptance – and now this nomination!!!
I did not give up. I could have stopt sending it out years ago. I could have not revised it. I could have discarded it as a failure, but I did not. I did not count the number of times I sent it out. I simply sent it out again, and again, and again, and again. I believed in that story, and continued to treat it as if it was important. Because it was.
Now, I’m curious to see how it will be treated in this Best of the Net competition.
Spelling is difficult for me, the spelling of some words has never made sense. Computer spell check is not always helpful. When I found a book which just listed words, I was amazed!!! I have have three of them now, one is always within easy reach. Certain words are underlined so I can find them easiest without seaching down the page. I don’t know how I wrote without them!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dlherrmann.wixsite.com/home
• Facebook: “Duane L Herrmann”
• Linkedin: don’t use
• Youtube: I don’t know
• Other: none

Image Credits

portrait – Kevin Rabas, who has given me permission for its use.
All others taken by myself: Duane L Herrmann, EXCEPT for the one with me lit by a fire. A friend or family member took that one, and I have no idea who that might have been, nor the date of the photo.