We recently connected with Shira J. Rodriguez and have shared our conversation below.
Shira J., thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
Well, for starters I was never supposed to be a writer.
Yep, you read that right.
In fact, becoming a writer wasn’t even on the radar when my mom felt a pull from God to homeschool me. Now the irony was, we’d moved to a new state precisely to find good schools for me and my sister to attend in Colorado. But when my mother asked a new friend at church where her children had attended school, she replied, “I actually homeschooled my kids.”
My mom and her friend continued chatting until she asked her friend how, as a second-language English speaker, she managed to homeschool her children through High School. My mom’s friend looked her in the eye and said something my mother would never forget.
“If I could do it, anyone can do it.”
My mother wanted to do it, but the idea scared her. She felt that her command of English was inadequate as an immigrant and she didn’t have a degree in education, let alone ever held a position at a school as a teacher. But my dad encouraged her to take the leap.
“We’ll put it on trial for the next three months.” He said. It was summer then and I was about to go into kindergarten in September. So my mother ordered a curriculum and I started school.
Those three trial months turned into nine months and before we knew it, I’d finished my first school year at home. I still remember the the smell of the Strawberry Shortcake cupcakes we bought to celebrate and the pink frosting on my nose as my little sister and I enjoyed our sweet treat across a little blue plastic table. And the sweetest thing was that I was able to enjoy my education. While many children absolutely hate school, I found it delightful. And one of the things that made it most delightful were the books.
I remember that at the time, we weren’t particularly well-off, as my dad alone worked, allowing my mom to stay home. So often the Christmas money sent us went to buying books for the school year. But you should have seen our delight and the way we would glory over those wonderful books when we got them.
I remember one year when I was nine, my uncle sent me some birthday money. “What are you going to buy with it?” He asked.
I was overjoyed. “I’m going to buy a boxed set of books that I’ve wanted for forever!” I crowed.
My uncle seemed puzzled. “You’re going to buy books?” He asked. “You sure you don’t want something else?”
And I laughed. Because the truth is, one of the greatest gifts my parents gave me was a love for books and learning. It is the most precious gift, I think, that any teacher can give because it keeps giving, even when you’re outside their tutelage. It makes you hungry for wonder and goodness and beauty in the world.
Naturally, being around so many books soon made me wonder about the people who wrote them and want to write books like them, too. And so that’s how I found a taste for writing, which quickly grew into a passion and has brought me to where I am today as an author featured in the Novelists in November Anthology which is set for release on November 17 of this year. But all the writing and accomplishments I owe to my parent’s radical decision to take the risk and give me a love of learning and books.
Shira J., before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m a novelist and podcaster who writes stories inspired by classics and woven of words, wonder, and whimsy. I love exploring themes of hope, beauty, and goodness in my stories.
I grew up in a vibrant Latino family in Colorado, most of whom were bilingual or spoke primarily Spanish. This gave me a unique opportunity to see language and words not only as a vehicle of communication, but also a culture, as a rhythm, and an expression of love and home.
Growing up in the company of Anne Shirley, David Copperfield, and the Pevensie children, I quickly fell in love with the magic of stories and the glorious beauty of a well-spun yarn as I nibbled on apples from my backyard tree and lost herself in a good book. (They may have turned my head a little.)
My childhood passion for English and words and wonder and beauty quickly grew and flourished into a thriving fascination in my teens. I’ve found that, while people often think that their faults hinder them, the very opposite is true. It is their strengths that sometimes hinder them, because people think they can do it all alone. And it is their weaknesses, those little chinks and chasms within them, that in truth, best spill out God’s goodness through people into the world.
At the age of eighteen, I graduated from thirteen years of home education, having studied English Literature at a College Prep Honors level for two years in High School and crafted my own creative writing curriculum in my senior year, which included composing several short stories and poems in imitation of the styles of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, Milton, Austen, Bronte, Dickens, and Virginia Woolfe.
I love stories that explore what it is to be fully, divinely human, want my stories to make someone’s day different. To give even one reader a glimpse, for a moment, of what it was to be loved through story; to be truly known.
When I’m not belting Broadway songs in my living room or perusing some new book that has caught my fancy, you can find me on Her Reading Life Podcast, my home-away-from home where I invite listeners to a cozy virtual coffee date to talk all things writerly, inspirational, and bookish. You can also catch me on my website bio.site/shirajrodriguez and on Instagram (@shirajrodriguez), where you can take a peek into my day or simply pop into my dm’s to have a bookish chat with a new friend.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Yes!! Absolutely!
So right after graduating high school, I planned to pursue a career in graphic design and writing. However, the stress of the previous school year combined with the stress of starting a new entrepreneurial enterprise really took its toll on my health, specifically my eye health, which was not great news for someone planning on having a graphic design company or a writing career! There were days where I worked hard for one day and was unable to work for a day or two afterwards because of the headaches and eye strain. It got to the point that I had such bad dizziness and headaches that I couldn’t even watch TV or move around like a normal person.
It was frightening and devastating.
Thankfully a friend referred us to a visual therapy center that successfully brought my eyesight back to normal, but even then it was a six-month process to get back to my healthy eye state.
And during that time, I had to write and build my platform as a writer.
I remember telling my dad how deeply upset I was about not being able to write, and he told me something I’d never forget. He said, “Well, you can still talk, right? Maybe you can narrate your story into your phone or something and get your ideas down.”
And so I did.
They were clumsy at first and even though I got somewhat better at it, the transcript wasn’t as good as the written portions of my novel. Eventually, I was able to transition to writing, and (thanks to my mom’s insistence on learning typing skills for which I’ll forever be grateful!) I began writing without looking at the screen and learned incredible habits that have stayed with me and aided me immensely in fine-tuning my own writing process.
But even more valuable to me than that is the things I discovered within myself. I discovered how ardently and passionately I loved writing. I loved it so much that even when I couldn’t write the words on the page, I had enough passion to find another way to tell stories. It’s who I am, deep down. A storyteller. I discovered that when you have a dream, no obstacle can stop you from pursuing that dream. It can only make you stronger.
This also served as the groundwork for creating my own writing platform. At the time, I couldn’t even post a story on Instagram without feeling exhausted. When I took my complaint up to my dad, he again suggested I do something that didn’t require my eyes – like podcasting.
So I started, and at first, my attempts were incredibly clumsy. I can’t even remember how many first attempts I ditched because they were so garbled and rambly and stumbling! But little by little, I started learning how to create episodes that helped people feel loved and known and in community and that could benefit writers, artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs of all walks of life. I’m so immensely grateful for this beautiful platform because it’s allowed me to meet some of the most incredible people I’ve ever met, including several award-winning authors (one of whom is one of my favorite authors of all time!!).
So that’s why I believe no obstacle is ever a curse. If you look at it the right way, you may find that it’s your greatest opportunity.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Yesss!!! Oh, I love this question! Books are kinda my thing! Hahaha!
So when it comes to Entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy, Rich Dad Poor Dad has been incredible!! It taught me to think far more deeply about money and sales and realize how often I have traded my time for money and literally asked no questions whatsoever! Also, the brilliant way in which Kiyosaki taught through stories inspired me to teach within the framework of storytelling. I don’t think his message would have hit as hard if it hadn’t been told as the story of how his Rich Dad taught him to become rich. It’s such a wonderful and profound book and I can’t praise it highly enough.
Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant is also a spectacular book and his analogy on active vs. passive income has forever revolutionized the way I see my career. Highly recommend it. Your Right to be Rich by Napoleon Hill (a collection of his transcribed seminars) is also immensely valuable and I often turn to it for inspiration and ideas. It’s not really about wealth as much as pursuing your dreams and blessing the world by doing what you were made to do. And on the heels of that, I also highly recommend It’s Not About the Money by Bob Proctor. It’s an excellent book on doing what you love and being successful at it.
And then with regard to writing, classics have honestly formed the bedrock of my writing education. I think that if you listen to old books, you’ll find the best new ideas. They’ve at once inspired me and taught me, chastened me and delighted me in the best ways possible. They’re really the ones who taught me how to write. Some of my favorites are C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia series as well as his novel Till We Have Faces, Dicken’s Great Expectations, Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery, To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bio.site/shirajrodriguez
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shirajrodriguez/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HerReadingLifePodcast
- Other: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/her-reading-life-podcast-writer-motivation-inspiration/id1677338555Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HMtcY9DmdY6nFHtsoRDRp?si=380f5417ded34ea8
Image Credits
Shira J. Rodriguez and Writers Block Bookstore