In the Booth with Ruth – Dina Leah, Author & Blogger

What’s your writing background? When did you begin writing and what inspired you?

I started writing soon after I learned how to walk. Since I was very small, I began with short stories. 

How often do you write? And how do you manage to fit in writing among other commitments?

I write for two hours every day. I consider writing to be my first priority. Everything else takes a back seat. 

In which genre do you most enjoy writing?

Short stories still ring my chimes. At the moment I’m wrenching a memoir out of my memory, which stubbornly refuses to open itself most of the time. Since my life has been much stranger than fiction, I hope to sell the memoir as a novel, since no one would believe that it is true. 

What draws you to write in that genre?

I am compelled to try to record the bizarre events of my life so that, first of all, I can commit them to the written word. I hope that once emptied out of my brain, they will remain stuck in the pages and leave me alone. Secondarily, I hope that my life history will be interesting to others. I think it will. 

Can you tell me about your current project(s)?

In addition to the memoir/novel/memoir, I write two blogs and contribute to another. 

What are your writing plans for the future?

I hope to keep writing until I draw my last breath.  After that I’m not sure. 

Where can people find out more about you?

Everyone is cordially invited to visit my blogs frequently:

http://www.dinaleah.wordpress.com

http://www.bipolarforlife.com

• Dina Leah’s interview for Human Trafficking Awareness Month can be read here.
  
• ‘Barter Sex, Survival Sex, Predators and Perps: The Everyday World of the Teenage Runaway’, a short piece of non-fiction written by Dina Leah, can be read on Voices of Prostitution Survivors here.