Grew up: “In Perkasie, a rural town outside Philadelphia, on a farm where my family raised Quarter Horses. We also had plenty of chickens, cats, a few dogs, an attack rooster and occasionally a goat. I moved to Philadelphia as a teen and the transition was a shockingly funny heap of multicultural embarrassments. I have called the city home since I returned from college. I write quite a bit about my early life on the farm as well as my first bittersweet taste of city life.”

My experience: “I’ve been a waitress, bartender, cashier, and restaurant manager. But throughout it all, I’ve been writing.”

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“You don’t need to be in front of a laptop to write.”

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Books I liked to read as a kid: “Just about anything: drama, thrillers, horror… I would always keep a small pad and pen handy to write down words that I didn’t know so that I could look them up and use them later.”

Books that had a big effect on me when I was a kid: “‘The Cay,’ by Theodore Taylor; ‘Sounder,’ by William Armstrong; ‘Philip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon Maybe,’ by Bette Greene; and ‘The Pigman,’ by Paul Zindel. They all transported me magically to another world and opened my mind to the wonder of writing.”

Kinds of books I like to read now: “I just finished re-reading ‘The Color of Water,’ by James McBride and ‘The Dream Songs’ by John Berryman. I also love James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Julia Glass and Alice Munro.”

Writing makes me happiest: “When I feel I have captured or represented something that might otherwise be fleeting. A unique exchange or moment… sort of a candid snapshot created with words.”

Advice on becoming a good writer: “Read. All. The. Time. Also, you don’t need to be in front of a laptop to write. Write on the bus, walking down the street, in line for coffee. Write everything down, don’t worry about it being perfect.”

Angel Hogan is a member of New Philadelphia Poets, a contributor to First Person Arts Story Slams and a contributor to the One Fine Philly blog. She is currently at work on her first novel.

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