Today we’d like to introduce you to Tempany Deckert.
Hi Tempany, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was an avid reader as a kid and was luckily chosen for a young writers’ workshop in my native Australia. We got to meet professional authors and see their writing studios – suddenly, the seed was planted – I could do that too! But my career councilor discouraged becoming a fiction writer and so I chose a much more steadfast job; acting. Ha! My acting career took off when I was sixteen and I never finished school or went to university. But I did take some time to study at the HB Playwrights Studio in New York and it was there that I really knew I wanted to find my way back to writing. When I heard that Scholastic Australia were looking for a new girls’ book series, I sat down and taught myself how to write, submitted it and got an eight book deal. I continued to get other series published and loved the work. I noticed many talented writer friends around me were always asking how to write a book – they could write, but they didn’t know how to bring a whole book together in structure and form. I was always explaining how to do it and finally, I threw my hands up in the air and decided to create a course. This course is the exact method of how I write my books and it works for every person I’ve ever met. It’s fast, crazy, bold and nerve-wracking, but it works. I have established writers take it for a nice shake up of their work, and then beginning writers who have never attempted a book before. It brings about great personal insight as well as developing a novel and that has been very satisfying for me to watch. I feel privileged to teach it in person at UCLA’s Writers Program and also online for students who can’t make a physical class.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I’ve had rocky roads with other aspects of my career, but with novel writing and teaching, it’s been smooth sailing. I feel this is due to a philosophy of giving rather than getting. It sounds cheesy, but it’s true. I lowered the price of my online course to only $99 during the pandemic so that people had something to do that was fulfilling without it costing them an arm and a leg. I feel good that so many people around the world have been able to write their first novel without it bankrupting them! Students seem to find me and I have a great word of mouth reputation so I never need to advertise. They are always there and waiting. I can’t tell you how many people out there are fabulous writers who got told at a young age that novel writing was a pipe dream. They come to my class with a whole other career under their belt and write the most incredible stuff. They were born novelists but their families were too scared to let them try it. Recently I’ve had a doctor, a window cleaner, a lawyer and a priest all write stunning novels. There is such talent out there.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I write, teach and act and I do all of it to heal others. Those professions can all be big attention grabbers, especially the fame aspect of acting. But I’m not interested in the attention: my goal is to tell stories that illuminate and heal people. For years I was in the long-running Australian television show, Home and Away, and my goal was to create a small-town character that was similar to kids from the town I grew up in. I wanted to see a scrappy little country kid showcased in this juggernaut of a show. I wanted those kids to feel seen, heard and appreciated. When I began writing my teen book series, it was always about kids who were the underdogs and were trying to get ahead when everyone wanted to keep them down; I wanted kids to read them and feel encouraged to strive. My plays are about being a duck out of water in Australia – how the country’s many facets of multiculturalism, religion and commerce can set a person adrift with an unsure identity. My current writing explores being a foreigner in America and all the challenges that come with that. My teaching is all about people valuing what they have to bring to writing and that all their stories are important and needed.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love all the hidden things of LA – the random taco trucks in the back of a Von’s parking lot (Taco Zone in Echo Park!) or the hidden hiking trails in Elysian Park. I love sushi train in Little Tokyo and wandering through China Town and getting Dim Sum. I love mariachi bands that play in the park for people’s birthdays. I love riding my bike around Hollywood Reservoir. I love being able to see a broadway play at the Ahmanson Theatre and still get to chill on the beach – LA is a hodge-podge of so many things that you can literally get everything and anything you want out of the city.
I don’t like the mess, the pollution and the inability to help the homeless situation. And of course, I don’t like the traffic. If I can avoid getting in the car, I do.
Pricing:
- $99
Contact Info:
- Email: writeanovelchangeyourlife@gmail.com
- Website: www.writeanovelchangeyourlife.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tempanydeckert/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/writeanovelchangeyourlife/?ref=pages_you_manage
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tempanydeckert
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl3TAUzoE8LkiIhKBNRU99Q
Image Credits:
Brett Richards Photography
