A best-selling author is among us at Tyler Junior College. Her name is Traci Borum, an English professor who teaches composition I and II, as well as creative writing. Borum shares her love for writing, what led her to the field of teaching and words of encouragement to the audience to follow their dreams.
Q: What led you to become a teacher?
A: That’s a good question that requires some thought. I have loved English, and writing and reading ever since I was just a child. I have a lot of teachers in my family. In fact I counted one time. On my mother’s side, there are 11 teachers, so maybe it’s in the genes, I don’t know. But I think when I was getting my bachelor’s, and I was taking all the literature classes, I just thought, I want to stay here. I want to stay, you know, kind of surrounded by literature and teaching just seemed like the right choice.
Q: How many books have you published?
A: Seven, and I’m working on one.
Q: Are your books a certain theme or genre? Or are they different?
A: Technically, they’re of the genre women’s fiction, and there are two series. So, one is set in England, and one is set in Texas. Women’s fiction is just about, like, relationships. So it can be romantic, or it can be like, sisters, or you know, family or friends. And I like that dynamic. Because each book to me feels different and I get to explore different, you know, relationships.
Q: What’s your favorite book that you’ve written?
A: I think it’s, it’s the one called, “Savoring the Seasons.” It’s like the fourth book in the British series. It’s probably because there’s a lot of myself in each character, but that one, particularly for some reason, seems really close to me. Maybe that’s why it was hard to write. Because I had to kind of maybe look inward even more. Yeah, but maybe that’s my
Q: What got you interested in writing?
A: I think reading did. You know, both my parents, my mother was a teacher, and taught me how to read, and that love of reading. There came a moment where I was reading, and I thought, you know, somebody wrote these words. And there’s a point where you put that together. And I just thought, wouldn’t that be neat to do? You know, I just thought that that would be a wonderful thing to try. I didn’t know if I could do it. And I have to say, my very first novel, nobody will ever see it. It won’t see the light of day. It was terrible, because I had to figure out how to do it. But after that, I just fell in love with writing.
Q: What’s the inspiration behind your books?
A: I would say the place, probably for the British series. I love England. Well, I went there one time when I was 17 years old with my grandmother, and just fell in love with the culture, the music, the history, you know, the buildings are so old and lovely. And the accents. But probably that I would think.
Q: Would you ever stop teaching to fully pursue your writing?
A: I would say I love both professions equally. I’m very lucky to be able to do both. So I know that’s not an answer to your question, but I’m happy doing both and being able to.
Q: Anything else you want to add?
A: Yeah, I would just say that I think it’s important, even as an adult to just follow your dreams. Like, you know, my writing really is still just, it’s a dream. It’s more of a hobby, of course, than my teaching, but it’s something I love. And I think as kids, we dream big. And then we get to be adults, and our reality just crowds it out. It’s not easy. You know, people take their summers off. Well, I work hard. I wrote 250 pages this last summer. Nobody told me to you know, but I love it. But yeah, I think too many people just drop them. You know? So that’s what I would say.
