Q & A: Doris B. Hudak

Doris B. Hudak was 75 years old when she left by herself for a trip around the world. She tells the story of her miraculous journey in her book entitled, The Journey of a Dream: One Woman's Travel Tale. Now five years later, at the age of 80, she is currently working on her second book. This time her story takes us to northern Spain in 2006 where she went on the 117-kilometer pilgrimage, Compostella De Santiag (a pilgrimage honoring St.James), which she accomplished in 8 days. Last week, Doris took a time out from her busy schedule to answer some questions about her writing experience.



1. What inspired you to write your story documenting your experience around the world?
After hearing my story very often people would exclaim, “you should write a book about your adventures” and I would say to myself “Yea yea yea”. Then at a lunch-in with former neighbors one of my friends handed me a book entitled, Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman by Alice Steinbach, my friend said it reminded her of me. Later that evening another woman looked into my eyes very seriously and said, “Write that book”. Alice Steinbech's book was exciting for me because we had visited some of the same countries and I found it interesting to compare our experiences. It prompted me to think, “Maybe there is a book in me.”

2. Did you do anything to prepare yourself to write the book?
Two tools that were most helpful were developed years before I had planned to write a book. A journal was one and other was photo albums. They were invaluable to document feelings and facts. The third thing I did was to enroll in a writing course titled, “Writing From the Female Experience” at our local community college. When the instructor learned I was entertaining the idea of writing a book he said, “don’t hand in the assignments that the rest of the class is responsible for just give me a couple pages of your book each week”. This was wonderful because it forced me to prepare something each week and it turned out to be just the discipline I needed.

3. What message do you hope to send to those who read ‘The Journey of a Dream?
The primary reason for writing the book was to have my children and grandchildren know who I am. I wanted them to learn how patience, determination, and dogged focus figured in accomplishing my dream. For all the others I wanted to describe the beauty and wonder of the places I visited and then to tell them I found the secret of a happy life, and it is this:
A)You must have a dream no matter how outrageous it may seem
(Afterall, who would believe that after 5 years of planning and
saving a 70 year old woman would travel the world by herself?)
B)then you make a plan to have your dream become a reality
C) and then you live out your dream
D)but that’s not the end, then you must have another dream,
you have to have a reason to get out of bed each day.

4. What advice would you give to someone who would like to write a book about their life experience?
Based on my own experience, I would say you must be passionate about what you want to write, also you must READ READ READ other authors who wrote about the same or similar experiences. Don’t be afraid to rework the manuscript multiple times if needed. My first writing professor said “There is no such thing as good writing only good rewriting”.

5. Are you currently working on another book?
Yes I am!

6. How does the writing process of your current book differ from that of “The Journey of a Dream”?
For one, this manuscript was written without benefit of my professor’s encouragement. I did it on my own. The tools I used were a tape recorder instead of a journal because I knew I would be too tired to write at night. The second book records my backpacking across northern Spain to follow the trail of a pilgrimage honoring St. James. Its Spanish name is, Compostella De Santiago.I read many books and articles about the pilgrimage before and after my trek. But the most helpful one I found is “Painless Writing” by Jeffrey Strausser.

7. Do you hope to write another book after this second one?
Only if I have a brand new exciting experience to write about!


Click here to purchase Doris B. Hudak's The Journey of a Dream.