Debbie Russell

Debbie Russell is a lawyer turned writer. She spent twenty-five years as an Assistant County Attorney in Minneapolis, prosecuting numerous high-profile cases and fighting off several nervous breakdowns. At age fifty-five, Debbie took early retirement, giving up a full pension for the freedom of time. She now spends that precious time writing, restoring her property to native prairie and wetlands, and training her rambunctious retrievers. Crossing Fifty-One: Not Quite a Memoir is her debut memoir.

Twitter: @DebbiesStories 

Facebook: @Debbie-Russell-Author

Instagram: @debbiesstories

What’s your favorite non-reading activity?

I actually have two favorite non-reading activities and they couldn’t be more different! The first is dog training. I’ve been training and competing with my dogs for over twenty years. These days I compete in agility and retriever hunt tests. I love teaching my dogs to do new things and I’ve made so many special friends in the dog world. My other favorite activity is gardening. When I was a practicing lawyer, my tiny urban garden was my happy place! I loved planting perennials and seeing them come back year after year. Now that I’m in the country, I’ve learned all about native prairie and wetland plants. It’s been a wonderful experience!

Not all books are for all readers… when you start a book and you just don’t like it, how long do you read until you bail?

For better or for worse, I will not linger with a book that doesn’t hook me early. Life is too short! A good memoir should read like good fiction. And vice-versa: good fiction, written in first person, should feel like memoir. The older I get, the more I crave an easy read that can quickly transport me to a different world. And I strive to write in that style.

What period of history do you wish you knew more about?

My ancestors on my dad’s side came to the U.S. from England in the late 1700s. The colonial times have always been of interest to me, but I doubt I paid sufficient attention in school to get thorough instruction on that period. It would be wonderful to learn about the conditions in England that motivated people like my ancestors to decide to get on a ship, cross the Atlantic Ocean, and move to a place that was still quite unsettled.

What do you worry about?

I worry about the growing divisions among us. I worry that online communication has made us meaner. I worry about all the people who experience loneliness. I worry about climate change.

What brings you great joy?

I derive great joy from nature. Within nature there is a stillness, an innocence, a stoicism, a will to survive; all those attributes lift me up and inspire me to breathe deeply, work harder, worry less and focus on the things I can control.