Author Donna Hodges uses love for writing to spread spiritual message

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Author and playwright Donna Hodges has a love for writing and telling stories.

Hodges sits down with WJBF to discuss her books and how she is using that love for creating to spread positive and spiritual messages to her audiences.

How did you get started with writing?

So, it’s a funny story because I was living in Baltimore at the time, and I was literally going through a Patapsco River Parkway, and I just heard all of this jibber jabber. I was like, “What is that?” So, I hurry up and got to work. and I just started repeating myself over and over until I got to work. I just started writing it down, and it wouldn’t stop. I got to like 40-something pages deep, and I’m like, “What is this?” I was doing it all on PowerPoint back then.

Now, you’re also known in this community as Portuguese. So, can you please tell us how did you get that nickname?

So when I was born, my uncle, who just passed away in October, Mr. David Wright, said I would like a little Portuguese baby. He said I was bald head, had one string of hair at the top of my head, and my eyes was kind of slanted. He said, I just kept all this jibber jabber coming out of my mouth. So, he called me Portuguese. So, I have been known as Portuguese since.

Now, again, as I mentioned, you are also a playwright. You’ve done plays here: “I’m Sorry, Mama,” “Steppin’ Out,” and “Excuse Me, Miss, But I’m In Love With Your Husband.” What made you want to get into playwriting?

When I was in elementary school, I wrote a screenplay. We had to come up with something dealing with detergent. So, I did a screenplay called Washy, Washy, Washy and the Blue Chair. So, we made our little props and everything. I never thought about doing it afterwards. Then, one day, as I was writing one of my books, I just heard in my spirit that this is going to be a screenplay, and I was like, “Wow.” So yeah, I came from there.

Which do you prefer: writing for the stage as a playwright or do you prefer being the author doing the books?

Oh, that’s a good one. I love the to write. So, I seem to capture everything in my books more, but a lot of times when I capture them, I might hear in my spirit that this is going to be either a screenplay or a movie. So, I write so I can cater to the audience so that when their looking at the pages in my book, it’s almost like they’re living it on the screen.

Now, let’s talk about your books that you have here: The Spirit That Dwells In Me, Spirits, Dreams, And Prophecies, and Our Youth Are Ruining Me. So, let’s talk about each one starting with Our Youth Are Ruining Me.

So about ten years ago, I wrote this book, and it was different cover and everything. I had some of the local kids on the cover including both of my sons. They were young, probably ten 16-year-old teenagers. I felt like there was a need because of the way that the kids were dressing, how the baggy pants and all of that came about, and how drugs was just everywhere. I felt like it needed to be talked about, and the kids needed to see this particular book. However, when I came back here from Maryland last year, I heard in my spirit, “Revisit the book,” because the kids of today really need it. So, basically, it’s the good kids telling the not so good kids, “The things that you’re doing today are ruining my possibilities for tomorrow. So get your act together.” Basically, that’s how it came back. It has a lot of different scenarios in there. You know what get good kids are doing, whether they’re going to school and going off to college or you have the kids that are doing drugs, skipping school, or going to a lake that ended in a tragedy. You know, stuff like that.

So now we have The Spirit That Dwells In Me and you mentioned that Spirits, Dreams, And Prophecies go together. So, can you please elaborate on what the books are about and how they coincide?

Okay, so during the pandemic, I was sitting writing another book that I’m working on right now, and I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Pull up another screen.” So, I pulled up another screen, and I’m writing. I didn’t know what it was about. All of a sudden, He just started pouring into me. Then one day, if you notice on the cover of the book, there’s a lady standing out in a field, and her hands are wide open. The pandemic was going strong. It was around March 20th at the time, and all the churches were closed down. Only ten people were allowed to go, but that particular morning, I heard in my spirit, “Put your clothes on.” I put my clothes on, and as I was driving along, one of the deaconesses… I met her along the way, and she said, “Ten people are already there.” So, I sat, and I said, “Okay, I’m going to pay my tithes and offerings.” She said, “Okay.” I’m getting a tear already because every time I tell the story, it’s just so truly amazing what God did to me that day. When I got to the parking lot, two of the deacons came up to me, and I told them, “One of the deacons has already explained to me that it was ten people, but I just wanted to pay my tithes and offering.” One of the deacons said, “Sister Donna, you can take my spot because I believe there’s a need. God has a need for you.” I went in, and I came back out. All of a sudden, the Holy Spirit told me to go out into the field. All I could think was [the scripture about] two people are out in the field – one’s going to be caught up and another one is going to be left behind. I’m like, “Lord, please don’t take me. I don’t want to go yet. I’m not ready. I have too much to do.” Then, as I got in that field, He spun me around, and the brightest sun that I could ever see – As you see how bright that sun is, it was my eyes. I got burn spots disprove it. I’m looking into a sun that was so bright that He showed me a cross that came down to the shape of a sword, and on the right side was two dark figures and on the left side, it was a brass altar that was made of three poles. It’s not the type of brass or the type of crystal that we’ve seen. It was something that many wouldn’t even be able to believe, and it was just so amazing what He showed me that day. So, that’s how that book came about. It was the first part of a trilogy that the Holy Spirit had me writing.

Spirits, Dreams, And Prophecies came after that, and that’s basically about the Holy Spirit was waking me up to dreams. I mean, He had me capturing these dreams, and He had me writing them down. Then, He was showing me spirits. One of the spirits is captured in here. I was in Maryland, and I had to go back to work. As I was getting ready, I was frying some chicken, and I got ready to run in the kitchen and standing at my back door at my shades was the spirit. I got scared, and the Holy Spirit said, “Don’t be afraid. It’s a peaceful spirit.” He said, “Go and check on your chicken.” I was afraid because I had never seen a spirit that close. So he said, “Go move the shades,” and I moved the shades. I’m looking outside because at the time it was kind of dark. It was raining, but underneath the shades is this big glow. It scared me so that I kept calling everybody. I moved from that place real fast because I was scared. The prophecies came afterwards. He was telling me certain things like the power of three. I won’t quite mention what they are, but he talked about the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He talked about the sun, moon and stars. You know how I’m always capturing the sky? I’m always looking into the sky because He’s always showing me things in the sky. So the other prophesies that’s part of that Power of three is in this book, but it’s devastating because it’s talking about what’s going on right now. Beforehand, I started writing this in 2022. It talked about Texas, California, and Florida, how all the storms were going to come up, and there would be so much destruction and chaos. He said that between the year 2023 and 2033 would be so much destruction and chaos that people would want to die and can’t. [This is discussed in the book.]

If people want to get more information about you or they want to get your books, how can they get that information?

So if they go to higginspublishing.com or donnahodgesauthor.com, you can be able to get any of these books from me, and actually, I will sign a copy for you.