Thank you Bonnie for joining us today. It's a pleasure to have you here. Today we will be getting to know a little more about Bonnie and her work.
I'm extremely excited about our spotlight today because not only does Bonnie write for the joy of it, but also because she uses her talent for a good cause.
Now onto the interview.....
1. Please tell the readers a bit more about you.
I’m a
self-employed community activist in a small western Rocky Mountain city.
Married to a writer-sympathetic man, he and I are owned by three high
maintenance furr-kids and an old camp trailer that calls us to spend long
weekends in remote valleys. I’m a demolition derby champion, foster dog mom,
lover of chocolate cheddar cheese. I enjoy reading and writing (of course), barefoot hiking with my
husband and dog, and hanging around the local coffee shop with friends, where we
solve the national debt and plot world domination. I credit my writing fixation
to a childhood incident…at
six years old, my (then best) friend and I scribbled our names with black and
green and red markers all over her mother’s freshly-painted living room wall. I
was unfairly targeted as the ring-leader, likened to an unruly fiend of
derelict parentage, and banished from the family’s home forever. Crestfallen
and bitter, I mourned the injustice for hours. Then I licked my wounds and
settled on a valuable lesson - writing gets you noticed.
2.
What types of books do you write?
Paranormal,
silly, strange. I like peering into the shadows and freaking myself out then
running back into the light, screaming for help.
3.
Who's your main audience?
New
adult, adult. All readers who enjoy careening madly through the darkness with cantankerous
demons, stranded aliens, and biker chicks who apply obscene amounts of ketchup
to their French fries.
4.
When it comes to writing- what are your strong points? What are your
weaknesses?
Possibly
my favorite strong point is character interactions. They usually scream their
lines at me and I simply scribble down what they say (they threaten me with chronic
insomnia if I don’t do it immediately). The more subtle characters poke me on
the shoulder or whisper in my ear. Weakness - My STD. Ahem, that’s “Stuff and Thingie
Disease”. I sustained a significant knock to the head as a child (yes, really)
and have ever since experienced word recall issues. “She removed the thingie
from the stuff and stuffed it in the other thingie.” Have you ever looked up “thingie”
in a thesaurus? It’s not a very helpful word.
5.
What do you think of this term- Writer's Block? How do you overcome it?
It’s
not a block to me. It’s a foreboding hallway with locked doors - and there I
stand, keyless and with a head full of STD symptoms. I overcome it by grabbing
an ax and whacking through the door like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. “Heeeeere’s
Bonnie!” I make a mess, cause a ruckus, drop enough drama to keep the editing
staff busy for a week…but hey, I get in.
6.
How many books have you written?
Five…soon
to be seven.
7.
How many are published?
Five…soon
to be seven. ;)
8.
Are you self published or traditionally published?
I’m
an indie. Never even tried to go traditional.
9.
What's the hardest part of the writing process for you?
Promoting.
This is where having a traditional publisher sounds sexier than Johnny Depp in
a bathtub full of Supernatural stars.
10.
What type of books do you enjoy reading?
Historical
fiction is a favorite, which is strange since I don’t write in that style. I’m
pretty giddy to read anything entertaining though.
11.
Who's your favorite Author?
Those
classic writers - Jane Austen, DH Lawrence, Henry James, any Bronte sister. Plus,
I’m newly in love with an indie author I recently discovered…though he doesn’t
yet know about my crush or the fact that I’m stalking him all over Amazon. Surprise,
Andrew Peters!
Andrew writes “The Blues Detective” stories. They crack me up.
12.
What's your all time favorite book?
It
depends on my fickle mood. Jane Eyre is a long time top-of-the-list favorite.
13. How long does it take you to write a book?
I
write at least two at a time, sometimes three. It’s therefore hard to tell.
Since my day job slowed down, I’m up to two books a year. Yay me!
14. Out of all of your characters, which is your favorite? Why?
Howie
Evil is my favorite and whenever it’s respectable to the storyline, I give him
a cameo appearance (or more) in my books. I love his snarky comments, ballistic
temper, gritty sexiness, and I especially adore that he gets away with behaving
in ways I can only dream about. I discovered Howie lurking behind the counter
of his musty old weapons fortress in Dawn of the Hunter (book two in the
Midnight Hunter trilogy). He grabbed the trilogy’s manuscript from me, inhaled
on his cigarette, swallowed a gulp of cheap rum and curled his lip in my direction.
“We’ll
do this my way, stupid human,” he growled. “Rule one, the demon is in control…”
And that
is how my demonic co-author, with a hankering for Cheez-Whiz and ammo, was born.
15. What is one of the most surprising things you've learned as a writer?
My
books sell - happy surprise!
16. What does your family think of your writing?
16. What does your family think of your writing?
My
husband bravely shoulders the burden of frequently playing second fiddle to
Howie and Hunter and Dante and the other sexy beasts who romp through my mind
and keep me up late at night.
17. What does your writing schedule look like?
Morning
coffee, a quick skip through the Facebook forest, write, walk my dog, day job,
dinner, write. Stuff like housecleaning and laundry gets done if there is time
left over. Whatever it takes!
18. Do you manage to write every day?
Most
days I carve out some time.
19. What's the latest news you'd like to share?
One
of the books I’ve kept bubbling over the fire for a while is now well-marinated
and about to come out of the cauldron.
20. Do you have any advice for new writers?
Keep
at it, have fun, make friends with other authors, read. I also recommend using
a pen name - it acts as a wall between the author and our work and insulates us
from accidentally tripping over our egos.
This was fun. Thank you, Raebeth for this opportunity to share some of my weird world with you and your readers. - Love, Bonnie Bernard.
This was fun. Thank you, Raebeth for this opportunity to share some of my weird world with you and your readers. - Love, Bonnie Bernard.
Bonnie it was a pleasure. Thank you for your time. For those who would like to learn more about Bonnie... you can visit her here: www.bonniebernard.com
This anthology is a fundraising effort, so to keep costs to me low, Nature Calls is only available in ebook/PDF form.
Kindle link - http://www.amazon.com/
Nook link - http://www.barnesandnoble.
Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/
Author Bio
Bonnie Bernard is an alter ego of a feisty redhead who lives
in the Rocky Mountains with her husband, a dog, and two cats – one of which
owns everybody and everything in the house.
They share their old home with a ghost who likes to flip switches and
throw power tools until he gets what he wants (bright, shiny objects to play
with).
Bonnie spends her time writing, hiking and having fun with
her friends. She enjoys planting obscure
specimen in the backyard garden to see what pops up, and she’s fascinated by
unseen forces and creepy-crawly things.
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