Today my guest is Bonnie Engstrom, and I find it interesting what invades her brain when it’s time to get some writing done.
Bonnie and her psychologist husband, Dave, moved from California to Arizona when their first grandchild was born – T., the teenage girl who texts. She has two sisters, one who is an artist and another who is a twin to a boy. Their two boy cousins live in Costa Rica on the beach where they surf and fish for their dinners. When they visit in Arizona those boys have to wear shoes! Family is all, even though it interrupts schedules and takes a drain on debit cards to buy Starbucks. All worth it to be only seven minutes away from grandkids, even the texting one. Bonnie is a long-time member of many writers groups, including a Pro member of Romance Writers of America. Melanie’s Ghosts is the seventh in the Candy Cane Series and her fourteenth published book.
Bonnie loves to connect with readers, even non-readers. Email her at bengstrom@hotmail.com and put BOOK in the subject line so you don’t fly off to cyberspace.
Here’s what Bonnie has to say about what goes on in her head when it’s time to write.
Beep! Ding! Chime! These unwelcome sounds invade my writer’s brain. I remember how quiet it was twenty years ago when I first started writing seriously. My techie son introduced me to email and told me nothing I could do on my new computer would harm it. But, no one warned me about cell phones.
No one warned me about teen grandchildren texting me asking me to please bring after school snacks, especially Starbucks. No one warned me about Starbucks. Or fast food French fries with ranch dressing. My little corner of the world has changed dramatically.
Quiet time for writing no longer surrounds me. I am old school, educated in classrooms with closed doors. My children were educated in a school with open classrooms, with sliding partitions that, when a teacher chose, could separate areas. I worried then, but my very grown children now work with chaos around them. They are productive, all holding responsible positions. My daughter who is the director of a preschool often eats lunch while dealing with a three-year-old student; sometimes her own children after school hang out there to do homework and imbibe on those snacks this grammy brings.
No more solitude, no more silence for writing. I’ve had to retrain my brain. Especially for editing. Writing extemporaneously – not a problem. Rereading and editing – hard. Taking breaks from my computer for a teen grand girl who needs to write an assignment – hard, but doable. Re-editing Melanie’s Ghosts over thirty times – doable, but difficult. See what you think. Did I do it all right? https://amzn.to/2N65P05
By the way, Gail asked for humor. Not my biggest strength, but I tried. I hope you enjoy my post and my book. Leave a comment to win a free book, E-book or print. Your choice.