Bonnie Leon’s final thoughts

It’s been an awesome week with Bonnie Leon. Even through some Internet issues, we’ve managed to get have her visit several days this week. Unfortunately, this is her last day with us officially, though I hope she’ll be stopping in and out through the rest of the tour.

Today, we’ve got some final questions for author Bonnie Leon.

Katrina:  Hi Bonnie. Welcome back. We’ve heard about your latest release Longings of the Heart. Tell us a bit about some of your previous works.

Bonnie:   All my books are historical and range from Alaska in the late 1800’s to Russia during Stalin’s reign in the 1930’s to Europe and the Pacific during World War II. Some are strongly historical, others contain more romance, and several of my books were born from my own family’s history. All of them represent real people facing real problems and contain God’s truth of love, forgiveness and strength.

Katrina:  Do you have any future plans or hopes of writing a book for film?

Bonnie: Many of my books would make good movies and I’d love to see that happen. Presently The Journey of Eleven Moons has been transformed into a screenplay and is in the hands of a Hollywood agent. I have hopes of seeing the story of Anna, Eric and Iya on the screen one day soon.

Katrina:  Do you plan on branching out to nonfiction?

Bonnie:   I can’t rule out anything. My mind is always active so a non-fiction book might just happen one day. But my great love is writing fiction. I have lots of ideas and can’t wait to write the stories.

Katrina:   Will any of your characters ever have their own site/blog as some characters have been known to?

Bonnie:  I don’t presently have plans of creating a site just for a character but I certainly won’t rule it out, especially if a character sparks the kind of interest that would fuel a website of its own. I do think I have a character in mind that just might do that, but we’ll see.

Katrina:  Where can the readers find Longings of the Heart?

Bonnie:  My books are available online through my website at Bonnie Leon ,  Amazon  or Christian Books or many other online sites as well as local bookstores including Barnes and Noble and Borders.

Katrina:  Thank you so much for being here with us this week. We’ll take a few more questions if anyone has them and then announce the winner of your autographed book.

To read the previous portions of Bonnie Leon’s interview, go to Day one, and Day two.

 

At home with author Bonnie Leon

Back with us today is author Bonnie Leon! Boy, do we have a treat for you. Bonnie is sharing a some photos and things with us today from home allowing us a closer glimpse into her life. I am so excited to be able to bring this to you today and just one more thing to add to my gratitude journal. So, let’s get started.

Katrina:  Thank you sooo much for joining us here again today. It has been such a blessing to really be able to get to know you this week. We heard a bit during your first visit about your home and your family. Today, I’m so excited that you’ll be sharing some photos of home and of your beautiful grandchildren.

Bonnie: Yes. Katrina, here is a picture of my four grandchildren taken this Summer.

From the left is Olivia (4), Corey (9), Gabe (5), and Ezra (6).  Gabe’s really tall for his age. His mother is 5’10 and his father is 6’3. They’re all sweet, fun kids.

Katrina:  Beautiful kids. Thank you so much for sharing. You also have pictures of home as well, correct?

Bonnie. Yes I do.

This is taken from the road where I live.

This is a picture of our house. We’ve been putting on an addition, but now it’s for sale because my son-in-law has enlisted in the Army. We already have another piece of land to build on once this sells. It’s not far from here. I’m so grateful of that. I love it here!

Katrina:  I can see why.  It is absolutely beautiful out there.

Bonnie:  This is another picture taken from our road on a cloudy day.

Katrina: Thank you so much for sharing pictures of your home with us today.  Now, I have a few questions about how you came to be an author. At what age did you realize you wanted to be an author and what influenced you?

Bonnie:  I was nearly forty when I decided writing might be more than a hobby. I’ve always been a reader and over the years I’ve written snippets—poems, personal stories, vignettes, but in 1989 I was gripped by a compulsion to put my thoughts down on paper. I wrote whatever came to mind, filling up legal pads with my thoughts. It was great fun!
 Reading has been the greatest influence on my writing. I’ve been in love with books since I can remember. And it’s been great writers who introduced me to the wonder of storytelling.
 However, the bottom line is God. He is my greatest influence. He’s the one who sparked my interest and opened every door and provided opportunities for publication.
 
Katrina: At what age did you come to know the Lord personally? Could you share a bit of that experience with the readers?

Bonnie:   I was twenty-three, truly lost and very unhappy. Most of my life I believed I was of no real value. There’s a long story that goes along with why I felt that way and maybe one day it will end up in a book, but there’s not time to tell the story here.
 God is so good. He used a string of tragedies to draw me to Himself. In four months time, my father died, my godfather died, I lost a baby and my husband said he didn’t love me anymore and wanted a divorce. Considering that I already felt like trash, these hardships drove me to my knees, which is exactly where I needed to be. For many years, God had tried to get my attention, but I refused His offer of grace. I’m grateful that He loved me enough to allow “whatever it took” to get my attention.
 The moment I met Christ and believed, I became a new creation and understood that God loved me and that I was His precious creation. I’ve never been the same since.
 
Katrina:  How has your relationship with the Lord affected your writing?

Bonnie:  He’s the one who led me into writing. There are times when I wonder what He was thinking, but mostly I’m just grateful. I write knowing that I’m one of His representatives, and I pray that my words and my life honor Him. Always when I write I think about the person who has never met the Living God and who may discover the truth in one of my books.  
 
Katrina:  Are any of the characters in any of your books modeled after you or any of your emotions?

Bonnie:  Absolutely, yes. There are pieces of me in all my books—lessons learned, heartaches and joys experienced. I write from my heart, which means that I write about what I know. I’ve lived a good many years and have traversed deep valleys and climbed lofty mountains just as my characters do. Sometimes I’m faithful and strong and then there are times when I’m weak and I fail, just like all of mankind.
  But there is always faith. God never abandons us. He knows every detail, every tear and offers us strength and courage and never reneges on his promises. 
 
Katrina:  During your writing, are there ever characters that emerge uninvited?

Bonnie:  Although I plan out my plots and know my characters before I begin writing there are always surprises. Characters emerge that I don’t count on. And sometimes I’m compelled to tell their story.
 In To Love Anew an endearing character, Lottie, didn’t exist until my protagonist was loaded on board a prison ship. And then suddenly there was Lottie. I fell in love with her as did my heroine, Hannah. She added so much to the story, in ways I’d never imagined.
 I recently received a letter from a reader who told me how much she loved Lottie and asked if I’d consider writing another book that would follow her story. I’m thinking about it.

Katrina:  I can’t wait to read that one. I think it would be a wonderful addition to your already fascinating collection. Thank you for stopping in today on Kat Logic, especially on Thanksgiving Day. What a wonderful thing to be thankful for.

To our readers, be sure to stop back in tomorrow for the final thoughts from Bonnie Leon. Be sure to add a BLOG post if you’re interested in winning her latest release Longings of the Heart.

To read the first part of Bonnie Leon’s interview, click here.

 

A bit of well deserved chaos

 

So, we’re gearing up for the holiday season. As if the Wampler household wasn’t in enough shambles on a good day, we have chocolate from one end of the house to the other. Oh yes, chocolate. I do a lot of baking this time of year. Under the business name of Chocolate Covered Chaos I make platters, gift baskets, desserts…you name it, I bake it, sell it, eat it, and keep right on driving past the gym throwing my money out the window as I speed by.

I got a big shipment in today with all my chocolate, decorations, and other supplies. Headed out to Wal-Mart to get a few more items so I could get right on it as soon as I get up tomorrow morning.  I have a party I’m doing the desserts for and I am way behind the 8-ball.  I retreat to my room for just a moment of silence in this crazy house and I hear laughter…lots and lots of laughter. The kind that makes you wonder who has taken over your home. I go to evaluate the situation and I realize that my little hellions (can I say hellion here?)…my little hellions ( and every other hellion in the neighborhood) are in the dining room digging through my box of goodies like it’s already Christmas and they’re at a homeless shelter or something! My head’s spinning..I’m ready to scream …. all their friends are ducking for cover and my monsters smile with those chocolate grins.

And I think, where have I gone wrong? These darn youngins can’t leave none of my things alone. I tell them not to and they do it anyway. I warn them of the consequences and it never seems to sink in. Now, thankfully they seem to have good judgement when it comes to the big stuff but these little things make me nuts.  So, no friends over tonight. No movie night…those things they love. Why can’t I trust them with the big things? I couldn’t trust them with the small things. At least not today.

I wonder how God feels when I blatantly ignore His warnings. Looking back, there have been so many. Not so much the life altering moments but the small minute things. Tiny warnings that prove whether or not He can trust me with the big things.  Time and time again, I fail the test. He holds out on the blessings…the really big things He has for us to see how much we can be trusted. He has such amazing things in store (Jeremiah 29:11) if only we obey the small things. Problem is, all too often we sneak in to take a bit of the candy we’ve been told to leave alone. We bring it on ourselves.  We struggle financially, we suffer through bad relationships, we hurt. Why? Not always, but many times because we don’t do the little things He asks.