There was only one thing Bronwyn wanted to be when she grew up: a superhero. Sadly, this goal was made moot when she realized that being a klutz was not, in fact, a super power, and her super-weakness for anything bright and shiny meant that a magpie with self-control could easily defeat her in a battle of wills. So, she turned to writing as a way to unleash her inner superhero. She doesn’t get to live on a secret space station orbiting the earth (and thank goodness because she gets motion sick on a merry-go-round), but she still get to wear leotards, a cape and say things like, “STAND ASIDE! THIS IS A JOB FOR WRITING-GIRL!”
Bronwyn’s latest book is Ethan’s Chase.
You can visit her website at www.bronwynstorm.com.
Q: Welcome to Beyond the Books, Bronwyn. Can we start out by telling us whether you are published for the first time or are you multi-published?
I am multi-published, multi-faceted, multi-talented, and multi-organic. Yep, I can have up to seven different organic whole-grains, all at once…it’s what makes me so multi-talented, and wows my husband on a daily basis.
Q: When you were published for the first time, which route did you go – mainstream, small press, vanity published or self-published and why or how did you choose this route?
I went small press, for one, main reason: I’d heard a lot of fantastic things about the Wild Rose Press, and I wanted an opportunity to work with them. It’s a decision I’ve never regretted.
Q: How long did it take you to get published once you signed the contract?
Hmm, about a year, I think…I’m going to have to do some math calculations, so you’d better get comfortable…let’s see, carry the one, square root the integer…yeah, it was a year from signing the contract to seeing the book on the website.
Q: How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate?
Have you ever run over something solid with your car or bumped something with your fender, and thought “something” might have been a live animal? So, you get out of your car—ready to vomit because you think you’ve offed some defenseless creature—walk around to the bumper, and realize it was just a pot hole or twig? And then you feel sick with relief that it wasn’t what you feared and you’re not a bunny-killer?
That’s about how I felt when I got the call.
I know. Call me weird, but the rush that other people get, I didn’t.
I really want to be a writer. It’s the only thing that makes me happy, makes me feel like “yep, this is why I’m on this earth.” Of course, I’m a neurotic over-achiever (bet you couldn’t tell), so along with this certainty, I’m also fairly certain my ability to write is some crazed delusion, and I’m a total hack.
When I got word that someone thought my work was good enough to publish, I wasn’t excited or elated. I was just relieved that I wasn’t delusional.
Q: What was the first thing you did as for as promotion when you were published for the first time?
Oh, good question. I think I emailed/phoned everyone I knew.
Q: Since you’ve been published, how have you grown as a writer and now a published author?
Yowza. Well, professionally, I’m more detached about the product (the finished manuscript) versus the act of writing. But emotionally, eek, I really haven’t grown at all. I’m still terrified that the work is only good in my head, and not on the page, and that no one will like it.
Q: What has surprised or amazed you about the publishing industry as a whole?
I think I was surprised to find that it’s not enough to write a good book, that there are so many other things that factor into whether your story is accepted by an agent or editor. It’s sort of good and bad, because your story may be good and still get rejected—but at least you’re a good writer. Then again, it’s depressing because you can’t always tell what the market wants (and it’s never a good idea to try and forecast what the industry will want.).
Q: What is the most rewarding thing about being a published author?
Once you’re published, you can call yourself a writer (which is funny because you don’t have to finish a marathon to call yourself a long-distance runner), and then you can teach. I love teaching. I love helping people get from “Once upon a time,” to “and they lived happily ever after, the end.”
Q: Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day?
Hmm, well, the best thing to say was said by either Martin Luther King Jr. or Gandhi (I’ve seen the quote attributed to both), and I think it’s great for writers and anyone else who has a dream: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
Beyond the Books 