What is your name/pen name/ name you are comfortable giving us?
Katherine Bonn, for now. I suspect there may be another pen name in my future.
What project or projects, if any, are you currently working on?
This summer I’ve mostly been working on editing the Pen & Pier anthology, Rough Seas & Strange Yarns and preparing for my upcoming high school creative writing class.”
When those are squared away, I plan to go back to editing my two lower middle grade novels: The Adventures of Silverclaw, which is about a cat who hones his newly discovered lightning power, with the help of an unlikely teacher, in order to save his neighborhood, and There’s a Dragon in my Ear, which is about a boy who discovers…you guessed it…that he has a dragon in his ear. The sassy dragon helps him to confront his anxiety when he is faced with a problem no one would expect to have in third grade, or at any age, for that matter.
I also want to finish the first draft of On the Edge, the novel that marked my return to writing for adults and the one that my anthology story, “The Tern of the Tide”, came from. I’ve gotten Betty to the survivalist compound and the hippie commune, but I have yet to get her to the place where she confronts herself.
What project or projects, if any, are on your back burner?
Escape from the Underworld is an upper middle grade novel, that may turn YA, that I started many years ago, but had to put on hold when I got stuck. It’s about two kids, one who is ADHD and the other autistic, who become trapped in a fantasy realm and have to rely on one another to get home. I know I want to go back to it one day, but now is not the time.
Last week, I was reading through some old NaNoWriMo projects and came across the beginning of a brutally honest piece about parenting a neurodivergent child and I thought, people need to read this. I don’t know yet what I’ll do with it, but I do feel it could help someone so it should be shared.
There’s more. I know there’s more. But that’s enough for now, don’t you think?
Why do you write?
Remember the scene in When Harry Met Sally where Harry runs to the New Year’s Eve party and Sally asks him “what are you doing here, Harry?” to which he replies, “I came here tonight because when you realize that you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible”?
It’s kinda like that. When I realize that I’m good at something, I want to do the thing. Writing, however, has this strange way of making me feel like I’m no good at it at all, while simultaneously feeling like I’ve just hung the moon because I wrote two pages.
There’s also the inevitable “learning about myself” aspect. I can craft a story with the intention of creating as much distance from my personal life as possible and yet I still end up learning about myself. Sometimes it gets to be a bit much and I’ll admit that I often dream of crafting a story that is just a story without such depth.
How long have you been writing? How much of that time seriously? (You define what seriously means.)
For as long as I can remember. For years I was told by nearly every teacher to “keep writing”. I wonder if I would have without that encouragement. I certainly didn’t feel like I was that great at it. But it was probably like anything, when you are good at it, it feels like it comes easily and that can make you overlook it. Conversely, it can make you really hard on yourself because you know what great writing is, you aspire to it, and you know that you aren’t there yet.
There were a number of years around college and the few years post-college when I wasn’t writing creatively. College was for writing assignments, but not for what I chose to write about. Post-college, my focus shifted to the priorities many of us have during that time and the words “you’ll never make a living as a writer” that I’d heard so often, rang in my ears enough to drown out the desire for it.
Then, one day in my late twenties, I decided that I needed to pick one of my interests in my ocean of interests and give it more focus than the rest. Writing was the obvious choice. That’s when I started my blog, tried NaNoWriMo for the first time (and failed miserably because I didn’t seek out the social support), attended a couple conferences and workshops, started a regular write-in with a friend and found a critique group. That’s when I felt like I was taking it seriously.
Having kids in my early thirties and making the decision to be a stay-at-home parent meant that writing became something that I told people I was doing, but in reality I was clinging to it like it was the last morsel of my self that hadn’t been consumed by my family, Looking back, I was struggling to simply keep the practice alive in hopes that I wouldn’t lose skills, but I was barely moving forward.
Finding some of the NaNo community, by happenstance, when we all sat at the community table at a local cafe was instrumental in nudging me to the next level. Still, it was only during November. The rest of the year I continued to hold steady, dreaming of a future in which I could write for real. When I became active with Pen & Pier is when I finally made the shift to year-round progress, even if it isn’t always consistent. It helps that my kids are older and more independent now, but this group has been instrumental in keeping me focused on progressing my writing on a daily basis.
Do you have any published works?
Years back my essay, “Why the Heck Not?” was published in Brain, Child magazine. They have since been acquired by Creative Non-Fiction so my piece is no longer available online.
Later this year, my short story, “The Tern of the Tide”, will be published in the much-anticipated Pen & Pier anthology, Rough Seas & Strange Yarns.
What is the best part of writing for you?
I don’t have to feel the tension of my audience when I’m rambling and they are wondering when I’ll stop so they can make their escape.
I’m half-joking. I’m an external processor. Writing isn’t as effective for me as talking, in that regard, but it does help. I understand myself better when I write–not just my internal world–but also how I want to interact with the outside world.
There is also something about standing back, looking over my work and noticing, “I made that”.
What is the hardest part of writing to you?
Being aware of outstanding writing, even being aware of what makes it outstanding, and feeling like I can’t make that happen. Even if I could, I think I’d have trouble acknowledging it.
Also, baggage. So much baggage. It’s exceptionally difficult for me to ignore what everyone else wants and to write what I want. Full stop.
How do you overcome writer’s block?
Coffee, crunchy or chewy snacks, gum, music, exercise, daydreaming, word sprints, discussion and forcing myself to sit and type out nonsensical gobblygook.
Have you ever seen the sun set over the ocean? (We’re Pen & Pier, we have to include the Pier somewhere.)
Thanks to Pen & Pier, yes. I’ve seen it set over the ocean from Pismo Pier, Pismo Preserve, Ontario Ridge, Bishop Peak, and Smuggler’s Cave to name a few. I think the cave was my favorite.
How did you find Pen & Pier?
That, my friend, is a long, intimate and uplifting tale. To hear the full story, you’ll need to join the Pen & Pier Discord or show up at an in-person write-in. I will say that it involved NaNoWriMo, many moments of heartache, and years of anticipation revealed by hindsight.
What is your favorite genre to write? What is your favorite genre to read?
I don’t know if I have a favorite genre for either. What I write tends to be hopeful, but not always. It’s often focused on relationships, but not romance. I wrote middle grade when my kids were younger, but it’s not my first choice. I want people who read my books to know that they aren’t alone. But I also like to make people laugh.
I like to read content that makes me think, that asks big questions, but occasionally I like to read something lighter, especially if it makes me laugh. Hope, connection, laughter, and intellectual stimulation. I guess those are what drive me.
If you could collaborate with any writer, who would that be?
Is this one of those questions where I’m supposed to pick someone really amazing and smart who’s probably dead? There are a couple of names that pop into my head. Authors who I admire, who craft incredible tales with so many interwoven themes that I feel a sense of awe at their art. I don’t want to mess with their stuff. I just want to read it. And who knows if I’d enjoy working with them.
I think I’d like to collaborate with kids. They can come up with some truly wacky stuff. I love the way it keeps me on my toes and I love to experience their delight when they see their ideas come to life.
Would you like to live in your own stories? Why, or why not?
Probably. They do tend to be hopeful.
Do you have a favorite joke? (You can tell us, but you don’t have to.)
Usually my favorite joke is a witty response to whatever is happening in the moment. But in the interest of sharing, I’ll give you one that tickles me.
Knock, knock
Who’s there?
Interrupting cow
Interrupting c–
MOO!
What book(s) or stories would you want everyone to read? The one(s) that keep you going all night, if someone asks about them.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
Dune – the entire series
The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu (I don’t know if I could discuss this one. I think it would keep me crying all night.)
What are you looking forward to the most for your writing within the next year?
I’m looking forward to the release of Pen & Pier’s anthology. It has been many months in the making. I’m impressed and overjoyed by the work everyone has put into it, and I can’t wait to share it with everyone I know.
I’m also looking forward to finishing up editing on my two lower middle grade novels and pondering what I want to do with them. And, if I haven’t already overloaded myself, I’d like to make progress on the first draft of my women’s lit novel about a middle-aged woman who’s lost it and has no clue where to find it.
Find Katherine Online
Bluesky: @katherinebonn.bsky.social
Website: katiebonn.com
Katie also has a new website in the works for her creative writing teaching business: Sarcastic Cat Creative. Follow her socials to stay up to date!
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