One of
the things that always fascinates me is where authors get their ideas. Where
did you get the idea for A Life Less Ordinary?
Thanks for hosting me today.
A Life Less Ordinary began as pure wish fulfillment. I was 45 and looking at my life wondering how
I’d got there and where I wanted to go in the future, and wishing I could run
away for a while and figure things out.
I couldn’t do it physically, so I wrote about it instead.
When did
you know you wanted to be a writer?
I wrote a lot when I was a kid, starting when I was in junior
high, mainly because I wanted things to read.
I never finished anything but I enjoyed the work. When I was in university, though, the
creativity just dried up and didn’t return until ~2008 when I began to write
fanfiction – it felt like a dam had broken – LOL! So, I guess I’ve wanted to be a writer all my
life, but it’s only been within the last five years that I’ve been able to
produce anything. (I’ve been loving
every minute of it! :D )
How long
did you write before you got published?
Well, Love of Words Publishing Inc. Is my own company, so I
haven’t gone through the process of submitting books to other publishers. I actually plan to (eventually) publish other
people’s work as I have a very good understanding of the publishing
process...except for the marketing and distribution aspect. LOL – the most important part, right? I thought A Life Less Ordinary was a
strong book that I could use as a guinea pig to work out the publishing
process(es).
What is
your favorite scene from A Life Less Ordinary?
Just one? LOL I have a ton of favorite scenes from A
Life Less Ordinary, so let’s see...there’s a scene around the middle of the
book when Manny’s wearing a bikini and has a bit of a panic attack at the
thought of wearing it out in public. I
think it’s both funny and sad, and hopefully women everywhere can relate to
what she’s saying and thinking. :)
I’m working on an (unintended) sequel to A Life Less Ordinary. I’m also looking at my two post-apocalyptic
stories to see if I can make them good enough to publish. Both stories are currently available online (Historian’s
Daughter and Plugs) – if you read them, please let me know what you
think! I’m also working on a
novelization of a script about an alien invasion (currently available here),
and I have a romance story niggling at my brain that was inspired by Nathan
Fillion’s portrayal of Rick Castle on Castle. At this point, though, I’m not sure if any of
these stories will ever be good enough to be published (for sale, I mean) – but
I’m going to do my best! :)
A LIFE
LESS ORDINARY
By
Victoria Bernadine
BLURB:
For
the last fifteen years, Rose “Manny” Mankowski has been a very good girl. Now, at the age of 45, she’s questioning her
choices and feeling more and more disconnected from her own life. When she’s passed over for promotion and her
much younger new boss implies Manny’s life will never change, something
snaps. In the blink of an eye, she’s
quit her job, sold her house, cashed in her pension, and she’s leaving town on
a six month road trip.
After
placing an ad for a travelling companion, she’s joined in her mid-life crisis
by Zeke Powell, the cynical, satirical, most read – and most controversial –
blogger for the e-zine, What Women Want.
Zeke’s true goal is to expose Manny’s journey as a pitiful and desperate
attempt to reclaim her lost youth – and increase his readership at the same
time.
Now,
armed with a bagful of destinations, a fistful of maps, and an out-spoken
imaginary friend named Harvey, Manny’s on a quest to rediscover herself – and taking
Zeke along for the ride.
EXCERPT:
“All I ever wanted was a
life less ordinary.”
Manny lay flat on her
back, eyes wide, staring at the ceiling while she waited for her clock to hit
6:00. Another day of work, she thought. Another day older and deeper in debt.
She had the alarm timed to
the millisecond. The jarring noise had barely begun when she clicked it off.
She sighed then threw back the covers and got out of bed.
She padded into the
bathroom, glanced without interest in the full-length mirror that doubled as
her shower doors and took her morning inventory.
Plain face? Check.
Looking tired? Check.
Thirty pounds overweight?
Check.
Dark circles under
deer-caught-in-headlights eyes? Check and check.
She shook her head at her
limp, mousy hair and wondered when she’d gotten so old.
She sighed in resignation
then conjured up her Perfect Fantasy Man–or Harvey, as she liked to call him–to
give her a morning lift. She cocked her head to one side as she stared into the
mirror and imagined him standing behind her. She smiled at the handsome man,
and he smiled back, putting his hands on her shoulders. Everything about him
was warm, in stark contrast to the cold shades of grey in which she lived her
life. He had warm brown eyes, warm brown skin, and a warm smooth voice that
always reminded her of golden honey. Today his hair was black with greying
temples, and yes, even that seemed warm to her.
He was perfect, everything
she considered ideal in a man–and extra-perfect, of course, because he was a
fantasy. Just the thought of trying to establish a relationship with an actual
man felt too much like work.
“Instead I ended up in a rut–everything planned and
executed to the minute.”
AUTHOR INFORMATION:
Victoria
Bernadine (a pseudonym) is, as the saying goes, a “woman of a certain age”.
After twenty-something years of writer’s block, she began writing again in
2008. She began with fanfiction about a (now-cancelled) TV show called Jericho
and particularly about the characters of Heather Lisinski and Edward Beck. From
there, she expanded into writing original fic and she hasn’t stopped since.
Readers follow Victoria's tour and comment often for a chance to win a grand prize of a $25 gift certificate or one of two $15 gift certificates. Certificates are from Amazon or Smashwords. You can find her tour stops at
Sounds like a great read.
ReplyDeleteHi Elaine - thanks for hosting me today! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Rita - thanks for dropping by. I'm glad you think it sounds like a great read!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that you have your own publishing company! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteandralynn7 AT gmail DOT com
Hi Andra Lyn - just getting started. I actually published this book as a guinea pig to figure things out. :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by and leaving a comment!
Thank you for hosting
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming Victoria. come back anytime.
ReplyDeleteAn excellent giveaway! Thank you very much :)
ReplyDeletehense1kk (at) cmich (dot) edu
I enjoyed reading through the post thank you.
ReplyDeletemarypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
I'm really enjoying the excerpts and interviews during this tour. Love the names of your cats too.
ReplyDeletekareninnc at gmail dot com
Sorry for not responding earlier, everyone - real life has been getting in the way. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Elaine! :)
Kate - thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment!
Mary - great to see you; glad you enjoyed the post!
Karen - Hi, glad to see you drop by. :) I'm glad you're enjoying the tour and the interviews, etc. Those are just some of the nicknames I have for my cats. They're the Grunt and the Runt because one's 20 pounds, the other's about 7. LOL