~ Plot Bunnies Everywhere ~

I met Patricia Bond at the Western New York Writer’s Conference, and I knew right away this fellow writer wrote special books. Today she shares her writing life, her inspirations, and her plans for future romances. Her sweet romances are just perfect for Valentine’s Day.

Welcome, Patricia…

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

What’s to tell? I’m married, four children, two grandchildren and a set of twins on the way. I live in Western New York. We often take a lot of ribbing about our winters here. Just lately, we had the dubious benefit of a major lake-effect snow. I say benefit, because when it all melts, it does replenish the water table around here. And it’s pretty while it’s falling, and freshly fallen with the sun sparkling on it. Not so much though, when you have to shovel two feet of the stuff off your cars and driveway, and then do it again after the plows go through.  Yeah – timing is everything!

What do you do when you’re not writing?

 Hah! Maybe the question should be, “What don’t you do when you’re not writing?”  I have way too many interests and hobbies. Reading, of course, tops the list. I am almost always into two books simultaneously, if not more. I do almost anything involving fiber arts except quilting. Never quite got into that. Thank God. But I do knit – pretty well if I do say so, and embroider, do counted cross-stitch, sew. I used to crochet a lot until carpal tunnel go to be too much of an issue. I also do amateur photography. I’ve been lucky enough to win first place in Arts from my local Art Guild twice now. I would love to learn to paint. And garden. Sadly, God has blessed me with a purple thumb, and so I must console myself with running a Horticultural Hospice Unit, and lovingly send any plants that find their way to me to that Great Garden in the Sky. And, for better or worse, I am addicted to travel.

 Do your travels influence your writing?

Yes, very definitely!  Many years ago, my husband was deployed for a short time as a part of relief personnel for NATO forces in France.  This was before 9/11, but tensions were high overseas.  When he told me about having to go to “some little town in France” for a while, I HAD to look it up.  When my trusty old atlas gave me the info, my first reaction was, “Six weeks in the south of France? Nooo.  I don’t think so.” But with four children at home, no passport and no overseas travel experience, it took a bit of planning.

My dad had served in France during WWII, and I grew up on his war stories – the good kind.  The very good kind, about the French people he’d met and interacted with, about their welcoming and patience. He worked procuring supplies for one of our generals there (no powdered eggs for that general), and so had a lot of interactions with local farmers and vintners. Suffice to say, Dad was very sympathetic to my desire to see the country, and he offered – kind of – to watch the kids for me for a week. It might have entailed a bit of begging on my part, maybe a whiny tear or two, but he took the job. Whatever happened – or didn’t – while I was gone, I’ll never know. I’ve never gathered the gumption to ask them about that week, and I think I’m happier that way.

For me, that week in France was wondrous. My husband had a schedule change, because of course, it’s the military, and had to work most of the time I was there. I wound up sightseeing on my own for the most part, which was a mixed blessing. I missed having company, but I was free to go where I wanted and spend as long or short a time as I wanted, and like my character Diana in From My Balcony, I chose cities to visit like you would choose candies from a dish.

 Obviously, when I found Cassis, it made a huge impression on me.  Just an afternoon in that charming place was all it took to imprint itself on my heart so strongly, that when I first got the idea for From My Balcony there was never any doubt where I was going to set it.

Where is your favorite place to write?

 My favorite place is outside, sitting on my glider swing. No computer. Just me, my notebook and pencil (yes, I do my first draft longhand), the birds, the breeze and the grass – so long as it isn’t freshly cut. I sneeze too much.  But given where I live (you know, that snow thing) that only works for part of the year. The rest of the time, I flop around the house looking for a quiet corner to curl up, because I’ll still do that first draft in pencil. I do have an “office” though it carries too much detritus from all those hobbies and interests, and so can be more distracting than anything else. I keep promising myself I’m going to take it in hand and turn it back into the writing cave it was in the beginning. And I’ll do that. Someday.

Where do you get your ideas?

Oh, gosh.  You know, like any writer, that’s the one question I can count on to be asked.  And I’ll give you my standard answer. Anywhere. Everywhere. I always say it’s more a state of mind than anything else. A word, a picture, an overheard snippet of conversation in the supermarket or restaurant (careful what you say out there!).  Just about anything can turn into a plot bunny if my mind is in the right place. Sometimes it’ll be a name that just creates a character in my head. Jack Christmas is waiting for the rest of his story to be born. Sometimes it’s something I see in a store window. I actually bought a fan while on vacation one year not because I was so hot, but because I saw it in the hand of a secondary character in my first historical. When I created the character, she was a grandmother, but this fan belonged to her as a young woman, and I just know there’s a story in it together with a piece of jewelry she treasures. I just realized I speak of these characters in the present tense, and yes, they are alive… in my head. And traveling brings so very many plot bunnies….  Somebody will have a story set in an English castle. Or maybe French. Or a French vineyard. Or an Italian villa. Or an Adirondack lodge.  These things breed….  No wonder they call them “plot bunnies.”

What other genres of novels would you like to write?

 I’d love to write mysteries if I could plot worth a darn.  I’ve already put a bit of paranormal into a story. I think I’d like to play with that a little more. As a reader, I get bored reading the same ol’ same ol’. I have to think other readers are the same. And changing it up a little keeps it fresh for me as a writer. We’ll see. I could surprise us both.

Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?

My first published book was a historical romance, By Love’s Honor Bound. It was set in America, in the D.C./Baltimore area just before the Civil War starts. Which was great. Except I was trying to market it at the time when Regency romances were all the rage. No one wanted to look at a historical unless it had a Duke or an Earl in it. I was getting roundly rejected on all front,s and it made me wonder if I really belonged doing this. And what was wrong with the book. One publisher said it read too much like a category historical. Another publisher who did publish category historical (this was so long ago, at that time there was more than one category publisher) said it read too much like a mainstream historical. An agent who said she could tell you what was wrong with any book and how to fix it, told me there was nothing wrong with it, except that it was set in America. Since the sub-plot dealt with the Underground Railroad, there was little I could do to “fix” it.  It sat around for a number of years while I tried my hand at numerous other stories, but the only ones that really spoke to me were others also set in America. Like most things in publishing, I had to wait for the pendulum to swing back a bit, and to wait for the right publisher to come along. I got lucky on both fronts.

Can you tell us about any other upcoming books, series, or writing plans?

I’ve been in a kind of limbo lately, not entirely sure what I want to work on next. The Grand Plan calls for more historicals. I wrote a Christmas historical, “Building a Christmas” that won the award from Uncaged Book Reviews magazine as Best Holiday Romance for 2018, and I think I need to plumb the other characters from that story. There’s more to them than is revealed in that story. And Granny and her fan keep hanging around my head, as does the brother of the main character in that book. And Jack Christmas waves every now and again, just to make sure I don’t forget about him. Neither can I let “From My Balcony” be a contemporary orphan out there, and so there are plans afoot to write more in the Balcony Series. That’s where that English (or French, or Scottish) castle comes in. And what good Italian villa or New York hi-rise doesn’t have a balcony? From My Balcony was a finalist in a couple of contests, so I think I’m on to something there. The next story will come, and for the time being, I may bounce between whichever ones shout loudest while I’m awaiting the arrival of those twins. One thing I can say for sure – there WILL be more Patricia Bond books coming.

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From My Balc

ony by Patricia Bond

Do you want to live your life or hide from it?

Diana knew she lied to her best friend when she said she wanted to live it.

Oh, how desperately she wanted to hide!  Hide from her husband’s betrayals, hide from the blame and guilt heaped on her by her younger daughter’s refusal to accept the divorce, hide from the pity, the questions, the snarky innuendos from her “friends.”

Most of all, hide from herself and her failures.

Her family accepted her need to “find herself,” and this apartment in the south of France was perfect with its balcony and view of the sea and town. Low enough to be able to watch life happen below her, high enough to not participate in any of it.

Now if only the gentle people of Cassis would let her do that.

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Learn More About Patricia Bond

Website  www.Patricia-Bond.com

Facebook www.facebook.com/patricia.bond.author

Patricia Bond’s Books

By Love’s Honor Bound – Soul Mate Publishing – 2013

Building a Christmas – Soul Mate Publishing – 2013  winner Best Holiday Romance of 2018 from Uncaged Book Reviews Magazine

Arms of an Angel – Soul Mate Publishing – 2015

From My Balcony – self-published – 2018, finalist in Pages From the Heart Contest 2017, From the Heart Contemporary Romance Writers; finalist, 2018 I Heart Indie contest, Las Vegas Romance Writers

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How does traveling inspire you?

Patricia would love to share with you.

Post your thoughts and comments below.