MY LIFE IN SELF-PUBLISHING ~ by Bonnie Tinnes

Bonnie Rokke Tinnes

 

 

 

“Everyone wants to be a writer, but no one wants to do the work.”  A good friend once told me this. He should know because he teaches college writing.  I can tell you from experience that those words are true.  None of it was easy, but it was worthwhile.  It took jumping in head first and a lot of guts, but I am happy where I am today as a writer. I just told my husband that I am beginning to feel like an author.  

 

Several times during my life, especially after I graduated from Bemidji State University in Minnesota as an English and Russian teacher, I wanted to be a writer. I taught school for a while.  Then my husband and I were married and I worked on our farm and raised our children.    After my husband became ill, I returned to school, attaining a nursing degree from the University of North Dakota just in time to take over as breadwinner and caregiver.

 

When I was given a job as a registered nurse in a Minnesota state hospital for mentally ill adults, the demanding job stressed my nerves and energy to their max. Once home after work, I’d sit down at the computer and change my thoughts by writing something beautiful.  Writing had become a survival technique taking me away from what seemed a cruel and heartless world.

 

It was after retirement that I began working on Growing Up Margaret.  It is about three girls, each with a loss, who become good friends in a small Scandinavian town in northern Minnesota in the 1950s.  Margaret is being raised by her father and grandmother   after her mother died in a car accident.  Mary Elizabeth, African American, is adopted by the owners of the town café and brought up north from the south.  Bridget is from a family that is poor and the townspeople look down on them.  They become best friends in sixth grade.  I followed with Margaret Inc, their seventh grade year in school.  The book appeals to anyone up to those who grew up in the 1950s.  I have the third Margaret book planned for a trilogy.

 

 During my lifetime, I had also written numerous poems and organized some of my nature poems into a book called Snow Presents and Poems.  In 2013, I wrote Grandma’s Three Winks, about the relationship between a granddaughter and grandmother. It is a beautiful story that emphasizes the importance of family.

 

Not getting  younger and having all my poems and stories in my computer or on copy paper, I wanted them published. I needed to jump in myself and try something because I was finding it almost impossible to get my foot in the door of a publisher.

 

I studied published books and learned how to set up the title page, dedication page, and all the other introductory pages.  I even went to the internet for an ISBN number and also uploaded my manuscript to the Copyright Office. When I felt everything was ready, I uploaded my books to Amazon.com for Kindle, and it worked. Each time I published I learned something new, and each book looked better.  Later I had books printed for those who wanted a “real” book.

 

   Featured in Her Voice in 2012, this May, 2014, I have an article in Her Voice.   For the past two years, I have had my poetry chosen for “Poetry on the Wall,” by the Crossing Arts Alliance.  I also have appeared twice on Dr. Doug Rokke’s “Warrior Connection” on Progressive Radio Network.   It is Doug’s plan to have me on monthly as a co host on internet radio. 

 

My website is www.bonnierokketinnes.com.    All my books can be found on amazon.com.

 

--Bonnie Rokke Tinnes

Story Toolz: Behind the Scenes and Interview With the Creator! by Todd Burleson

Last week I posted about Story Toolz from author Chuck Heintzelman This week, I am going to share with you an interview I recently did with Chuck.  Chuck Heintzelman lives in Spokane, WA with his beautiful wife and three children. Each day he juggles his passion for writing with his family, a full-time job as a computer programmer, and the inevitable curve ball life seems to throw.

Find out more information about Chuck, free fiction, and more at http://StoryChuck.com

You'll see my questions are below in black and his answers are in blue.   

 

What is your path to publishing?  How did you get to where you are now?

I’ve always had the philosophy if you want to do something, just do it. Do it yourself if needed. That’s what I did in the 1990’s when I created a dot com and sold it. I didn’t start writing fiction until the mid 2000s and followed the same path … just do it. I just wrote and when I thought my writing was decent enough I started indie publishing.

You are a prolific writer!  How many books have you published?

Hmm. About 15 titles, a combination of short stories, novellas, and story collections.

From what I can see, it looks like you write for an older audience.  Have you ever written anything for children or young adults?

Sure. In fact I have a YA story coming out in an anthology next year titled “Sparks” (put out my WMG Publishing). Several of my books can be considered YA or Middle grade. “The Train Bandits” features a pre-teen protagonist back in the wild west days. The main character in “Freshly Ghost” is seventeen years old.

I see that you publish with Kydala Enterprises.  Can you share your thoughts about going with this publisher?  How did you make your decision?

The Kydala Enterprises publisher is me :) When I decided to indie publish my fiction I created a company to do it. Right now I’m working on print versions of my books, but what I really need to do is finish my dang web site for Kydala. It’s funny, because I’m a software developer so you might think that all the techie, web stuff would be taken care of … but nope. I find web page creation incredibly boring and procrastinate more than I should.

What are you writing about next?

I am working on a non-fiction programming book due out Spring 2014 after that I’ve been toying with the idea of creating a series structured like a television program. Several “seasons”, each with six to ten “episodes” which readers can sample to see if they enjoy before moving on to the next episode or the entire series.

Story Toolz is a very interesting resource.  What was your inspiration for the tools? 

My first inspiration was Holly Lisle and some of her idea generation thoughts. Then I needed a word count meter to track my own projects so created those. The other tools sort of evolved along the way.

Do you have a favorite tool from the ones available on Story Toolz?

The half-title generator is my favorite. I use it almost weekly just to practice writing new openings. That idea came from Dean Wesley Smith and how he writes many novels and short stories. He puts two halves of two different titles together and BAM … he’s off and writing something new.

Do you have any other Toolz you hope to create?

None are planned, but I do want to update the site and give it more of the Windows Metro feel.

Where do you turn, besides Story Toolz, for inspiration?

Life. Inspiration is everywhere.

What should I have asked you about, but I didn't?

Wow. That’s a tough one. You should have asked what my biggest regret is with writing. Mine is that I didn’t start sooner. See, I kind of played around writing in the mid-90s and found it was fun, but I had this strange notion that writers emerge from the womb fully formed, ready to start churning out novel after novel. So I played around a bit with my writing and didn’t start to focus until the mid-2000s. It wasn’t until three years ago I finally decided to get serious. I wish I would have jumped in with both feet back when I first had the notion writing was something I’d enjoy.

Chuck, thank you so much for sharing with us some background on both your writing process and the tools you've used to help us be better writers!