Bokerah Brumley- An Interview

First of all, I gotta admit something. When I sent out a group chat asking if any Indie authors would want to do an interview with me for this blog, I was only expecting a small handful to participate. However, within the first few minutes, I had fourteen positive responses. Can you even imagine that! Fourteen! I was completely blown away. And, I don't know about you, but I have learned so much from each author that I can't even begin to explain it to you.

However, I wanted an eclectic mix of Indies; not all the same kind of interviews. And let me tell you, when Bokerah Brumley agreed to do the interview, and sent me her pic, I was ecstatic. I just knew that this gal had some pizzazz that would make all my readers stand up and take notice. See what you think of her answers to my questions.

Me: In which genre so you specialize?

BB: I am a speculative fiction writer. I love fantasy, science fiction, paranormal, and everything in between. If it’s speculative, I’m there in bells and feathers. I particularly love to spin what-ifs into an everyday normal.

Me: Have you always wanted to be a writer?

BB: When I was a little girl, I drafted an awful poem for my mother. It was full of rhyming clichés written in the squiggly letters of a six year old. I knew then. I put it away during college. I mean, nobody makes good money as a writer. Then during my twenties, together with my husband, I was busy filling our life with children. I hadn’t figured out how to write while pregnant. We built a house between the third and fourth child. Life was busy. I committed to making a five-year go of it in 2015. I hope to see some measurable fruit by 2020.

Me: What are some of the greatest struggles you've faced to further your writing career?

BB: It’s taken some drive to not be led by inspiration. Inspiration is fickle. A career doesn’t thrive when fueled by fickle. It’s hard, daily work. It sometimes feels like everything you’ve written in a day is awful. It feels like drudgery. But I had to learn to keep going. After that, I think, the marketing side of the industry is also hard to learn. You can write the best story ever, but if people don’t know it’s out there, it won’t be read.

Me: Does your inspiration for your books come from real life people and places? Or are they purely fictional?

BB: I always begin with characters. I wrote a short story recently about an Autistic woman in 2053 that learns to build artificial intelligence. She operates a space elevator. I’m creating a middle grade fiction. Sometimes, I want to highlight something in a character. Sometimes I build characters out of pieces of history I’ve read or loved. Another short called, Louisiana Pearl, was that way. Everything sort of comes together to create inspiration. I think most of my characters are limited to fiction, though. I can’t think of a character that I’ve written that is based on anyone I know or studied.

Me: How many books have you written? Which was your favorite?

BB: Oh my. I’ve written several as a teen. They’re the clothes-pin-on-the-nose kind of awful. Last year, I wrote and published Cold Water Bridegroom. I’ve also written a SciFi novel that I’m shipping to publishing houses this year. And I have three urban fantasy novellas that I’m having great fun writing. They are: Woe for a Faerie, Wings Over New York, and Feather.

Me: How can readers discover more about you and you work?

BB: You can visit my website: www.bokerah.com I’m on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, most of the social media, really. I also have a blog called Joyful Peacock (www.superbokerah.com). If you Google Bokerah, nearly all the results are my doing.