A Candid Writing Moment with award-winning writer Bonnie McCune

"A number of years ago, maybe ten, I was struggling with a plot for a short story. Since, like most women, I was also juggling, work, home, and other duties, this plot became like a dog's toy--ragged and beat up and generally ignored.

One day, as part of my commitment to exercise daily, I headed off to spinning class. (This is spinning that involves stationary bikes, not wool.) Still brooding on my stalled plot line, I jumped on my bike and pedaled away. Since I perform exercise only out of a sense of duty, my mind quickly         wandered. . .to my plot. 

Without conscious effort, by the end of the class, several important plot points mysteriously appeared in my head. 

Since that time, I've used this technique over and over. It also occurs when I take casual walks. 

Perhaps I'm entering an alpha state-whatever that is. Other people tell me they use sleep cycles, music, showers, and dishes to accomplish the same ends. Sometimes if we let go and allow our minds to function without overt direction, we unleash unexpected and positive results." 
 
Bonnie McCune
author of Falling Like A Rock

Bonnie McCune credits her tenacity for the successes in her life, and A Saint Comes Stumbling In is proof.  Since fifth grade, she has been determined to be a writer.  This is her first published novel, but her interest in writing led to her career in nonprofits doing public and community relations and marketing.  She’s worked for libraries, directed a small arts organization and managed Denver's beautification program. Simultaneously, she’s been a free lance writer with publications in local, regional, and specialty publications for news and features.  Her main interest now is fiction writing, and her pieces have won several awards.  Her civic involvement includes grass-roots organizations, political campaigns, writers' and arts' groups, and children's literacy.

For years, she entered recipe contests and was a finalist once to the Pillsbury Cook Off.  A special love is live theater.  Had she been nine inches taller and thirty pounds lighter, she might have been an actress.  For reasons unknown (an unacknowledged optimism?), she believes that one person can make a difference in this world.  McCune lives in Denver, Colorado, where she’s been married to the same man forever, has two children and three grandchildren, and is working on a humorous novel about aging.

Read more about Bonnie at www.BonnieMcCune.com. 

    







Unloved and unemployed. That’s Elaine Svoboda, after she’s sacked, then flees across country to her boyfriend who drops her flat. Teetering on the abyss of disaster, she calls an old friend who invites her to a tiny mountain town with fresh prospects. There she meets rugged, hunky Joe Richter-Leon, mayor of Falling Rock. Maybe he can help her find a job. Maybe they can become friends, even share romance. Sparks fly immediately, but major obstacles make a new life on the ashes of the old appear impossible. Joe’s consumed with challenges like the dismal local economy and an impetuous sister. Elaine butts heads with him at every turn in the rocky road. Is the problem her bungling attempts to help? Or does she remind him of a greedy, selfish ex-wife? Before they can build a new life on the ashes of the old, she must overcome a few obstacles like a broken ankle, an eating disturbance, his stubbornness, and her own fears. She’s smothering her hopes when a battle with a forest inferno illuminates their true feelings and desire. Funny and frank, poignant and perceptive, when two people are “Falling Like a Rock,” they learn surrender sometimes means victory.

• “She approaches sensitive human circumstances with care and assurance making the characters real and believable.  ”
  Victoria Pitts Caine| 4 reviewers made a similar statement
• “Very, very fun read!  ”
  Margaret Fine| 6 reviewers made a similar statement
• “Fun airplane or vacation book as it is a quick and easy read.  ”
  M.J. Evans| 3 reviewers made a similar statement