Lynnette Bonner is a lovely person and an amazing cover designer. She designed the covers for my Circle Bar Ranch series, and people are always commenting on how attractive they are.
But she’s also a prolific author. She has a new one coming out later this month On Eagle’s Wings. I’m excited to share her interview. Be sure to catch the offer at the end!
What genre(s) do you write and why?
All the stories I write are stories that share Truths from God’s Word. For me, it is important to use the gifts He gave me to return what measure of glory I can to Him. So under the main banner of “Christian,” I’m published in historical romance and contemporary romance. I also have a fantasy story that I’ve been working on for years, but no published fantasies yet.
What started your writing career?
I grew up overseas without electricity or TV, so I was a reader from my very early years. I loved to immerse myself in story and sometimes wouldn’t reemerge until hours later. Eventually my love of story turned the bend to me beginning to pen my own stories. Or I would read a book and think “it could have been so much better if they’d done it this way.” I started several books, but never finished one until I was doing some research about the town I lived in at the time and found some tidbits from history that I knew had to be told. That research turned into my first published novel, Rocky Mountain Oasis.
You were born and raised in Africa?! Did that have any kind of influence on you as a writer?
For sure! I often tell my kids that I wish anyone who interacted in politics in our country would be required to first live for 2 years in an African village in the middle of nowhere. But we aren’t here to talk about politics (thank goodness!)
When you’ve seen people living in truly abject poverty and watched them live overcoming joy-filled lives despite their circumstances, you can’t help but be changed. When your best friends growing up lived in a mud and brick home and slept each night on a grass mat on a hard cement floor, yet were more than happy to share their meal of corn porridge and vegetables, it can’t help but change you.
I hope I am a more giving person because of my upbringing. I hope I am less judgmental of poverty. I hope I am a writer who shows that no matter your circumstances in life, there is One who can give you joy beyond measure.
One story I wrote, that I likely wouldn’t have written were it not for my upbringing is the Sonnets of the Spice Isle serialization. The research for that book was heartbreaking, even though some of it I knew to expect.
I’m very thankful for my rich heritage.
What is it about historical fiction that appeals to you as an author?
I love writing about a simpler time, and yet showing that people of those times struggled with many of the same sins and issues that we face today. I’ve sometimes gotten negative reviews because readers say a sin I presented in the story would have never happened “back in those days.” I don’t believe that. I believe sin has tripped people up since Eve ate the fruit, since Cain killed Abel, since David—a man after God’s own heart—stole another man’s wife and had that man murdered to try and cover it up.
What is the craziest thing you’ve done in the name of research?
Ha! Well…one of my stories required my heroine to be tied up, hand and foot, and gagged. I needed to accurately be able to write what that felt like and how she might escape from that, so I had my husband tie me up.
