Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the three hundred and fifty-sixth, is of novelist, , short story author, journalist, copywriter and game designer T.L. Bodine. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at author-spotlights.
T.L. Bodine is a freelance writer who wears a lot of hats: Novelist, journalist, copywriter and game designer. After obtaining a degree in English in 2007, she floundered for a few years, first in an unsatisfying graduate program, then later in a string of soul-deadening jobs. Fortunately, she managed to escape unscathed, and she was able to turn to her true passion of writing full-time in 2011.
Since then, she’s worked on several projects. She currently has two novels available: Nezumi’s Children, which might be described as “Lord of the Flies” meets “Watership Down”, and Tagestraum, a dark fantasy story about a social worker whose search for a missing boy leads him to a fairy world inhabited by living nightmares. She also has a book of short stories, The Beast in the Bedchamber, which includes seven dark fantasy retellings of fantastic and ill-fated romance.
Aside from her fiction, T.L. Bodine has been involved in numerous creative and non-fiction projects for clients and associates. Most recently, she contributed to Holdfast, a game book/RPG released by Black Chicken Studios, and to Trust Me, an anthology released in conjunction with the storytelling game “Doll” from Ginger Goat. She also writes frequently for the horror webzine Ravenous Monster, a gig which enables her to get a first peek at some of the best up-and-coming indie horror films and books.
After traveling extensively throughout her childhood and young adulthood. T.L. has settled indefinitely in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She currently lives with her fiancé David and a small zoo of rescued animals: two cats, two dogs and several geriatric rats. When she’s not writing (which is rare), she can usually be found playing video games and experimenting in the kitchen.
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And now from the author herself:
I never really planned to become a writer. I spent most of my young life thoroughly convinced that I would grow up to be a veterinarian. This certainty stuck with me well into my first semester of college, despite the evidence to the contrary: The flip-books I “wrote” before I really knew how to read, the elaborate stories I’d act out with imaginary friends, the growing stack of stories and poems I worked on throughout middle and high school.
It wasn’t until my freshman year of college that I had a rude awakening. I rapidly discovered that not only was I totally out of place with my peers, but I wasn’t academically suited to the course work. Lots of confusion, bumbling, and major-changing later, I found myself with an English degree and a vague feeling of, “What in the world am I supposed to do with this?”
I dipped my toes in writing professionally on several occasions, but finally caught my break with a short story sale. The sale itself wasn’t particularly significant – I think it was worth about $10 – but it was enough. Suddenly I realized I could do this for money. I could actually write words and get paid for them. So I set out trying to find other opportunities to write more words and get paid for those, too, and pretty soon it snowballed until I could quit my job and write full-time. Certainly not the place I expected to be, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun and incredibly rewarding.
I’m a firm believer that you should write the kind of books you’d like to read, and for me that means books that are simultaneously fantastic and creepy, straddling the space between horror and fantasy. I like stories about real people in impossible situations, and I especially love fantasy as a tool for looking at the deeper truths of what people are like under all of the trappings that make up modern life. Sometimes, the things that are most unlikely often hold the deepest glimmers of truth.
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You can find more about T.L. and her writing via…
- http://tlbodine.blogspot.com
- http://www.facebook.com/tlbodine.writes
- https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/tlbodine
- http://www.amazon.com/T.L.-Bodine/e/B00CD8PMGO
TL is also running a giveaway raffle this month: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/MGYyZDFjZmFhMDQ0MzIxZDNlZmIzN2U0YjFhOTQ5OjE=
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Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
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Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
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