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An Interview With Bonita Summers

Tell us a bit about yourself. What would you like us to know about you?

I began writing as a child, because the muse chased me. While exploring the woods and country roads, my head would flood with poetry, which I would rush home to write down while I could remember it.

This love of words was fostered by my advertising executive father and a mother who wrote Harlequin Romances and magazine articles ... and a considerable library of great literary works and encyclopedia.

At the age of eight, I read and wrote at a highschool graduate level, probably because my mother gave me a headstart by teaching me to read when I was 4 years old.

What are you doing now? (Career? Married? Single? Children? Pets?)

Recently, I left an administrative position I'd held at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada for 7 years to pursue my writing career and my Therapeutic Touch practice. I work from my home in Bath, Ontario and am kept company by my Australian cattle dog, Taz, a rotund manx named James, and a slightly feral kitty with a vengeance, Caramel. My husband (second time around) is a trucker, and I have the last of my four children at home, pending her upcoming foray into post-secondary education.

What is your favourite food?

My 3 years living in Wilton, Ontario has left me with a terrible cheese addiction. I will shred it over pasta, nachos, and salad. Grilled cheese sandwiches made with slabs of real cheese cooked slowly in buttered bread are my downfall.

What is your favourite colour?

Purple is my favourite colour, because it is a true and passionate hue. So much more definitive than a pastel, it announces that it is truly here ... as is the person wearing it. It bears not so much the traditional connotation of royalty to me as the concept that one is tuned into a deeply spiritual element. It is not uncommon to find at a meditative retreat that many of the participants sport purple.

What is your favourite sound?

I love to hear the geese calling to each other in the moonlight at the water's edge. A visit to the lake on a summer's night finds them commiserating over the pending turn of the season.

It is a terrible loss to hear the silence after the last Canadian goose has left for warmer climes.

Who is your favourite person?

My favourite person is the Buddha, because he showed us how to get off this crazy Wheel of Rebirth and see ourselves as we really are (I'll let you know what that is when I figure it out). His 84,000 teachings still challenge us today.

What is your favourite place?

I am drawn to water. Stand me on a rocky shore at night, with the moon slightly obscured by incoming storm clouds, and a wild wind whipping at my hair, and you will draw out the poet in me.

What is your favourite memory?

I am pulled back to a simple moment, sitting in the barn at the age of 11, listening to the horses eating their morning meal. I inhale the smell of fresh hay and feel the roughness of the straw bale on which I sit and listen, just listen, with nothing else to think about or do. There are few times in my life that have been as undemanding.

What is your favourite article of clothing?

I treasure my bellydancing sash. A rich, red silk covered in strands of silver coins, it is the most marvelous special effect a woman can give her hips. Prettily accentuating a postnatal belly like no other clothing can, the sash blinds in sunlight and makes a come-hither shushy sound with the right kind of shake. Guaranteed to make a lady want to show off her curves.

What is your favourite word?

Undulation is my favourite word, because it sounds as sinewy and snakelike as the movement it represents, and when used in a spoken word performance with the appropriate action, draws forth spectacular applause.

What is your favourite writers' quote and why?

"And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea."

The movement of these words, representing the ebb and flow of the sea; the commitment to stay with one's beloved despite death; and again the tableau of dark and turbulent waters haunt me as they hint at a love that travels beyond this world.

What is your most favourite quality about yourself?

I have a desire to give something back, whether I am giving a Therapeutic Touch treatment or performing poetry, I want to leave people a little richer for having met me. My hope is that my experience on this earth, especially some of the more difficult moments, has its purpose in being useful to others, making their journey a little gentler.

What is the least favourite quality about yourself?

I have my dark days where my focus sinks deep inside and I want to cocoon, selfishly shaking off concern for others. I want to crawl in a cave and sit for eons and never emerge. It must be the influence of being a crabby Cancer.

If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?

I would go to Tibet and sit in a monastery in a remote corner, drinking yak butter tea, eating sampa and reminding myself that there are memories for me there that echo back many lifetimes ago.

What inspires you to write and why?

I write, because it is natural for me to do so, and I am intrisically lazy. I write, because I have an ability to put ideas together in unique ways that influence others to think and feel. I like to shake things up a bit and get people stirred to respond to my words, even if the dialogue remains for them internal. I write, because there is an orgasmic thrill that comes when I know I've produced something extraordinary.

What is your favourite book and why?

"No Flying in the House" by Betty Brock is a book that stands out for me from my childhood, because it was written so convincingly that a little girl like me could believe in the possibility of being half-fairy, could believe in a world where magic is possible, where an ordinary person might be a little bit magic herself.

What is your favourite genre and why?

My favourite genre is occult or science fiction, because it dares to plumb possibilities beyond our 9-to-5 existence. For example, the Madeleine L'Engle books explored quantum physics and cell consciousness long before science writers made these topics palatable for the general public.

List your three favourite authors (any genre) and why?

Edgar Allan Poe was the first writer to excite me with poetry and prose.
Charlotte Bronte wrote the first romance novel that I considered truly passionate, that being "Jane Eyre".
Margaret Atwood took me on a sensual and intellectual journey in my teens with "Lady Oracle" and "The Edible Woman".

What do you think makes a writer successful?

I believe passion, intellect, and an ability to think outside the box are essential ingredients for generating worthwhile written material. Knowing how to convey ideas in a way that captivates, surprises, and motivates readers is a must. Lastly, writers must know how to market themselves and their work to succeed. This is often the greatest stumbling block, because it is a task that has the least to do with feeding our love of writing.

Whta is it that makes you successful as a writer?

My work has an emotional impact on readers and audiences. I've been told by people who dislike poetry that they enjoy mine, because I write like they speak. I try not to elevate myself above my audience, but to find the common thread where we all connect. I've made a commitment to write the truth and to keep digging for the deeper truths that lie beneath my limited perspective.

What are your goals as a writer?

My plan is to make a sustainable living with my writing for the rest of my life, and to use writing as a means of self-exploration. It's a spiritual journey as much as it is a career.

What is the best tip you can give to fellow writers?

Just when you think you know who you are and what you're doing, shake it up! Don't ever settle for a final point-of-view on anything - especially about yourself.

What do you hope to provide your readers with through your writing?

I hope to help readers feel that they're not alone on the human journey, that others understand their disappointment and pain, and that there is joy, hope, and incredible opportunities for communion and growth along the way.

I hope to entertain and inspire my audience and to connect with them at that level where we all have a story to tell. I learn a great deal from the feedback I receive.

List your three favourite online writer-resource sites and why (include URLS).

The Writers' Union of Canada
www.writersunion.ca/index.asp

A great resource for the professional writer, especially in terms of the nitty gritty of payment and publication

www.writers.ca

Another great resource for the serious writer

www.wordpress.com

A beautiful site for the blogger - free with no banner ads

If you have published a book, tell us about your publishing success (title, publishing date and company, where it is available to purcahse).

"Woman with the Flying Mind" is my self-published autobiography in poetry (2005). It was written to inspire others to overcome the effects of abuse. However, it has a wider appeal to a general audience of men and women.

I used my book to raise $1000 for Kingston Interval House in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It was also featured at two juried exhibits in the Kingston area, due to the photography and layout, which are also my original work.

It can be purchased from stores in the Kingston area, including Chapters and Indigo, and online via my email (bonitasummers@yahoo.ca).

How long did it take you to write your book(s)?

The poetry in my first book was a compilation of work done over a 10-year period. My upcoming book "Digging Up the Bones", to be published in the spring of 2008 by Hidden Brook Press, has taken 2 years to complete.

What would you do differently if you could repeat the same publishing experience?

I would include more contact information, since feedback feeds future books. Other than that, I enjoyed my initial experience and had a great deal of support from family, friends, and a terrific print company.

As a self-publisher, it was a delight to produce a finished work exactly as I had envisioned it.

What have you learned about the publishing world?

I've learned that self-publishing gets you seen (with enough self-promotion), but being published by a trade company gets you funding.

This is your chance to 'Talk Back' to your readers. What would you like to say to them?

I have a great deal of gratitude for everyone who has told me how a poem I wrote was significant for them. Moreover, I appreciate the readers who have, in turn, shared their stories with me.

What's the one thing that you want them to know about your writing?

What you read from me is honest, sometimes brutally so, and it will shake you up, make you laugh, and possibly cry. It may set your mind off in new directions or get you thinking about something similar from your past. It will cause the chink in the armour that cracks things wide open in due time.

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