Author Barbara Bockman, on her Award Winning Title - Fantastic Flight

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WRITING? I began taking courses in children's writing over twenty years ago. It took me a few years to get up the courage to start submitting [my work to publishers].

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BEGIN WRITING? I was inspired to write by my love of reading and also by my love of the English language. In school, I was one of the few students who enjoyed parsing sentences and diagramming them. From Dick and Jane onward, I became an avid reader. One of my greatest joys in life is reading a well-written passage. After obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Library Science (my first was in English), I realized as much as I love physical books and handling them, I love the stories even more.

WHAT INSPIRED YOUR AWARD WINNING TITLE, Fantastic Flight ? Fantastic Flight was inspired by an incident involving my husband and our granddaughter. He was kidding around with her and pretended her balloon was carrying him away. They were having such fun; and it became the germ for my story.

WE'D LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR OTHER PUBLISHED WORKS
My first published book is a middle grade e-novel, Wounds, published by MuseItUp Publishing.

DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW BOOKS IN THE WORKS? My work in progress is another middle grade novel, with the working title of RANIL AND THE BABY ELEPHANT, set in Sri Lanka. I can’t say when it will be available; it’s requiring a lot of research. I also have three other books under contract with Guardian Angel Publishing.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF: I grew up in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina and I still love to visit there from my home in Florida. I married an Army Officer and we lived in various places in the US, Europe, and Japan. I have four children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. After my husband retired from the Army and we moved to Florida, I obtained my Masters Degree in English and taught at Pensacola Junior College.  I love to travel with my grandchildren. I took four of them to Alaska, three of them to Europe, two others to the UK and Ireland. When my granddaughter was an undergraduate, I went with her and her class to China one year and to Italy and Greece the next year. My head is still spinning.

WHAT DO YOU MOST ENJOY DOING IN YOUR SPARE TIME? My favorite hobby is raising butterflies. I grow the flowers that attract the females. The caterpillars eat those plants, so I supply other nectar flowers for the adult butterflies. The green chrysalis of the monarch, with its flecks of gold, is one of the most beautiful sights in nature. The butterflies most common in this part of Florida are monarchs, gulf fritillaries, zebra longwings, and various swallowtails.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE SHOW? I like both Masterpiece Classics and Masterpiece Mystery and also dramas that do not involve forensics, such as White Collar. I suppose I’m a bit squeamish.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE AS AN AUTHOR? My biggest challenge is procrastination. With so many projects to choose from, sometimes it’s hard to decide which to work on, so I put it off.

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR OTHER ASPIRING AUTHORS? My advice to other aspiring authors is to write the kind of books you like to read, learn the craft, get to know your genre, join a critique group, and have faith in yourself.

CAN YOU OFFER ANY TIPS ON GETTING PUBLISHED? An author should study the market and make sure she is submitting her finest work to the right publishers.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE WITH OUR READERS? I feel that writing for children is a moral responsibility [for me]. My hope is that all of my writing will be uplifting to my readers.

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