Friday, 8 January 2016

Author Interview: Vanessa Bogenholm


About the Author

Vanessa Bogenholm lives in Los Gatos, California with her three dogs, and teaches tennis. She has been writing Romance/Women’s Fiction, reviews and short stories for numerous websites and magazines for years. Her debut novel – The Moral Line – was published in March 2014 by AuthorHouse.

Do you plan everything or just let the story flow?

I usually start with an idea, then it flows in directions that sometimes when I reread don’t make sense in the moment.  Kind of like my personal life, nothing ever goes quite like I planned.

Are you a morning person or a night owl?

Oh such a morning person, I get up at 5 am everyday.  Sleep is the most important thing to me. I need my 8-9 hours and am very diligent about getting that in so usually in bed by 9 pm.  Any wonder why I am single?

Do you listen to music while writing?

Oh yes, and I had to present a folk singer, John Gorka, with a copy of my book when it was finished because his sad loss of love songs were always going on in the background.  I gave him a copy at a concert, he was touched.  It was always sad music, like Carol King, or old country music like Marty Robbins.

Could you tell us a bit about your latest release?

The Moral Line is a story about lonliness and the way we as humans try to deal with it.  I have been fascinated by escorts and the business of prostitution most of my life and created a character, along with the men that are her clients, that were not just there for the pleasure of sex, but real people trying to fill a void.

Blurb:

The Moral Line opens readers’ eyes to the world of high-end escorts and the men who frequent them.

After being rejected and left alone, Alexandria, finds herself going down a moral line. Slightly desperate for money, she takes a one-time ‘job’ as a paid for companion by a not so attractive but very nice wealthy man. Is getting paid to be in the company of men really such a bad thing if it feels good? She falls into a world of clients that are wealthy, powerful, successful men with fancy cars and country club lifestyles. But she sees the fragility in all of these men, the loneliness and need for acceptance that is the human condition.

Alexandria becomes ‘Catherine’, a high-end escort with a beautiful laugh who finds the goodness and attractiveness in all men, falling in love with all of her clients just a little. By accepting these men and seeing the goodness in them, she pleases these men in many ways. Is it possible by pleasing others maybe Alexandria can find her true self and find happiness?

The Moral Line is available in eBook, paperback, and hardback formats from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, AuthorHouse, and many other websites.

What have you learned about writing and publishing since you first started?

That I know nothing!!! 10 or so years ago I would go to book store, go to the new release table, read the backs of books and pick 10 or so out to last me a month or so.  I would spend $150.

Now none of us go to bookstores, we read on devices, millions of titles are out there.  We can get books for free, so we don’t care if we ever even really read them or they cost $3 and so we don’t like them, we don’t finish them. I really have no idea how any book except from major authors gets traction.  I knew nothing about self-publishing and tried to do my best, but could have done better.  

Is there anything you would do differently?

I would have done almost everything differently!! I would have waited and hired a publicist before I published, would have spent more time and money on the editor, would have really not let the publishing house push me into getting the product out there, then I think it would have been better.

What are three words that describe you?

Competitive, compassionate, and diligent.

What's your favourite book or who is your favourite writer?

Jean Paul Sartre, I have a copy of Nausea that I have reread 100s of times and actually has my annotations from when I was a teenager.  I am fascinated by human emotion and in my opinion, he captures it so fully.

Any websites/places readers can find you on the web.

Readers can connect with Vanessa on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.




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