We were lucky to catch up with Lonnie Busch recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Lonnie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with a fun one – what’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?
As a writer, I believe it’s paramount to read great writing to learn how it’s done, then follow my own vision and process, and allow myself to write the stories that speak to me. What I learned long ago is that, my approach is the wrong approach. At a writers conference in Maui over a decade ago, I was told by a literary agent during a one-on-one interview that I should be reading only books in my genre. That was troubling to me as I don’t write to any genre, but follow the thread of my story, wherever they might take me.
My writing focuses mostly on the characters, the situation I find them in, and how they react. And, of course, I’m concerned with plot, with characterization being extremely influential in the plotting. However, what I have come to realize by talking with other authors is that studying the genre they plan to write in is a pretty common and accepted practice. In that regard I am an outcast, as I could never write to plotting guidelines for a particular genre, or include obligatory scenes readers expect to see. Yet, the troubling issue that always arises is, at some point I must assign a genre for the book, either on Amazon or to a reviewer, or in an ad. Much of my work has been classified as “crossing” genres, but mostly as a positive observation.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My writing came out of nowhere during a divorce and tumultuous time in my life, and has proved a much more precarious pursuit than my commercial illustration ever was, but still so rewarding. My short stories have appeared in numerous literary magazines over the past 22 years, and garnered numerous awards. My novella, Turnback Creek, won the Clay Reynold’s Novella Award and was published by Texas Review Press in 2007. I thought that was the start, but it wasn’t.
I kept writing, doing my freelance illustration, and sending out queries on my novels. Occasionally I’d get a manuscript request, which ultimately bore no fruit. In 2017, ready to give up on writing, I sent out an email query for my novel, Pink Souder. I decided, once I had exhausted this last attempt, I was done. The Bent Agency emailed me and said they’d like to represent my novel, which would become The Cabin on Souder Hill published by Blackstone Publishing in 2020. This was finally it!
Or not. By 2022, I parted company with my agent and Blackstone, and started self-publishing. Unlike my illustration career, my writing was fraught with false starts. But I’m still here, still writing, and my enterprise has brought together the three things I love most; writing, illustrating my covers, and creating animated/video book trailers to promote my books. And AI has no place in any of my creative pursuits.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I think financial success, at least in American society, goes a long way in helping non-creatives understand and appreciate the creative journey. I found that to be true in my own life. Since I was successful in my illustration work, friends and family had no problem appreciating my journey. But here’s the thing, whether an artist/writer/musician is financially successful or not, the drive to write or create art or make music is no less diminished. It is a huge part of who we are. Life will be harder, for sure, if success doesn’t find us, while that insatiable urge to create doesn’t dissipate, not completely, but can lose much of its luster when struggling to keep a roof over one’s head.
For years I was my own personal “patron of the arts,” fortunate to be able to leverage my success as a commercial illustrator to finance my many other artistic pursuits, which bore no monetary fruit of their own; like my odyssey into pottery and ceramics, print making, sculpture, painting, and eventually writing. That capacity for me was the perfect symbiosis of worlds, a life of constant exploration funded by a job of creating design and illustration for paying clients, a profession that sustained me for decades, and that I loved! For me, the inexplicable drive to create art has been there since I was a child, painting in oils by the time I was nine or ten.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
A goal or mission? Let me start by explaining that when I did illustration, it was a process that involved much forethought and planning, followed by the tedious execution of final art, all geared toward meeting a client’s needs, to sell their product or idea. Nevertheless, writing for me is a very different process, one of discovery, putting reason and rationality aside for a moment to allow the unknown, the profound, to enter. Then to follow that insane impulse to create characters in a fictional world constructed of nothing but words on a blank page, words formed from small black glyphs which have no meaning in and of themselves. And being totally amazed when the characters speak, have feelings, know things I don’t know, act in ways I hadn’t expected. I doubt this is a goal or mission, but I am always waiting for that next insane impulse to take me away, always hoping my readers will be equally moved by the experience.
Anyone interested in learning more about my books, please check out my website. And consider joining my newsletter while you’re there. If audiobooks are your thing, DM me on Facebook. I have lots of free Promo Codes for my audiobooks for “All Hope of Becoming Human,” and “Cargo Hold 4” and would love for you to become a reader or listener!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lonniebusch.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LonnieBusch52
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lonnie-busch-89100251/
