Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lonnie Mounts. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lonnie, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I started writing at a young age, but I had no idea of what I was doing. I’ll never forget my first attempt at writing; I was eight years old and I had just watched ‘Corvette Summer’, a popular movie back in 1978, and I wanted to write my version of a screenplay for a ‘Trans Am.’ I thought I could combine this movie with ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ and come up with a great movie script. As I grew older, I attempted to write more movie scripts, but they all ended up in the trash. However, the desire never left my heart and the urge to write followed me into my early twenties. I can remember it like it was yesterday. I was in the U.S. Army, and it was a cold night as I sat in a tent at Fort Irwin, California, 1993. We were there for Desert Training and I couldn’t sleep because I was lost in thought of ‘What if?’ What if I had pursued my dream of writing… where would I be right now? It was like something hit me from behind as the reality flashed through my mind that it’s never too late to pursue your dreams! I was so motivated that night, that I wrote the first chapter of my first book, ‘Doctor’s Orders.’

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My life as an Author almost didn’t happen, and it’s still a journey. I originally wanted to write screenplays, but with no prior experience, it was a serties of dead ends and closed doors. Then a friend of mine suggested that I convert my first screenplay into a book and try to get it published. So, I had this manuscript that was basically written as a book and ‘Doctor’s Orders’ was transformed into a manuscript and guess what… I hit dead ends and closed doors. I threw the manuscript into my desk drawer, and it sat there for five years as I did nothing… except sulk. The dream never left me. I still craved writing, but I wouldn’t sit down and just do it. However, I did write down every idea that came to me for a book over the next five years and I still have that scrap book. In 2000. something sparked and Ebooks came into the picture. With this fast-growing business, I pulled out my manuscript, tweaked it, and started submitting it to Ebook sites and within a week, I was getting offers. Now you would think this would just catapult into a grand writing career, where movie deals are just thrown at you as your book becomes a best seller. Not that this hasn’t happened for some fellow authors, but the likelihood of this happening with your first book, is dismal, at best. In fact, most of the ‘new authors’ you hear of, have probably been writing for years. Now fast forward twenty years and four publishers later, I found myself in 2020 with only two books published and a series of failed adventures. It was time to ‘re-invent myself.’ I did what I needed to do to retain the rights to my two novels, and I became independent. I also stared to write again and I ventured into new, uncharted territory. I write Suspenseful Action Mysteries, and now, I also write Suspenseful Romance… closed- and open-door romance which are my best sellers. This was the best decision I made for my writing career as I’m now an indie author of ten novels, with three more coming out this year. I’ve gained more momentum and more success in the last five years, than I did in the prior twenty years.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

When it comes to resources in writing, the best advice I ever received was to find fellow authors like yourself, and make friends with them, network with them and learn from them. For a little over twenty years, I was trying to do this all on my own while riding on the coattails of only two novels. I’ve made some great contacts, and I’ve learned from some fantastic authors, and it all started by going to a few book signings and some big events. I owe that to my former editor who is known soley as ‘Sassy.’ She was a big help and believed in me when no one else did, except for my mother, wife and kids. I was ready to give up until she stepped in and said let’s try something different… and it worked! In this journey, I’ve meet so many great authors over the last five years, but I’ve learned from a few exceptional authors like Ivy Blacke and K. Iwancio, not to mention all the support and motivation from authors Michael Merson, Jackie Paxson, Sandra Ramsey, M. C. Ryder, and Kate McWilliams. And it’s a big joy of mine to watch and help new authors Rick Serrenti, Shelley Creager, and Evanjalynn Daniels. However, I would be no where if it weren’t for my PA, Amy Garnet. She has set me on the right path and has also disciplined me when I’ve needed it. So I owe my success to these people and many others because let’s face it… you cannot be successful by yourself. You cannot be successful without help.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

It was 2002 and I had an ebook deal, and a publication with a vanity publisher. I was ready to move on to a traditional publisher, and I was getting rejected on a weekly basis. No one wanted a high school educated, Army Veteran with no writing credits. So, I decide to try to sign with a literary agent. Once again, it was rejection after rejection. I wasn’t ready to quit but I had decided at that moment, that no matter what happened, I was going to continue to write… even if I didn’t make it in this field because my love of writing outweighed any rejection I received and I refused to put a dollar sign on that. However, I turned a negative into a motivation. I talked to one literary agent on the phone, and he had expressed to me that if I had planned on being an author, I should have enrolled in school and that I had missed my opportunity and that I made the biggest mistake of my life by joining the Army instead of school. Needless to say, I was boiling inside, but I maintained my posture and I sternly and politely told him that he was welcome for his freedom and that he had better remember my name… because he would hear of me again!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.LonnieMounts.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lonniemounts?igsh=MWNyNHJjdzYxajd3dA==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1Goui7bffR/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorlonniemounts?_r=1&_t=ZT-94DIKbFQHPy