So today, I’d like to introduce you to another fellow Washingtonian. Dianne Bunnell has been an awesome, and very supportive member of the #SupportIndieAuthors board on Goodreads, offering lots of great advice and inspirational messages to help keep others on track. Her story also seems very compelling, though I will admit it’s not my normal fare. Either way, she seems like another great person to add to the series. Without further ado, I give to you, Dianne Kozdrey Bunnell!
Dianne Kozdrey Bunnell, Author of The Protest
Dianne Kozdrey Bunnell was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the oldest of seven children. She moved with her family to California in her teen years, then to Washington State, where she’s lived for the past three decades. She has two daughters and two stepsons.
Dianne graduated magna cum laude from Whitworth University with a BA in English. It took her ten years to complete her fictional memoir, The Protest. The book is endorsed by cult and brainwashing expert Steven Hassan and by the late Dr. Richard Gardner, Clinical Professor of Child Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University.
Dianne taught high school English for several years after her career providing executive support to a U.S. Congressman, a hospital CEO, and a two-year college President. Currently, she is working on several writing projects.
Here are my website and Amazon links:
Here’s my Author Facebook link:
Dianne K. Bunnell, Author on FB
My blog link:
https://dkbunnell.wordpress.com/
- What do you do to keep your spirits up through a bad review?
Just knowing I’m behaving like a professional by not responding is the best tonic. I have a one one-star review by someone who had an ax to grind, a real diatribe that even mentions my ex. When I was lamenting to my mentor, he said, and I quote: “Just forget about it. If you respond to negative reviews, you will come off looking like an amateur.” So that is my mantra – that and keeping focused on the positive reviews, hugs given to me by people who attend my book readings, and all the help my book has been for people who’ve read my story are what I focus on to get me through a bad review.
- What has been your greatest inspiration for writing your story?
My story is inspired by the real-life religious hijacking of my two daughters, ages 10 and 12. The happy ending is that we are reunited today, but for almost a decade, I didn’t see or hear from them. It was like the death of my girls, and while I was going through the grief, I wanted to make something good out of the devastation of losing my girls. So I wrote my story as a beacon of hope to others who have struggled with similar circumstances. But the bottom line is that it is a gripping tale.
- Are there any people you feel need a shout out for supporting you?
My husband, my writer’s group in Eatonville, Washington, and my close friends who knew why I was writing all deserve my deepest thanks.
- Has self-publishing taught you any lessons that you feel will help you in life?
Yes, although I’ve learned the lessons kicking and screaming. I was not a social media kind of person, but I am now! I have learned how important building my platform is and how important social media is in doing that. Because I have other stories to tell (the next, A Blue Moon Phase of the Heart will be released in the summer of 2015), the framework I’ve worked so hard to set up will hopefully carry me through to future books.
and last, What’s your favorite color?
My favorite color is green – you can’t live in the state of Washington with all this rain and not love green.
Remember, if you’d like to be featured in the #SupportIndieAuthor series, please drop me a line at RileyAmosReviews (@) Gmail (Dot) com. Until next week, keep writing!
And don’t forget to check out my Breath Of the Titans: The False Titanbriger series.
*FREE* Little Black Stormcloud
A Mother’s Love
War of the Chiefs
Sumo Sized Ginger 