Lonnie Whitaker attended a two-room school in the Ozarks and Missouri University Law School. He retired as district counsel for a federal agency and now works as a writer and an editor. His novel, Geese to a Poor Market, won the Ozark Writers’ League Best Book of the Year Award. His stories have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul, regional magazines, and anthologies. His children’s book, Mulligan Meets the Poodlums, will be published in 2017.
Dr. Barri L. Bumgarner is the author of a sci-fi thriller (8 Days), a psychological thriller (Slipping) and a YA
novel, Dregs. Barri, an Assistant
Professor at Westminster College, has also published seventeen short stories
and hundreds of articles, both academic and teacher-education focused.
Other publications include “Why Not Me,” now being completed as a
full nonfiction manuscript. She has just completed a contemporary fiction
manuscript, Fifty Cents for a Dr Pepper.
1. What sparked your
writing bug?
Lonnie: Since I was a child I had
the notion that I could write, but I was "officially" bitten when I
submitted a short story to Missouri Life Magazine in 1999 . . . and they
bought it. A beginner's luck, perhaps, but it put me in the game.
Barri: To quote Strickland
Gillilan, “I had a mother who read to me.” While most kids listened to Dr.
Seuss, I was hearing The Rubaiyat of Omar
Khayyam. When I was 7, I created a chapbook called The Works of Bumgarner. I’ve been writing ever since I can
remember.
2. Please summarize your story
in MOTO V.
Lonnie: A college student is called home because his mother has
been admitted to a hospital for an illness, which seems suspicious to him. He
suspected it was the recurring voices stemming from her experimental
cancer treatment. But seeing her fearful eyes made him almost afraid to ask.
Barri: This autobiographical
story is about my dad, who struggled with alcoholism, and how I learned about
his problem. I first drafted the story during the Missouri Writing Project in
2006 and decided it was too close to home to publish at the time. Now, it’s
time.
3. Where is your favorite place
in the Ozarks? Please describe it.
Lonnie: On the
Jack's Fork River, upstream from the Highway 17 bridge, there's a secluded
gravel bar across from a limestone bluff that shadows a deep swimming hole. The
spring-fed water is clear enough to see crawdads scurrying about, and there
aren't many canoes or tourists.
Barri: I grew up in Lebanon,
and had many favorite places: Bennett Springs, Wehner’s Bakery (eating crème
horns with my dad), Lebanon Country Club (my summer hangout with Wilson and
friends). When I moved to Springfield to attend SMSU, I discovered Lake
Springfield. It holds a special place in my heart.
4. What writing
accomplishment(s) are you most proud?
Lonnie: Publication
of my novel, Geese to a Poor Market. It's a novel of the Ozarks,
with one leg that wants to boogie, and the other planted on a pew. Or,
"What do you get when you cross Norma Rae with Thelma and Louise?"
–Jim Bohannon, Westwood One Radio.
Barri: When I published my
first novel, 8 Days, I was ecstatic
that my dad found out before he died. That was truly special. I’m also proud
every time my blog sparks conversation. There’s no point in having a voice if
you’re not willing to use it to spark change.
5. Many of my blog visitors are
also writers. What writing advice can you share with them?
Lonnie: Long sentences laced with modifiers are too wordy for
commercial fiction. Replace some of the adjectives and adverbs with strong
verbs. Karl Largent, a techno-thriller author, told me, “Never have your
protagonist running quickly when he could be sprinting.” As Mark Twain
said: “When you catch an adjective, kill it.”
Barri: Write! Do it daily, if
you can, no matter how simple the topic. Then connect with other writers. I
stay involved with Missouri Writing Project, I’m in a writing group with
colleagues at Westminster, and write every chance I get. Not writing, for me,
risks stifling the creative juices.
Bonus Question: Where can
readers find more about you? (Your website, blog, Facebook, etc.)
Lonnie: See my website www.geesetoapoormarket.com,
or after October 2017 at www.lonniewhitaker.com with the publication of my first
children's picture book, Mulligan Meets the Poodlums. And I am on
Facebook.
Thanks for answering my questions, and congratulations on having your stories in Mysteries of the Ozarks, Volume V.