Bonnie Jo Talks to Everybody

It was great to sit with my friend Andy Mozina at H House and talk about writing and the writing life on the eve of his retirement from teaching at K College. He's quite funny! Born and raised in Milwaukee, Andy Mozina majored in economics at Northwestern, then dropped out of Harvard Law School to study literature and write. He’s published fiction in Tin House, Ecotone, McSweeney’s, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. His first story collection, The Women Were Leaving the Men, won the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award. Quality Snacks, his second collection, was a finalist for the Flannery O’Connor Prize. His first novel, Contrary Motion, was published by Spiegel & Grau/Penguin Random House. His fiction has received special citations in Best American Short Stories, Pushcart Prize, and New Stories from the Midwest. 

What a pleasure to spend an hour talking with Kathi McGookey, a prose poet, introvert, mom, and all around great Michigan person. Here's her official bio: Kathleen McGookey has published five books and fourchapbooks of prose poems, most recently Paper Sky (Press 53) and Cloud Reports (Celery City Chapbooks).  Her work hasappeared recently in journals including Copper Nickel, Epoch, Field, Los Angeles Review, North American Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Southern Review.  It has also been featured on American Life in Poetry, Poetry Daily, and SWWIM Every Day.  She lives in Middleville, Michigan.

Great to chat with Dawn at H House about writing, teaching, baking and living. Dawn talks about religious trauma, Indiana life, and her new book, A GREEN GLOW ON THE HORIZON: TALES FROM THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TOURIST ATTRACTION SURVIVORS.

This is Chris and I chatting the way we do.

Chris and I are reading in bed and talking about tractors, the political climate, and other timely matters. I have a cold and so I'm talking loudly and can't remember anything.

Sheila and I are heading to the Little Cottage together, and we talk about this and that.

The brilliant writer and editor Cait West kindly interviewed me about The Waters at Books & Mortar, an independent bookstore in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

This was a great panel of Southwest Michigan writers sharing their Book publishing experiences. This is unedited, and I started recording after the introductions were well underway. great panel of Southwest Michigan writers discussing how to publish your book. Thank you, Andy Mozina, Kathi McGookey, Susan Ramsey, and Marcel Fable Price.

Our mother planted pawpaw trees, and now we have lots of fruits! So many we have to freeze some of the meat, which involves a bit of work getting them peeled and seeded. We are chatting, and our neighbor Kim comes over to visit.

While visiting the Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan I got a chance to chat with Jack Lessenberry, who knows a lot about Michigan Politics, past, present, and even future. I interviewed him at 7am, before he took his dogs out to the park for tug-of-war, so I was kind of dopey. But he sounds just right, so I won't bother trying to edit out my ums and hems and haws. He's the author of a book about (Republican) governor William Milliken, and if you want to hear more about every aspect of Michigan politics, here's a link to his blog: https://lessenberryink.com

Well, Chris and I were just talking about my birthday, weed burning and vapor barriers! I'm always happy when I'm talking to this guy.

Michigan author Steve Amick invited me to take off my shoes and stay a while in his home on Lake Michigan in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We talked about writing and life. His website: https://steve-amick.com/

Ron Riekki, who hails from Michigan's upper peninsula is a kind of Renaissance man. Here we talk about writing, mental health, and humanity!

Ron Riekki and I sat down together and talked for three hours about writing, writing in the Upper Peninsula and beyond, and we got downright philosophical. Ron shared many stories from his life in the military, in medicine, in the literary world.

Always great to talk to my darling Christopher!

Duane is great. He works hard, and can do all kinds of jobs on houses and cars. He drives an old truck with sticker on it that says "All Boobs Matter."

Monica Friedman is a writer and artist and cartoonist living in Tucson Arizona, and she is a delightful conversationalist. She knows how to show a gal a good time, and she took me to the Sonoran Desert Museum. We chatted in the car on the way there.

It's always great to talk to Darling Christopher, about anything.

Talking to my husband again--I never get tired of him. Here we talk about how he is holding down the fort while I am gallivanting around, promoting The Waters.

While I was preparing their food, the donkeys he-honked at me for a minute, and here it is.