Victoria
Bernadine (a pseudonym) is, as the saying goes, a “woman of a certain age”.
After twenty-something years of writer’s block, she began writing again in
2008. She began with fanfiction about a (now-cancelled) TV show called Jericho
and particularly about the characters of Heather Lisinski and Edward Beck. From
there, she expanded into writing original fiction and she hasn’t stopped since.
Victoria enjoys
reading all genres and particularly loves writing romantic comedy and
post-apocalyptic science fiction. What those two have in common is anybody’s
guess.
She
lives in Edmonton with her two cats (The Grunt and The Runt). A Life Less
Ordinary
is the first novel she felt was good enough to be released into the wild.
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR
Was the
character of Rose "Manny" Mankowski based on anyone you know?
Manny was based
on certain characteristics of a variety of people I know, including
myself. Those characteristics were then
“massaged” (improved or exaggerated or skewed) for the purposes of the
story. But there’s no one person I can
point to and say “Manny’s based on that person”.
What
inspired you to write a story about a woman starting over at the age of 45?
I started
writing this story when I was 45 and feeling exactly like Manny at the
beginning of the book. I was doing
ScriptFrenzy (a now-defunct writing challenge) and I decided to write something
that was intended to be purely wish fulfillment. It morphed into something a bit more complex
than that!
The second
reason I wanted to write this story was because, at the time, I’d also been on
a bit of a binge of reading romances and chick lit novels, and I was a bit
burned out from all the beautiful young heroines whose biggest concern was the
fact that they were still single and in their mid-twenties. Now, don’t get me wrong: I love romances and chick lit, but at the
time I just really, really, REALLY wanted to read about a woman I could
identify with...so I decided to write it.
What
inspired the imaginary friend, Harvey?
Well, I was
given a “cast list” by a friend on LiveJournal, and I was trying to think of
roles for all the actors on the list. I
was fangirling very hard for one of them, so I “cast” him as Manny’s Perfect
Fantasy Man, and he was originally intended to be a silent character, just
someone Manny would fantasize about along the lines of the Old Spice
commercials: “The Man Your Man Could
Smell Like” - LOL. He was intended to be
humorous but also rather sad – an anthropomorphic personification ((tm) Terry
Pratchett) of Manny’s emotional isolation.
As the story
progressed, however, Harvey eventually changed into someone she truly
interacted with, and became the personification of that part (I hope) we all
have that’s constantly observing and commenting on things as they occur – and
that part of (again I hope) all of us that tends to push us into doing/trying
different things.
Tell us
about Zeke - what motivates him and why his role was essential to the plot.
Zeke’s purpose
at the beginning of the book is to do a job:
he’s hired by his e-zine to go on the trip with Manny for the purpose of
writing blogs about her journey without her knowledge and drive traffic to the
site. His motivations in the beginning
are really that basic. He’s not a
drifter, but he’s not really connected to anyone/anything either except for his
friends, TJ and Leah. The character’s
role is to represent that “how others see us” viewpoint, and to illustrate how
our first assumptions about people aren’t always correct.
And, of course,
he represents a potential “romantic”interest for Manny – it’s light-hearted
chick lit, after all! :)
Is there a
message in your book for women (or men) who have reached mid-life and find they
expected more at that point in their lives?
I wrote the book
hoping it would entertain the reader (who was only going to be me in the
beginning). That said, if there’s any
message at all, it’s the idea that “it’s never too late” to make changes for
the better, no matter how old you are.
We can’t all quit our jobs and hit the road for six months to decide
what we want to be when we grow up, but wouldn’t it be great? :)
What's next
for you? Will Manny and Zeke return in a future book?
Yes, I’m
currently writing a sequel tentatively entitled A Year in the Life with
the goal of having it ready for publication by the end of the year. I’m also reviewing another novel
(post-apocalyptic sorta-romance) to determine if it’s worthwhile re-writing, as
well as working on a novelization of a science fiction movie script I’d written
a couple of years ago.
ABOUT THE BOOK
For the last fifteen years, Rose
“Manny” Mankowski has been a very good girl.
Now, at the age of 45, she’s questioning her choices and feeling more
and more disconnected from her own life.
When she’s passed over for promotion and her much younger new boss
implies Manny’s life will never change, something snaps. In the blink of an eye, she’s quit her job,
sold her house, cashed in her pension, and she’s leaving town on a six month
road trip.
After placing an ad for a
travelling companion, she’s joined in her mid-life crisis by Zeke Powell, the
cynical, satirical, most read – and most controversial – blogger for the
e-zine, What Women Want. Zeke’s true
goal is to expose Manny’s journey as a pitiful and desperate attempt to reclaim
her lost youth – and increase his readership at the same time.
Now, armed with a bagful of
destinations, a fistful of maps, and an out-spoken imaginary friend named
Harvey, Manny’s on a quest to rediscover herself – and taking Zeke along for
the ride.
AN EXCERPT
“All
I ever wanted was a life less ordinary.”
Manny
lay flat on her back, eyes wide, staring at the ceiling while she waited for
her clock to hit 6:00. Another day of work, she thought. Another day older and
deeper in debt.
She
had the alarm timed to the millisecond. The jarring noise had barely begun when
she clicked it off. She sighed then threw back the covers and got out of bed.
She
padded into the bathroom, glanced without interest in the full-length mirror
that doubled as her shower doors and took her morning inventory.
Plain
face? Check.
Looking
tired? Check.
Thirty
pounds overweight? Check.
Dark
circles under deer-caught-in-headlights eyes? Check and check.
She
shook her head at her limp, mousy hair and wondered when she’d gotten so old.
She
sighed in resignation then conjured up her Perfect Fantasy Man–or Harvey, as
she liked to call him–to give her a morning lift. She cocked her head to one
side as she stared into the mirror and imagined him standing behind her. She
smiled at the handsome man, and he smiled back, putting his hands on her
shoulders. Everything about him was warm, in stark contrast to the cold shades
of grey in which she lived her life. He had warm brown eyes, warm brown skin,
and a warm smooth voice that always reminded her of golden honey. Today his
hair was black with greying temples, and yes, even that seemed warm to her.
He
was perfect, everything she considered ideal in a man–and extra-perfect, of
course, because he was a fantasy. Just the thought of trying to establish a
relationship with an actual man felt too much like work.
She
sighed and Harvey disappeared.
LEAVE A COMMENT - AND WIN A PRIZE!
Victoria can be
contacted through Love of Words Publishing Inc. (loveofwords@shaw.ca)
or through her brand new blog at http://victoriabernadine.wordpress.com/.
A Life Less
Ordinary is available for sale on Amazon in both Kindle and hard copy formats
at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AMJBOSQ.
Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of
winning. The tour dates can be found here:
