Bonnie King
The road to writing my first novel? Let’s just say it wasn’t exactly a straight shot on a smooth highway. Think hairpin turns, potholes, a few scenic detours, and more than one embarrassing U-turn. I’ve hit dead ends, taken wrong exits, and occasionally ignored the GPS altogether. But hey, that’s life. We all navigate our own winding roads—some paved with gold, others with good intentions—and in the end, it’s the route we choose that gets us to where (and who) we are.
I burst onto the scene in Portland, Oregon in 1945, and I've been creatively restless ever since. From sketching at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to writing for a magazine down under in Sydney, I've never been one to sit still. Of course, artistic dabbling rarely pays the rent, so I’ve worn a lot of professional hats over the years. I taught school in Seattle, programmed computers in Manhattan, and sold dreams (aka wedding packages) as a banquet sales officer in Sydney. Back in Washington, I racked up job titles like a champ: recreation director, marketing maven, government administrator (city, county and state—why stop at one?), dating service owner, workshop guru, public speaker... whew. Somewhere in there, I even squeezed in a master’s degree in organizational development from Antioch University, just for fun.
For a good stretch, I ran a successful photography business—Bonnie King Photography—while simultaneously teaching memoir writing classes, because why not juggle a few creative pursuits at once?
Eventually, I took my own advice and finished From Australia with Love, a memoir that tells some, but definitely not all. (A lady needs her secrets.) And now, fueled by a fierce urge to spill the tea on aging with humor and a touch of irreverence, I’ve penned another memoir-slash-self-help book about life on the wrinkled side called View From the Wrinkled Side: Not Bad for a Woman Your Age!
These days, when I’m not working part-time or rallying funds for women’s education and shelter pets, you’ll find me snuggled up with my dog, Sunshine, living a life that makes me smile—and sometimes laugh out loud at the wild, winding path that got me here.
