(Warning: the following info is on my author page. But in case you haven’t gone back to that page, thought I’d share.)
Author bio, Bronwyn Wilson
Missionary to the coffee-deprived; seeker of humor in everyday life; slave to two cats; passionate gardener, writer, traveler, shoe-shopper, lover of walks where the wild things are, like egrets and great blue herons.
A visit to Butchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C. feels like wandering inside a beautiful painting. My favorite spot in the world.
How my life calling as a writer began:
I wrote my first novel in the fourth grade, an edge-of-your seat story titled, When Baby Goes A Strollering. I stole the title from a magazine advertisement. My story opens with 10-year-old cub scouts hiking past a house and suddenly noticing flames spewing from the windows. With no concern of their cub scout uniforms getting singed, the twins sprint into the burning home and rescue a baby girl. My paperback novel had a cover made of construction paper with magazine cut-out illustrations. I never sent it to a publisher or showed it to anyone other than my mom, (and so the world missed out on this, my first literary work).
While still in the fourth grade, I knew I would pursue a writing life the day my classmate Janine Kallenberger said to me with an air of confidence, “When I grow up, I’m going to be a great author!” I couldn’t let her comment go without a response, so I said, “Me too.”
Before deciding on my life calling as a writer, I wanted to be a cowgirl. At six-years-old, I wore this cowgirl outfit with sheer, ecstatic joy.
The greatest influence in my life:
My mother, Beverley, instilled in me a joy for words. She encouraged my writing and reading. She prepped me for my weekly spelling tests. When I think back, I see her in my mind…she faced the bathroom mirror while winding her hair in black, brush rollers. During the curler-setting process, she called out my spelling words. “Electricity,” she said. I stood at the open bathroom door and sputtered, “E-l-e (pause)-(um)-k?-t-r-i-c-i-t-y.” Mom would say, “Nope, try again.” And I did until I got it right.
My mom, 17, posing in her beautiful prom dress. I’m sure she’s thinking of her handsome date, whoever that was.
Place I recommend for sponsoring a child who lives in poverty:
Compassion International
When you sponsor a child who lives in poverty in a foreign country, they send you letters that brighten your day.
Favorite places in the world:
Butchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C.; Merced River in Yosemite National Park (drifting the rapids atop an air mattress); Tuscany; Maui; The Blue Bayou Restaurant at Disneyland; Every library everywhere; Wild Iris Coffee House in Prescott, Arizona, and the San Juan Islands in Washington state.
The Wild Iris Coffee House in Prescott, Arizona makes a mean Mexican coffee with chocolate and hot chili pepper.
Favorite places in Phoenix:
The Desert Botanical Garden; Phoenix Zoo; The Arizona Biltmore resort; Liberty Market (which is a restaurant in a 1930s grocery store with too-die-for pancakes on the menu).
Giraffes are so gentle…and they smile.
Favorite books:
Doing Life Differently by Luci Swindoll; The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom; just about every book Anne Lamott has written.
Anne Lamott writes poignant stories with insight and humor. She makes me laugh out loud.
Favorite blog:
Mine, of course!
Favorite coffee:
Allegro Italian roast (at Whole Foods).
Best coffee I ever had:
At the Sooke Harbour House in Sooke, B.C. and all coffee anywhere in Italy.
Chapter in a book that changed my life:
Romans 12 in the Bible.
The person I can always count on to listen to me, who has my back, who gives me his time and loves me~even the times when he doesn’t feel like it:
Machine-Man, also known as my husband Jerry.
Three men whose sense of humor I adore:
My son (who must remain nameless) and my nephew Don. I’m smiling just thinking of these two and their entertaining humor. And Machine-Man’s funny notes, which I never know where they will appear or when−sometimes they show up in the refrigerator.