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Bonnie Leon
I’ve always loved to read, but writing wasn’t on
my radar at all, not until 1989 when I was gripped
with a compulsion to write. I had to put my
thoughts down on paper. I filled up legal pads
with personal experiences, short stories, poems,
and vignettes. I didn’t know what I was doing,
but I was having fun
A friend of mine knew about my new hobby and
encouraged me to attend a local writing
workshop. I was scared. I didn’t belong at a
writers’ workshop—after all I wasn’t really a
writer. At my friend’s insistence, I took a short
story I’d written and experienced my first critique
group (that was scary) and to my surprise I was
told I had talent and ought to keep writing. I
floated home that day, imagining my new career.
I went to work developing my skills. It was great
fun. But it wasn’t to last. On June 11th, 1991
while driving a van up a winding road near my
home a log truck, coming from the other
direction, tipped over in front of me. The logs
spilled down an embankment and the trailer
slammed into my van, pushing my rig right to the
edge of a cliff; in fact, I was partially hanging
over it.
To my surprise I was still alive when it was over,
but my van tottered on the rim of the
embankment with a river sixty feet below. I was
left with permanent injuries that changed my life.
Everything I’d taken for granted, everything I
loved was no longer within my power to do. I felt
as if I’d lost my life. It was a very dark time. I had
little to offer my family, friends, or the world and
so I asked God to give me something to do that
mattered. He gave me writing.
In the beginning I could only manage to sit at my
computer for 30 minutes a day, but gradually
increased the time. A year after my accident I
was offered a scholarship to the OCW Summer
Conference. Still badly hindered by my injuries,
but believing the Lord was at work I took the
opportunity and went. God took good care of
me, and I learned enough at that one conference
to return home and write my first book, The
Journey of Eleven Moons. I went back to the
conference the following summer and sold the
book to Thomas Nelson Publishing. The
Journey of Eleven Moons became a CBA
bestseller.
I’ve been writing ever since and love it. I live with
chronic pain and there are lots of things I can’t
do, but I am blessed. The Lord gave me more
than I even knew to ask for.
my radar at all, not until 1989 when I was gripped
with a compulsion to write. I had to put my
thoughts down on paper. I filled up legal pads
with personal experiences, short stories, poems,
and vignettes. I didn’t know what I was doing,
but I was having fun
A friend of mine knew about my new hobby and
encouraged me to attend a local writing
workshop. I was scared. I didn’t belong at a
writers’ workshop—after all I wasn’t really a
writer. At my friend’s insistence, I took a short
story I’d written and experienced my first critique
group (that was scary) and to my surprise I was
told I had talent and ought to keep writing. I
floated home that day, imagining my new career.
I went to work developing my skills. It was great
fun. But it wasn’t to last. On June 11th, 1991
while driving a van up a winding road near my
home a log truck, coming from the other
direction, tipped over in front of me. The logs
spilled down an embankment and the trailer
slammed into my van, pushing my rig right to the
edge of a cliff; in fact, I was partially hanging
over it.
To my surprise I was still alive when it was over,
but my van tottered on the rim of the
embankment with a river sixty feet below. I was
left with permanent injuries that changed my life.
Everything I’d taken for granted, everything I
loved was no longer within my power to do. I felt
as if I’d lost my life. It was a very dark time. I had
little to offer my family, friends, or the world and
so I asked God to give me something to do that
mattered. He gave me writing.
In the beginning I could only manage to sit at my
computer for 30 minutes a day, but gradually
increased the time. A year after my accident I
was offered a scholarship to the OCW Summer
Conference. Still badly hindered by my injuries,
but believing the Lord was at work I took the
opportunity and went. God took good care of
me, and I learned enough at that one conference
to return home and write my first book, The
Journey of Eleven Moons. I went back to the
conference the following summer and sold the
book to Thomas Nelson Publishing. The
Journey of Eleven Moons became a CBA
bestseller.
I’ve been writing ever since and love it. I live with
chronic pain and there are lots of things I can’t
do, but I am blessed. The Lord gave me more
than I even knew to ask for.
Bonnie Leon dabbled at writing for
many years, but didn’t seriously
consider becoming a professional
author. Instead as a young woman,
she happily stepped into the full-
time profession of homemaker and
mother. Pollywog hunting, finger-
painting, blackberry picking, and
creating fun messes in the kitchen
with her children are some of her
most precious and irreplaceable
memories.
Not until an accident shattered her
world and left her unable to care for
her family did Bonnie return to her
Aleut roots of storytelling. She is
the author of fourteen novels,
including the popular Queensland
Chronicles and the bestselling
Journey of Eleven Moons. Her most
recent book To Love Anew is the
first in the Sydney Cove Series.
In addition to her work as a writer,
Bonnie has a passion for teaching of
all kinds, especially the art and
intricacies of storytelling. She
teaches at conferences and
workshops and says, “There’s
nothing more thrilling than to see a
student’s eyes light up with
understanding as she grasps the
concepts of the writing craft and
begins to believe she can tell stories
someone will want to read. Bonnie
is also a regular speaker at women’s
church groups, writing groups and
business organizations. She and
her husband live in southern
Oregon. They have three grown
children and four grandchildren.
To find out more about Bonnie and
her books visit her at www.
bonnieleon.com.
There are some great advance
reviews out for her new book, To Love
Anew, at www.romantictimes.com and
www.armchairinterviews.com.
