Bonnie Jo Campbell
Bonnie Jo Campbell
Bonnie Jo Campbellis an American novelist and short story writer. Her most recent work is Mothers, Tell Your Daughters, published with W.W. Norton and Company...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
CountryUnited States of America
jobs couple writing
Weirdly the writing experience has not really changed that much except it used to be that I was busy because I had to work a couple of jobs to earn money, so I didn't have time to write.
jobs real thinking
I worked probably fewer jobs than most people, or fewer real soul-killing jobs than other people. I've been a typist, a typesetter, a keyliner, cappuccino-maker. I think I've been pretty lucky.
years feet scary
Being five-foot-ten at fourteen years old was a little bit scary.
fall rivers film
If you have someone falling out of the boat, you'd have to drag the boat up the river and film the same scene ten times, every time, dragging the boat exactly where it was up the river.
running nice teaching
I do different work, teaching and running around visiting universities and bookstores, and that prevents me from writing. But it's nice to be wanted as a writer.
men bars old-man
Time is never wasted coming to an old man bar.
husband fiction lasts
That's why I have to be a fiction writer, because I can't remember what just happened or where I went last week or what movie I just watched with my husband. I'm better off just making things up.
three truck tractors
That's where I live, a junkyard in a neighborhood of junkyards. We have three tractors from the 1940s and '50s, several old pickup trucks, and a pile of scrap metal.
animal misunderstood world
Donkeys are the most misunderstood and abused animals around the world.
horse donkey grew
I grew up with donkeys, as well as horses, but I'm more interested in donkeys.
years grandparent hyde
After a year, it was great to get out of L.A. and return to Hyde Park. Since my grandparents lived in Hyde Park, I had been coming there since I was a tyke.
beautiful nice different-experiences
There were a lot of beautiful, thin people out there driving nice cars. It was a whole different experience being in L.A.
writing trying get-better
Nobody tells young writers it's okay if you're not very good, you'll get better. So I just thought I'm not very good, so I should try to do every other thing besides writing. That's how I ended up being a hitchhiker, a world traveler, and a mathematician.
writing unhappy matter
I was unhappy and I couldn't figure out what was the matter. And he told me to go take a writing course. And I didn't even know that one could learn to write in writing courses.