Potbake.com: Boneyfide Lioness.
Is that your real name?
Boneyfide Lioness: My real name is Colleen Williams. "Bonafide" is another word for genuine, authentic… the fact it is spelt 'Boneyfide' is because I'm slim. I'm a warrior, and I see myself as a Lioness, hence the second part of the name.
Potbake.com: Where are you from?
Boneyfide Lioness: I was born in Trinidad, West Indies but currently reside in Boston, Massachusetts.
Potbake.com: Tell us more.
Boneyfide Lioness: I was born in Port of Spain; I lived in Diego Martin, and went to Girls’ RC School. I was sexually abused starting at age 9 so my focus was to get out of that situation and escape from Trinidad.
Potbake.com: When did you begin writing?
Boneyfide Lioness: I started at the age of ten. I had a little journal and I jotted down everything that happened in it. I kept up with keeping journals over the years and it was my journal writing that expanded into the book I have today.
Potbake.com: As a child, which books made an impression on you?
Boneyfide Lioness: I was not reading that much, I started reading more when I became a teenager.
Potbake.com: What inspired you to write Who Feels It Knows It?
Boneyfide Lioness: I had a lot of abuse in my life growing up. My life has always been painful with a lot of obstacles to overcome. This book was a way for me to deal with my pain as well as to inspire others—especially abused women—to look for the way out. I came out stronger, so can you.
Potbake.com: Why that title?
Boneyfide Lioness: People are always telling me they know what I'm going through, but I always respond by telling them, "You can’t know if you don't feel it." Or, in other words, Who Feels It Knows It.
Potbake.com: What’s the message?
Boneyfide Lioness: That there is a way out of abuse, and that it can make you stronger. Everything that happened in my life made me the warrior I am today, and that you can be that warrior for yourselves and your children as well.
Potbake.com: Is Who Feels It Knows It more fact than fiction?
Boneyfide Lioness: 100% fact. It is based on my life experiences, and how I have interacted with the people in my life who have affected me. My parents, my former husband, all those who abused me, and ending on a positive note with a new relationship.
Potbake.com: Emotionally, was writing this book challenging?
Boneyfide Lioness: The memories that I had to face in order to write the book were extremely painful: all forms of abuse, neglect, being cheated on and more. I had to relive all of them in order to write this book.
Potbake.com: What books influence your life most?
Boneyfide Lioness: I read a lot of inspirational books. I always try to figure out how people got over the things that they went through, and I try to incorporate what I learn into my own life.
Potbake.com: Who’s your favourite author?
Boneyfide Lioness: Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose Driven Life. This book is very inspiring to me on a personal level—it has helped me to stand up and take control of my own life.
Potbake.com: If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
Boneyfide Lioness: Sandy Daley, the author of the book Whose Vagina is it, Really?, is helping me with my Who Feels It Knows It, assisting me with editing and publicizing it. I look up to her as someone who is reaching out to people in the same way I am, writing about personal experiences to empower women.
Potbake.com: Please finish this sentence, "An empowered woman is..."
Boneyfide Lioness: An empowered woman is strong, intelligent, and wise. She has worked hard, she demands the best, she stands for something, she's not easily fooled. She knows what she want and what she has to do to get it.
Potbake.com: Do you see writing as a career?
Boneyfide Lioness: No, it was a way for me to process the pain of my past, but I don't want to pursue writing full time.
Potbake.com: What did writing this book teach you?
Boneyfide Lioness: Through the process of writing my book, I realized who my real friends are. I saw who was out to just use me and who was really there to stand with me and support my endeavours. I learned that I did have a happy ending—even though while I was going through the pain I didn't see an end in sight.
Potbake.com: Do you have any advice for other writers?
Boneyfide Lioness: When writing don't hold back—let everything out. Let the readers be engaged in the book! You have a message to send and a story to tell. Don't be afraid to be vulnerable; that will let readers know that you can be trusted, that you are authentic.
Potbake.com: As we're on the subject of writing, you write best when and where?
Boneyfide Lioness: When I am alone and near the beach or river—anything with water.
Potbake.com: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
Boneyfide Lioness: Yes I would expand the book and go into greater details. I finished writing the book and I felt I still had more to say.
Potbake.com: Expanding years of journal entries into a book must be a nightmare.
Boneyfide Lioness: What was important was to get the message out there that no one should accept the fact they are in any way responsible for abuse, and that there is a way out if you look hard enough. As far as me going into more detail, here is an example. The poem As I Leave You was dedicated to my former husband. It just said bits and pieces of what happened. It was more terrifying than I let on. The pain was too much to bear, so I did not go into all of the details when I wrote each journal entry.
Potbake.com: The editing process could test the relationship between writer and editor. What was this phase like?
Boneyfide Lioness: It did have its moments but a lot of the conflict came from me not understanding what my editor was trying to say to me.
Potbake.com: Let’s talk about publicizing your book. Does it come cheap?
Boneyfide Lioness: I don't know. Does it? *Smile*
Potbake.com: How do you plan to get the word out?
Boneyfide Lioness: I have been informed by my publicist that she will be sending me to interviews and such. Travel will also be in my future.
Potbake.com: Free marketing. Writers love those two words. Except social media any recommendations?
Boneyfide Lioness: I would say having friends I know in the business—I am thinking they would be there for me, they will help me as well as I help them, as word of mouth is one of the greatest marketing tools.
Potbake.com: How can people connect with you?
Boneyfide Lioness: They can stay informed by Liking my Facebook Author Page or following me at @EmpressColleen on Twitter.
Potbake.com: You stirred painful memories to write Who Feels It Knows It. Share a fairytale.
Boneyfide Lioness: A fairytale moment that is actually true—I always said that one day I hope a man can come and take me out of this mess and accept me for me and realize that I did not cause all this abuse on myself. He really came and did just that. I wrote about it to close off my book—you can refer to the last 2 poems, Mr. & Mrs. Undefeated.
Potbake.com: In closing you’d like to?
Boneyfide Lioness: I would like to thank Sandy Daley for being such a wonderful friend and encouragement while editing and publicizing my book. And I want to thank Robert Gibson, my husband, my angel—he has been there for me showing me the happy ever after of fairy tales, and he truly has been the one who has made my dreams come true. He has been the one who kept me going when I was ready to give up and the one who showed me that I could love again. He is my Mr. Undefeated.
Boneyfide Lioness: My real name is Colleen Williams. "Bonafide" is another word for genuine, authentic… the fact it is spelt 'Boneyfide' is because I'm slim. I'm a warrior, and I see myself as a Lioness, hence the second part of the name.
Potbake.com: Where are you from?
Boneyfide Lioness: I was born in Trinidad, West Indies but currently reside in Boston, Massachusetts.
Potbake.com: Tell us more.
Boneyfide Lioness: I was born in Port of Spain; I lived in Diego Martin, and went to Girls’ RC School. I was sexually abused starting at age 9 so my focus was to get out of that situation and escape from Trinidad.
Potbake.com: When did you begin writing?
Boneyfide Lioness: I started at the age of ten. I had a little journal and I jotted down everything that happened in it. I kept up with keeping journals over the years and it was my journal writing that expanded into the book I have today.
Potbake.com: As a child, which books made an impression on you?
Boneyfide Lioness: I was not reading that much, I started reading more when I became a teenager.
Potbake.com: What inspired you to write Who Feels It Knows It?
Boneyfide Lioness: I had a lot of abuse in my life growing up. My life has always been painful with a lot of obstacles to overcome. This book was a way for me to deal with my pain as well as to inspire others—especially abused women—to look for the way out. I came out stronger, so can you.
Potbake.com: Why that title?
Boneyfide Lioness: People are always telling me they know what I'm going through, but I always respond by telling them, "You can’t know if you don't feel it." Or, in other words, Who Feels It Knows It.
Potbake.com: What’s the message?
Boneyfide Lioness: That there is a way out of abuse, and that it can make you stronger. Everything that happened in my life made me the warrior I am today, and that you can be that warrior for yourselves and your children as well.
Potbake.com: Is Who Feels It Knows It more fact than fiction?
Boneyfide Lioness: 100% fact. It is based on my life experiences, and how I have interacted with the people in my life who have affected me. My parents, my former husband, all those who abused me, and ending on a positive note with a new relationship.
Potbake.com: Emotionally, was writing this book challenging?
Boneyfide Lioness: The memories that I had to face in order to write the book were extremely painful: all forms of abuse, neglect, being cheated on and more. I had to relive all of them in order to write this book.
Potbake.com: What books influence your life most?
Boneyfide Lioness: I read a lot of inspirational books. I always try to figure out how people got over the things that they went through, and I try to incorporate what I learn into my own life.
Potbake.com: Who’s your favourite author?
Boneyfide Lioness: Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose Driven Life. This book is very inspiring to me on a personal level—it has helped me to stand up and take control of my own life.
Potbake.com: If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
Boneyfide Lioness: Sandy Daley, the author of the book Whose Vagina is it, Really?, is helping me with my Who Feels It Knows It, assisting me with editing and publicizing it. I look up to her as someone who is reaching out to people in the same way I am, writing about personal experiences to empower women.
Potbake.com: Please finish this sentence, "An empowered woman is..."
Boneyfide Lioness: An empowered woman is strong, intelligent, and wise. She has worked hard, she demands the best, she stands for something, she's not easily fooled. She knows what she want and what she has to do to get it.
Potbake.com: Do you see writing as a career?
Boneyfide Lioness: No, it was a way for me to process the pain of my past, but I don't want to pursue writing full time.
Potbake.com: What did writing this book teach you?
Boneyfide Lioness: Through the process of writing my book, I realized who my real friends are. I saw who was out to just use me and who was really there to stand with me and support my endeavours. I learned that I did have a happy ending—even though while I was going through the pain I didn't see an end in sight.
Potbake.com: Do you have any advice for other writers?
Boneyfide Lioness: When writing don't hold back—let everything out. Let the readers be engaged in the book! You have a message to send and a story to tell. Don't be afraid to be vulnerable; that will let readers know that you can be trusted, that you are authentic.
Potbake.com: As we're on the subject of writing, you write best when and where?
Boneyfide Lioness: When I am alone and near the beach or river—anything with water.
Potbake.com: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
Boneyfide Lioness: Yes I would expand the book and go into greater details. I finished writing the book and I felt I still had more to say.
Potbake.com: Expanding years of journal entries into a book must be a nightmare.
Boneyfide Lioness: What was important was to get the message out there that no one should accept the fact they are in any way responsible for abuse, and that there is a way out if you look hard enough. As far as me going into more detail, here is an example. The poem As I Leave You was dedicated to my former husband. It just said bits and pieces of what happened. It was more terrifying than I let on. The pain was too much to bear, so I did not go into all of the details when I wrote each journal entry.
Potbake.com: The editing process could test the relationship between writer and editor. What was this phase like?
Boneyfide Lioness: It did have its moments but a lot of the conflict came from me not understanding what my editor was trying to say to me.
Potbake.com: Let’s talk about publicizing your book. Does it come cheap?
Boneyfide Lioness: I don't know. Does it? *Smile*
Potbake.com: How do you plan to get the word out?
Boneyfide Lioness: I have been informed by my publicist that she will be sending me to interviews and such. Travel will also be in my future.
Potbake.com: Free marketing. Writers love those two words. Except social media any recommendations?
Boneyfide Lioness: I would say having friends I know in the business—I am thinking they would be there for me, they will help me as well as I help them, as word of mouth is one of the greatest marketing tools.
Potbake.com: How can people connect with you?
Boneyfide Lioness: They can stay informed by Liking my Facebook Author Page or following me at @EmpressColleen on Twitter.
Potbake.com: You stirred painful memories to write Who Feels It Knows It. Share a fairytale.
Boneyfide Lioness: A fairytale moment that is actually true—I always said that one day I hope a man can come and take me out of this mess and accept me for me and realize that I did not cause all this abuse on myself. He really came and did just that. I wrote about it to close off my book—you can refer to the last 2 poems, Mr. & Mrs. Undefeated.
Potbake.com: In closing you’d like to?
Boneyfide Lioness: I would like to thank Sandy Daley for being such a wonderful friend and encouragement while editing and publicizing my book. And I want to thank Robert Gibson, my husband, my angel—he has been there for me showing me the happy ever after of fairy tales, and he truly has been the one who has made my dreams come true. He has been the one who kept me going when I was ready to give up and the one who showed me that I could love again. He is my Mr. Undefeated.
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