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BonSue Brandvik

Goodreads author profile

url

http://www.goodreads.com/BonSue

born

August 17

gender

female

website

http://www.SpiritsOfBelleviewBiltmore.com

twitter username

BonSueB

member since

December 2011

About this author

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In this lifetime, I have answered to many names, held a variety of interesting jobs, and accomplished the majority of the “standard goals” that are set for an American woman my age… albeit not necessarily in the “correct” order. Still, I feel there are many chapters left to write in my biography before I join those I write about in the afterlife.

I am the fifth of six children born to a father I never knew very well and a mother who used her vivid imagination to create a better life in her mind that the one she occupied in reality. My older brothers had already left home before my Dad and Mom divorced, so their memories of childhood are quite different than mine. I rarely saw my father after the divorce, my Mom stayed busy working and enjoyi...more In this lifetime, I have answered to many names, held a variety of interesting jobs, and accomplished the majority of the “standard goals” that are set for an American woman my age… albeit not necessarily in the “correct” order. Still, I feel there are many chapters left to write in my biography before I join those I write about in the afterlife.

I am the fifth of six children born to a father I never knew very well and a mother who used her vivid imagination to create a better life in her mind that the one she occupied in reality. My older brothers had already left home before my Dad and Mom divorced, so their memories of childhood are quite different than mine. I rarely saw my father after the divorce, my Mom stayed busy working and enjoying her long-desired freedom, and my siblings and I grew to be as varied in personality, politics and religious beliefs as there are possibilities. Still, we remain a close-knit family, keeping our strong, conflicting opinions to ourselves so that we can laugh when we are together… or hold tight to one another during times of crisis, and I’m lucky to have them.

As a wild teenager, I married my boyfriend just a few months prior to our high school graduation… before I was ‘showing’ too much. We both dropped out of school and he joined the Army, so that I would have medical care throughout my pregnancy. He celebrated his 18th birthday just before our daughter was born, and I celebrated mine a few months later, disappointed that no magic enlightenment was bestowed upon us when we reached that milestone in life.

One of my earliest inspirations to write came shortly after my daughter’s birth, while watching a movie wherein a young mother with a terminal illness wrote letters for her child to read as she grew up. ‘Just in case’, I began writing letters to my own daughter, documenting my hopes and dreams, as well as my thoughts on a multitude of topics… and I’ve been writing ever since.

While married to my first husband, I experimented with careers in babysitting, cake decorating, door-to-door sales, and the fast food industry; and I wrote about these experiences. After our divorce, I wrote about the pain of broken dreams and the mixed emotions associated with making life-altering decisions. I changed my career to cocktail waitress and entertainer, and went back to school. Working nights allowed me to maintain an active role in my daughter’s life, buy us a ‘fixer-upper’ house, and attend college. Writing about my feelings and experiences helped me cope with pressure while keeping a written record of my maturing outlook on life and various interactions with a multitude of interesting people.

I struggled to understand love and mangled a few relationships. I took a job as a secretary and pursued a Liberal Arts degree. When time allowed, I wrote down my thoughts on many subjects… love… the fear of failure… religion and the afterlife… Meanwhile, my daughter grew; I met my soul mate and developed a successful career in the field of Human Resources. The years flew by. I married the love of my life, my daughter left home to begin her own life story, and my husband and I built our dream home in Belleair. I still tried to write about my journey when time allowed, but as my career flourished, spare time became a luxury. My husband and I decided my long work hours had to go, so I left a lucrative career to become a part-time Consultant, a part time Photography Restoration Specialist and a part time local government and social services volunteer. And I began writing again.

Soon I became inspired to write a novel that would encompass some of my other passions in life; including romance, the afterlife, local history, and of course, the Belleview Biltmore Resort. When I began developing ideas for a novel about ghosts who haunt the hotel, I found I was able to draw upon my incredibly rich and unique assortment of experiences and interactions with people to create wonderfully co(less)

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BonSue Brandvik's Blog

2012 October 30 Newsletter

REMINDER – FREE PRESENTATION TONIGHT,
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30TH

TWENTY GHOSTS OF THE BELLEVIEW BILTMORE

Dunedin Library, 223 Douglas Ave., Dunedin, FL, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

20 ghosts banner

SAVE THE BELLEVIEW BILTMORE; SAVE BELLEAIR TEE-SHIRTS AVAILABLE

tee shirt 2 In the long-term, saving the Belleview Biltmore is absolutely critical to saving the Town of Belleair – the town that Henry Plant built around his hotel back in...

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BonSue Brandvik's Books

Average rating: 4.27 · 11 ratings · 7 reviews · 1 distinct work · Similar authors

Pearls
4.27 of 5 stars 4.27 avg rating — 11 ratings — published 2011

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BonSue is Currently Reading

BonSue Brandvik is currently reading

The Never

by Kristina Circelli (Goodreads Author)

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Jun 18, 2013 11:45pm

BonSue Brandvik is currently reading

Oliver Twist

by Charles Dickens

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Jun 18, 2013 09:53pm

BonSue Brandvik is currently reading

Wired

by Martha Randolph Carr (Goodreads Author)

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Jun 18, 2013 09:53pm

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BonSue's Recent Updates

BonSue Brandvik is currently reading The Never by Kristina Circelli (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 18, 2013 11:45pm
BonSue Brandvik rated a book 5 of 5 stars A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens read in June, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
"A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens: Because I grew up watching movies based on this novel (some serious productions and others spoofs or modernized versions of the story)I thought I might be bored with the original text of Dickens, but decided to...more
Jun 18, 2013 11:43pm · see review
BonSue Brandvik rated a book 3 of 5 stars Moby Dick (Graphic Classics) by Herman Melville read in June, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I know Moby Dick is a classic, but gee whiz! This book contains so many pages/chapters of factual details about whales, whaling and whaling ships/traditions, that I must admit I was bored throughout much of the story. Still, considering this book was...more
Jun 18, 2013 11:37pm · see review
BonSue Brandvik rated a book 3 of 5 stars Her Handyman by Morgan Mandel (Goodreads Author) read in June, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jake Witkowski is a handsome handyman who is called to fix a clogged toilet at Zoe Carmichael's exclusive condo when one of FuFu's dog toys somehow stops it up. When he slips and cracks his head on said toilet, rendering him semi-unconscious, a relat...more
Jun 18, 2013 10:41pm · see review
BonSue Brandvik is currently reading Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 18, 2013 09:53pm
BonSue Brandvik is currently reading Wired by Martha Randolph Carr (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 18, 2013 09:53pm
BonSue Brandvik made a comment on Katrina Passick Lumsden's review of Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1) "Thanks for fixing the GIFs. I'm sure it was a pain, but I'm grateful. I come to this review and re-read it from time to time after I've read a particu...more "
May 22, 2013 05:34am · see review
BonSue Brandvik rated a book 3 of 5 stars Claire: the Lost Fae by Aithne Jarretta (Goodreads Author) read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is an action packed novella, designed to provide backstory for characters in other books by the same author. This story begins with Claire on the run. She has been living on the streets since leaving the convent where she was raised, when not be...more
May 21, 2013 08:55am · see review

More of BonSue's books…

Quotes BonSue Likes

“An intelligent woman with allies can accomplish anything”
― Margaret Plant

tags: belleview-biltmore, plant, spirits

1 person liked it

“Imagination is the golden-eyed monster that never sleeps. It must be fed; it cannot be ignored.”
― Patricia A. McKillip

tags: imagination

1,692 people liked it

“It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.”
― Robert Benchley

tags: fame, writing

46 people liked it