Pump Up Your Book Chats with Bud Bradshaw author of Riverwalker

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Riverwalker Book Tour

Bud Bradshaw’s fictional work, Riverwalker, is his second work, the first being Brandishing, the true-crime story of the California Highway Patrol’s greatest tragedy. His previous formal writing consisted of Special Agent Intelligence reports while serving with the 109^th MI Group from 1969-71, and later med-legal reports, chiefly as a Qualified Medical Evaluator and Disability Evaluator. As an artist, his paintings, prints, and giclees appear in private collections and museums worldwide, and he is a member of the Western Artists of America.

You may view his web site and blog at www.budbradshaw.com/blog or contact him via Twitter @budbradshaw1 or Facebook.

Purchase RIVERWALKER at Amazon

Thank you for this interview, Bud. Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later? Do you remember your first published piece?

I first began writing in college. It was the mid-1960s, the folk-song era was quickly eclipsed by the Beatles; the unbelievable explosion of creativity that followed with all bets off and all doors open, suddenly everyone was either a poet or a songwriter. I tried my hand at a bit of both, but produced only a couple of Christmas songs and some romantic ballads, nothing of any significant commercial value. Some years later, I began writing short historical pieces – blurbs, as we called them – to accompany my history paintings, but there was no book length publication until Brandishing was published in September 2011.

What do you consider as the most frustrating side of becoming a published author and what has been the most rewarding?

Dealing with the repeated rejections can be frustrating if you allow it, but I found it helpful to prepare for it in advance by simply accepting it as part of the process. The greatest writers have had to deal with it, so why not the rest of us? Dealing with the technical aspects can also be very aggravating but, again, I don’t know of anyone who hasn’t had to deal with it.

The most rewarding moment was when I saw my work finally appear in its final, published form. Some refer to the moment as launching. I think birthing might be a bit more spot-on.

Are you married or single and how do you combine the writing life with home life? Do you have support?

I’ve experienced life both as a married person and a single person, and in neither case was – or is – there any conflict with writing. In terms of support, that has come from my work in music, health care, and art, so I’ve never been at a loss for something to occupy my time.

What do you like to do for fun when you’re not writing? Where do you like to vacation? Can you tell us briefly about this?

Pathetically enough, I had to stop and seriously contemplate my answer here. Fun? Hmm. Probably short drives…day trips or overnighters down to the San Diego area, or north on hwy 1 to Solvang/Buellton. Walk around, window shop, enjoy the local cuisine. Sometimes I pound on the piano to see what kind of havoc I can wreak with the gods of Music; since I’m not a piano player, the damage is doubtlessly considerable, but the experience could be classified as fun.

Of regular vacations, there have been none, but seeing Yellowstone Park and the northern plains regions (a.k.a.: Indian country, to some) some years ago was a real treat. Someday the trek will be to New England in Autumn, and that’s a promise to self.

Author Bud Bradshaw

If you could be anywhere in the world for one hour right now, where would that place be and why?

Sedona, Arizona, the location many refer to as a spiritual place. It’s an artist’s dream: the colors vivid and clean, the air pure, the peace inviting. Quiet. A place to reflect.

Who is your biggest fan?

Admittedly, my biggest fans are the guys I played ball with in high school, who were apparently stunned to discover that someone who had incurred so many concussions could survive to actually read, write, and cipher. Now, they don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or shout Hallelujah! The wheelchair’s comin’, though. That’s what they tell me.

I don’t believe them.

Where’s your favorite place to write at home?

Sofa. Yellow legal pad, idea notes, diagrams, Q&A, line and block charts w/arrows (just like the Army – ugh!).

Do you have any pets?

Woopie is his name. Stalkin’ is his game. Long-haired and intermittently cross-eyed (like great-uncle Harlan), he sleeps by day and woops by night.

Tell us a secret no one else knows.

I was Freedie Falcon, the Cerritos College (Norwalk, Ca) mascot, during the 1965-66 championship football season. I was admitted to all the games free and got to ride on the bus with the cheerleaders. Not a bad deal if you’re 18 years old, broke, and don’t mind wearing the idiotic-looking bird suit. Nice beak, though.

Now, please don’t tell anyone.

What’s on your to do list today?

This interview, tweeting on Twitter, dinner, another interview, and probably evicting a nasty tenant.

Now I’ve got a couple of fun questions for you. If Tom Hanks, in the movie Cast Away, unearthed a copy of your book, how would that help him find a way off the island?

From Riverwalker’s Gifford Holloway, Tom could learn all about Remote Viewing and his escape would be insured. Alternatively – and if he were more adventuresome – he could consult with Madam Candelaria’s Tablet, an instrument resembling a Ouija board but far more powerful. Either way, he would be off that island faster than you can say: Nazis and brujas.

You just got word that your book has received the 20120 NY Times Bestselling Book Award and you have to attend the ceremony to give an acceptance speech. Anyone who’s anyone will be there and it’s your shot for stardom. What would you say and who would you thank?

I would thank Edgar Allen Poe and Rod Serling and Ray Bradbury and Robert Louis Stevenson and Ernest Hemingway and a dozen others for planting seeds in the mind of an impressionable youngster; my junior high school teachers for introducing us to poetry and serious literature; my friends for their support down through the years; my literary agent for all the hard work and for never, ever failing me; everyone who read and enjoyed the book.

I understand that you are touring with Pump Up Your Book Promotion in September and October via a virtual book tour. Can you tell us all why you chose a virtual book tour to promote your book online?

It seemed an effective way to introduce an e-book to an audience of readers.

Thank you for this interview, Bud. Good luck on your virtual book tour!

Many thanks to you for the opportunity to be here. I’ve enjoyed it.

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Kathleen Shaputis, HIS KILT DROPPED HERE

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Joni Ankerson, TO KILL OR BE KILLED

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Aiken Brown, SON OF A SOLDIER

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Laura Preble, ANNA INCOGNITO

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Shami Stovall, KNIGHTMARE ARCANIST

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Bacon Press Books

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Mary Lawlor, FIGHTER PILOT'S DAUGHTER

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Karen-Anne Stewart, ASH TO STEELE

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Lauren Carr, Best-Selling Mystery Author of Mac Faraday, and Lovers in Crime, Mysteries

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Kaylin McFarren, BURIED THREADS

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Question of the Day

How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

-- Sheila Roberts, Author of Winter at the Beach