“I’ll let you all decide, but this was a really fun book to write. I’ve fallen in love with the characters and had a little too much fun with names, symbolism, and of course, fire.”
Hope Bolinger, Author
Hope Bolinger Blazes and Inspires!
A young author messaged me on Twitter. I hesitated to respond to a message from someone I didn’t know, but when I checked her Twitter profile, I realized she lived near me. And then, I became interested in what she was writing about. So, I did connect with her, and I offered to showcase her on my blog. She agreed and then sent me the information about herself and her book, all professionally presented, in an hour. IN AN HOUR! Let’s get to know more about this amazing young woman.
I love your book cover and compelling blurb. Share how you first got the idea for you book.
My idea came while I was sitting in a Gen-Ed Old Testament class, listening to 70+ slide presentation on an ancient text from Babylon known at the Book of Daniel. The Professor said,
“Daniel and his friends would’ve been 15 or 16 when they were taken into Babylon captivity to start their three year education.”
Wow. That sounds like high school, I thought. And they stood strong, even when the King tried to kill them for not conforming. Thus, the idea for Blaze was born.
You’re so young!
I’m 22. I feel quite a bit older, but those in airport security still think I’m under 14 as they ask about my mother’s whereabouts.
It gets somewhat funny at conferences in which I’m on staff as a literary agent. People will press their hands to their knees, voice shooting up an octave. “I just love it when young people come to these scary things. Are you excited to talk to a literary agent?” Their eyes go all wide.
I smile and say gently, “I am a literary agent.”
I don’t blame them. Age can cause barriers and mistaken expectations no matter when you are in time.
“Hope in the Midst of Fire” is the theme of your book. Your name is also Hope. Are we talking about you, your theme…or both?
Where the fire ends and Hope begins.
Depression.
I didn’t quite understand the hopelessness that would turn my vision to slate when they symptoms first started in eighth grade. I never could explain why I felt like someone had laid cement on my body and eyelids when I woke every morning. I never really had a word for it until I researched clinical depression my freshman year of college and met with a doctor to discuss my symptoms.
I had a better label for it by the time I reached sophomore year: highly functional severe clinical depression.
How do you stay so motivated?
Usually the follow-up would be why did I spend my college years writing 300+ published works (poems, plays, articles, etc.) when I could’ve spent that time hanging out with friends and having a good time. I did a bit of that too. 10+ theatrical productions, 7 ensembles, 4 intramural sports, and a handful of other clubs kept me busy. Plus about 6-8 jobs, as many as 5 at one time.
I love to stay busy.
My mom also has depression, just not highly functional. As I watched her when I was growing up, she spent the majority of time in bed from that depression, or from various illnesses.
It broke my heart to see her have so many dreams but unable to realize them because the very thing that crafted her inspirations sought to tear her apart.
I didn’t want to end up in bed for the rest of my life. So an odd sort of fire ignited in my bones and veins that motivated me to keep working and never stop.
I also wanted to encourage other authors. I run a weekly column in various newsletters about ways for writers to defeat writer’s block. Having those experiences of feeling “blocked” every day, I want to walk alongside other writers and give them solutions to get rid of those barriers in their brains.
At times, I have to force myself throttle back to remind myself to take care of myself too. My anxiety can get the better of me, and I forget that I’m only human and need rest from time to time.
What do you love to write?
Real life. All of it.
I do love stories with happy endings, but I also want to have characters who deal with issues that my friends and my family dealt with as I grew up. If you love books where the climax of the story is whether or not Joey will ask the main character to the prom, my stories aren’t for you.
But if you want characters who deal with mental illness, discrimination, bullying, and they still overcome those all-too-gritty-realities, I would love to sit and discuss stories over a cup of tea.
Hope is well-named, isn’t she? She’s so open and honest and warm (no pun intended!) Let’s learn more about her novel, Blaze.
If you can’t stand the heat, don’t walk into the fire.
Danny knew his sophomore year would be stressful . . . but he didn’t expect his school to burn down on the first day.
To make matters worse (and they were about to get a lot worse), he — and his three best friends — receive an email in their inboxes from the principal of their rival, King’s Academy, offering full-rides to attend the town’s prestigious boarding school. Danny wants nothing to do with King’s Academy and says no. Of course his mother says yes. So off he goes to be bullied and picked on for not being part of the popular and rich “in crowd.”
From day one at King’s, Danny encounters hazing, mocking insults from girls at the “popular and pretty” table, and cafeteria food that, for such a prestigious school, tastes as if it were purchased from a military surplus supply warehouse. If he survives, Danny will have to overcome his fears of failure, rejection, and loneliness—all while standing strong in his beliefs and walking into the fire.
“Blaze peels back the curtains of our world’s desires, and reveals the beasts lurking behind. Packed with relevant topics and worldview, the book draws readers into a white-knuckle adventure where anything can happen—and anything can go wrong.”
Caroline George, author of The Vestige
Release Date is June 3, 2019
Hope Bolinger, Author
Hope Bolinger is a literary agent at C.Y.L.E. and a recent graduate of Taylor University’s professional writing program. More than 300 of her works have been featured in various publications ranging from Writer’s Digest to Keys for Kids. She has worked for various publishing companies, magazines, newspapers, and literary agencies and has edited the work of authors such as Jerry B. Jenkins and Michelle Medlock Adams. Her column “Hope’s Hacks,” tips and tricks to avoid writer’s block, reaches 2,700+ readers weekly and is featured monthly on Cyle Young’s blog, which receives 63,000+ monthly hits. She is excited for her modern-day Daniel “Blaze” to come out with IlluminateYA (an imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas). She enjoys all things theater, cats, and fire.
And on her Amazon page, she also tells us
Hope Bolinger is very good at avoiding her problems by joining a billion clubs and sports such as tennis, choir, theatre, flag football, and anything she can sign up for before her friends start to yell at her for overcommitment. Oh, yeah. And she likes to write. A lot . . . including 300 publications and counting.
Hope also works as a literary agent for C.Y.L.E. and is on the Pub Board for IlluminateYA. She has lots of hopes (buh-dum tssh) and dreams for her characters and readers, mainly, that they have something to take away from every adventure. Granted, that something could be a headache . . . but at least she gave them something tangible.
Let’s support Hope!!
About the Author
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