An Interview with Rebecca Bischoff

Rebecca Bischoff is the award-winning author of several novels, including a YA novel titled The French Impressionist, a historical middle-grade mystery, The Grave Digger, a humorous middle-grade novel, Hole in the Rock, and a YA historical mystery, Streets of Shadow. Rebecca loves to read everything from mysteries to paranormal to historical novels. She tends to research quirky and little-known facts from the past and loves anything that might make her laugh. A dedicated Anglophile, Rebecca loves watching BBC shows and reading mysteries that take place in the British Isles. Rebecca lives in Idaho with her family, where she enjoys not visiting the outdoors. She’d rather stay inside, eat chocolate, and write. Visit her website at rebeccabischoffbooks.com.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

I’ve loved to read ever since I can remember, and I credit my mother, who took her kids to our local library every week. She always checked out stacks of books herself. Since I grew up loving books, it makes sense that at some point I would try my hand at writing, but that drive never hit me until I was older. I suppose that makes me a late bloomer! As a child, I loved Madeleine L’Engle, the Narnia books, The Hobbit, and all things fantasy. It’s funny that I didn’t end up writing fantasy, but I was most certainly inspired by people who could create these amazing imaginary worlds that felt so real. Now I tend to love reading mysteries, paranormal stories, and especially historical novels, and I think that is reflected in my writing.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I began working as a speech-language pathologist in 1998 and I’m still doing that. I mainly work with young children and I love using books to help them build their language and literacy skills.

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

My book’s title, Summer of Mud, wasn’t too difficult to think of. The story takes place in the 1970s and music is an important theme throughout the story. When I think of 70’s music, I think of the hippie movement that was such a big cultural influence, and the phrase: “Summer of Love” came to mind. Add to that the fact that the book centers around a natural disaster that flooded a town and left everything covered in mud, and the title came into being.

How did it feel when you first saw your book cover? Or when you first held your book in your hands?

It’s such a rewarding feeling to hold your book in your hands! Writing and publishing a book is not a quick and easy process. It takes me quite a lot of time to outline and plot and then write my story, and then it goes through multiple edits. Finally, when it all comes together and you have this tangible evidence of your labor of love, it’s quite a rush. I call all my books my “book babies” and I’m immensely proud of every one of them!

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

This is an easy question since music is integral to the story! My main character, Scoob, loves jazz music while her brother loves rock and roll. Scoob loves jazz greats like Nina Simone and Louis Armstrong. “What a Wonderful World” is actually mentioned in the book and is such a great song for the story! And quite a few 1970s rock songs would also be great for the book, including songs by the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Jimi Hendrix, and the Bee Gees.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

I’d love for anyone reading Summer of Mud to come away with a sense of hope, and a reminder of how people can overcome terrible things when they work together and support one another. I think my perfect reader is someone who enjoys learning about different periods of history like I do and who wants to root for the underdog.

What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?

By far the most rewarding part of publishing for me has been when a reader has reached out to tell me that they loved my book, or that the story was meaningful to them in some way. I was thrilled when I received a handwritten note from an elementary student who said reading my book made him feel happy. That was quite an honor. I’ve also been thrilled when students have said that they were inspired to start writing or doing something else creative after reading my books and learning how I became an author.

What new writing projects are you currently working on? Or, other projects that are not writing?

I’m currently working on drafting and writing two new projects. Both are what might be considered speculative fiction. I like to keep trying new genres and experimenting with different writing styles.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.