VIRTUAL AUTHOR VISIT
WITH CHRISTOPHER G. BREMICKER
Christopher G. Bremicker was a Green Beret medic stationed
at Ft. Bragg NC from 1968 to 1970. He has a BA in English and a Master’s in
Business Administration, both from the University of Minnesota. He is a
newspaperman, downhill skier, and grouse hunter. He plays handball and reviews
theater. He is a sales associate at Walgreen’s in St. Paul, MN, his forty-sixth
job since high school. His hometown is Cable, WI. He has won awards from
Veterans Voices Writing Project Inc. from the VFW, and the American Legion.
Blog URL: www.livingwellwhilementallyill.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cbremicker
YouTube: https://youtu.be/hnmfAK9L0qQ
About Song for My Baby and Other Stories
Publication date: June 16, 2020
Publisher: Unsolicited Press
Genre: Hybrid, fiction, nonfiction, memoir
Song for My Baby and Other Stories is best
described as a work with great variety. What begins with the sudden demise of a
father on a hunting trip, transforms into a collection that deals with mental
illness, hitting bottom, and an appreciation for those who stick around in the
worst of times. Bremicker takes readers for a ride with no degree of certainty.
From a high stakes golf game to pay off a son’s cocaine debt, a dating service
that results in twelve dates in twelve months, a kidney transplant, a heart
attack, a relapse on alcohol, to years in and out of psych wards and veterans’
homes, the book shifts gears from story to story.
Buy the book: Song for My Baby and Other Stories
Unsolicited Press: www.unsolicitedpress.com
Interview with Christopher
G. Bremicker
Why did you start writing —what triggered your writing?
Death of my first psychiatrist. He rarely let me talk about
writing, since I was desperate to make a living and most of his help involved
vocational questions. When he died, I felt free to begin my writing career. In
my family, I was recognized as the bookish one and destined to write. It was
agreed I would start when I became an adult. I became an adult three years
before my doctor’s death. but the vocational talks continued.
What stimulates your
creativity or serves as a writing inspiration?
My job at Walgreens, where I am a cashier. I thrive on the wall to wall people. My
writing and the job are like a teeter totter. I need one to do the other. I am
terrified of retirement for that reason although I am of that age.
Conversely, what
creates a major writer’s block for you?
In general, I don’t get writer’s block. When I had it, it
passed. I complained about it to my psychologist, but we decided the writing
would come back. Hemingway said the way to handle it was to write one true
sentence then the next true sentence. I usually ignore it or keep writing, even
if it stinks. It’s better to force the issue than quit. Sometimes, I just take
a few days off.
How long did it take you to write your
book?
The first story, a
novella, I wrote thirty years ago. My father died six months earlier and the
story reeks with grief. It is a tribute to him and my brother’s and my love for
him.
How many rewrites did it go through?
Many, as my writing
coach at the VA and I edited each story. She would prefer to remain anonymous.
I could not write after the heart attack and she helped rebuild my ability to
write. I spent one hour per week in her office and countless hours in coffee
shops working on the first fifteen stories. After a year and a half of this, I
could write on my own and the last half of the book is all mine. The heart
attack shattered my ability to think. I write with my sexuality and that’s
where a heart attack gets a person. It’ll ruin you as a writer too. By the way,
it’ll ruin you as a fisherman, too.
Jussayn...
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