When Murrieta resident and author Cindy Bokma was a little girl growing up in New Jersey, she would spend hours in her room devouring books and making up stories of her own.
Local author Cindy Bokma's recently released novel, "Here if you Need Me". (Contributed image)
“I had a vivid imagination and still do to this day,” Bokma said. “With writing, I get to live in my own creative little world.”
That passion for writing and story telling has come to fruition with the release of her novel, “Here if you Need Me”.
After college and marriage, Bokma settled into the Temecula Valley over a decade ago with her husband and two young children.
In 2006, the stay-at-home mom combined her fierce interest in writing with a fascination with the sometimes odd world of celebrity and started a pop culture blog: Conversations About Famous People.
Within a relatively short time her satirical blog became wildly successful alongside blogging superstar Perez Hilton.
“Conversations About Famous People was seeing an average of 20,000 hits a day,” Bokma explained. “At the time I started my website, blogs were really starting to take off,” she said. “It was a lot of fun.”
After a successful run in the celebrity genre, she ended the celebrity website and began writing about fashion, beauty products and other writers.
“I just decided I wanted to focus on the more positive aspects of life and writing novels.”
As she straddled her busy beauty and writing websites, the subject material from her blogs began to coalesce into her recently released book which follows a woman who becomes tangled up in the warped world of a downward spiraling pop-star.
Bokma said that although she loves being able to harness her imagination, making a living as a writer can be challenging and frustrating at times.
“I still haven’t received a royalty check,” she said.
As a book reviewer, she has interviewed best-selling authors like Jeanette Walls, Jennifer Weiner, Janet Evanovich and Pamela Anderson.
“Other writers are very encouraging and supportive,” she said. “It really seems like there is room for everyone in the writing world.”
Bokma recently finished another novel and explained her days are filled with managing her household, testing out beauty products, writing and staying inspired by every day events.
“Here if you Need Me” was published in a e-book format and can be purchased at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.
Stephanie D. Schulte is a writer/photographer for SWRNN. She can be reached at stephanie.schulte@swrnn.com.
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