Author Spotlight: Louisa M Bauman

– author, researcher, wife, and mom

Readers! Let’s give a good hearty welcome to Louisa M. Bauman.

Louisa M Bauman is a mom, wife, and author from Ontario, Canada and she loves researching and writing. Before her second life as a writer, she was an avid gardener canning hundreds of jars of her own fruits and vegetables every year, a quilt-maker, a collector of vintage dishes, a scrapbooker, a sewing lady, and a latch-rug hooker, and of course an obsessive reader, but most of all, a mom to eight kids.  

She writes sixteenth century historical fiction and readers have described her books as inspiring, real, poignant, intriguing, sad, full of love and hope, faith-filled and fast-paced.

Louisa, thanks for agreeing to be here today. Most interviews start off with bios and such, and while I’ll get to that as always, let’s start with the important stuff!

If you could have any pet (real/fantasy/no-allergies/no worries about feeding it) what would it be?

It seems I’m not your typical author—I have no cats and only one dog who lives in the barn with the sheep. I don’t really want anything furry or noisy around me all the time, but I love watching fish. I would have an aquarium full of colorful fish, like the one I saw at the Mandarin recently. Maybe even a waterfall. I could listen to water 24/7.  There’s something so calming about watching fish swim around, and besides, I love water.

I love waterfalls and listening to running water. My Instagram may have an obnoxious number of pictures of water — or did when I lived next to a lake. I understand the soothing aura of water, too.

What do you write and how did you get started?

Writing was always a dream of mine, ever since Grade 4 when a teacher said, “One day I will read a book written by Louisa Bauman.” Odds were against me ever achieving it, but I never forgot about it. Creative writing and art were my two favorite subjects in school, and for a long time I didn’t know which one I liked best. But I chose writing because it seemed easier to learn, less investment.

What a joke.

Three years ago, I had to start from scratch, armed with my Grade 8 education, English as my second language and a great deal of determination. I learned how to use a computer, Word, Facebook, Google and just EVERYTHING. It’s an ongoing process and I have a lot of fun, EXCEPT when I’m trying to master things like Scrivener, or macincloud so I can use Vellum.

I loved creative writing in school, too. I’m so excited that you found you way back to it, as well!

What do you like to read?

I read extensively for my research, things like encyclopedias, 1000 page volumes of martyr stories and the Bible. I also have a TBR pile that, laid end to end in paperbacks, would stretch halfway around the world (But I have so many ebooks waiting on Kindle) I read anything that sounds interesting in historical fiction and sometimes romance if there’s a real story, not just a lusty couple. Two of my favorite authors are Philippa Gregory and Francine Rivers.

I’m a Philippa Gregory fan as well. And I enjoy romances with compelling plots.

Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that doesn’t work for you.

“Write it and they will come.”

No, they won’t. Not unless you market like a demon, eating up time you could be spending on writing. Oh, and speaking of spending, you have to invest money you don’t have, and compete against thousands of other books out there, not to mention the countless other ways people entertain themselves. Suck up the rejection and revel in the praise.

That’s my biggest fear for trying to go indie. You are far braver than I.

Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that they can pry out of your cold, dead hands.

Write a good book.

To gain readers and keep them, you have to write a good book. You can’t just word vomit one weekend and publish on Monday. Take your time and do it right.

Oh, and write. every. Single. day.

Writing could be researching, actual writing, or editing. But never skip a day, even if it’s just five minutes. Like my writing instructor said, he will excuse us only if we have a note from the doctor saying we were in a coma.

I’ve been slacking off recently. But, I’ve preached the ‘just five minutes’ approach myself. Either you get five minutes of work done, or you find enough focus and get more done. It’s a win-win approach.

Shameless Self-Promotion time!

Sister, Fight Valiantly

This novella was released in February 2019 and has been enjoyed even by non-Christians.

It’s a true story that was dubbed a real-life Romeo and Juliet.

I have six 5 star reviews on it and one 3 star, so I think it’s successful.

Sword of Peace

This is my debut novel, self-published February 10, 2018, and I was totally at ease publishing it because I didn’t think anyone would want to read my book, much less enjoy it, so low was my self-esteem. It has religion, for heaven’s sake, and even worse politics, albeit 16^th century politics. Fascinating stuff, really.

This is my debut novel, self-published February 10, 2018, and I was totally at ease publishing it because I didn’t think anyone would want to read my book, much less enjoy it, so low was my self-esteem. It has religion, for heaven’s sake, and even worse politics, albeit 16^th century politics. Fascinating stuff, really.

Now, 56 reviews later, averaging 4.6 stars, and the recipient of an indieBRAG medallion honoree award, I’m actually TERRIFIED to get the sequel out. There’s pressure and anxiety like you wouldn’t believe, BUT I will fight through it. I’m re-writing at the moment, and it will be the LAST re-write for this book.

Daughters of the Past

This is an anthology I co-authored with 4 other historical fiction authors and contains Sister, Fight Valiantly under the title LIZZIE.  Published February 2019. There’s stories of five different courageous women, from the 14^th to the 19^th century.

How Three Children Saved A Lamb’s Life

I wrote this one for my children. We started raising sheep on our farm and I wanted a memento of their excitement when one little lamb needed their help to survive.  It was published Dec 2018.

I’m mostly found cruising around on Facebook, so you can find me there if you want to connect.