June Bare

June W. Bare

Who is June W. Bare? June is a retired nurse who lives with Larry, her husband, on a Christmas tree farm in western North Carolina. Although June grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania, not unlike Kenbridge in her story, her mother was a native North Carolinian, and June had a heart for the hills.

June enjoys her mountain home, she is active in church at Grace Highlands Presbyterian Church in Boone, NC; besides writing she likes to read and crochet

June and her husband have a daughter and two grandsons in Hickory.

June has written a booklet of poetry and photography: Quiet My Heart, and two stories for children: The Red Sled using her own artwork, and Where in the World is Prince Ambrose? a story about her cat.

All Things is her first full length novel. Soar Above the Yesterdays, its sequal, continues Sue's story..

All Things (ISBN 978-1-4392-1169-4)

When teenaged, Sue, is raped and becomes pregnant, she deals with her feelings and the reaction of family and friends. Her decisions reflect her beliefs and the wisdom of others.

In 1953, Sue—dreamy, aspiring young violinist—is abruptly thrust into a world of nightmare and confusion. When innocence is shattered, she must make decisions that disrupt her family, threaten her future plans, and destroy her hopes of romance. Although she must contend with rejection and opposition, her Christian faith sustains her. The experiences of her aged grandmother and others guide her on the path she takes. She learns how sorrow and turmoil can be turned to joy and peace, fear can be dissipated by trusting God, hope never needs to be lost, and character wins out over circumstance.

June Bare, interviewed by Maggie Bishop December 2008

Give us your "elevator speech" about your latest writing project.

All Things is a mystery/romance about a young woman who wants a normal life, but her past haunts her. Her challenges are right versus romance. She wants her dreams and God’s plans to coincide.

What brought you to the Boone area?

My mother was from Avery County. She left in 1927, but this was always "down home" to her. My daughter was living in the area after I retired the first time from nursing, and my husband and I wanted to leave PA. Since we always loved the area, the logical course of action was to move here.

Describe your "aha" moment about wanting to write.

I’ve been writing journals and poems for fifty years or more. I loved to day-dream stories—a wide variety, but mostly romantic stories. When I moved to NC I began researching my mother’s roots and read a fascinating story in the Mt. Times about one of my ancestors, Billy Davis. "This would make a great novel," I thought, so I wrote it. It never got beyond my old computer, and when the computer crashed the story crashed with it. The idea was put on ice. I may re-write it yet.

What are your good writing habits?

I get into a rut sometimes with my story, and the best way I can fix it is to put it away for a while…sometimes days or weeks. When I get back to it, I stay with it for several hours at a time.

I try to write something every day or so. This is not necessarily on my story, but a journal entry, some poetry, a blog for my website, and of course, my story. Often while I am reading my Bible or some devotional reading, a thought comes to me that I can use in a poem or in my story.

Research of the times of my story. The Internet is great!

What are your bad writing habits that you plan to change?

Forgetting to go back and read what I’ve written.

Getting sidetracked on things that have nothing to do with the main focus of my story. Once it’s written I hate to slash and burn.

Craziest fashion trend or hairstyle you've worn?

In the late 1940’s some of my friends and I thought it would be cool to make "spit curls" on our foreheads. My hair was uncut, so I cut a swatch to make a curl, but it was so thick it wouldn’t do anything but stick out. Mother cut bangs for me, and I’ve had them ever since.

What celebrity crushes did you have as a teenager?

Since I never went to movies, my crushes were always on real men. I had to be secretive about it, because I wasn’t supposed to be interested in boys. When I was 16 my brother got me a date with a friend of his who didn’t know how to keep his hands to himself and kept me out to 3AM. Needless to say, I didn’t have another date for a verrrrrry long time. I just had crushes.

What is something that no one knows about you?

You expect me to answer that? Everything I’ve done in my life has been dumb enough to draw a laugh, foolish enough to get me in trouble, or good enough for at least one person to notice. I would hope that my life would impact at least one person for good without keeping any secrets.

If you could change places with anyone, living or dead, for one day, who would it be?

That’s a tough one. I could say "Eve". She had the perfect body, the perfect man, the perfect environment, and access to God. But if I were in her fig leave I think I’d have done worse than she did. There are many people I have admired over the pages of history and even a few of our day; however, I think I would have liked to have been Katharina von Bora, the wife of Martin Luther.

What's the perfect age?

49…still young enough to hit life with a little oomph, a good age to learn what you didn’t know before, old enough for the younger generation to think you know more than they do.

What's the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to you?

"I love you." And they meant it.