Interview with Author Alma Bond

I was pleased to be granted an interview with Dr. Alma Bond who is the author of Jackie O: On the Couch. This was a very interesting read as it is a fiction book that is written as an autobiography. It is as though Jackie Kennedy Onassis sat down on your couch and opened herself up to you about everything in her life. Dr. Bond took a new look at a well-examined person and gives all those that read it something to think about and wonderful prompts for conversation.

I was honored with Dr. Bond giving me the interview that was a joy to read. Below is our exchange that I hope you will enjoy.

Why did you choose Jackie Kennedy Onassis as your subject?

I grew up with Jackie as my idol. She still is. It will be a long time before we see another First Lady as elegant, as cultivated, and as deep and unusual a thinker.

Where did you get your idea to have Jackie is such a casual sitting as sitting on a couch and open up to the reader?

I am a psychoanalyst, and examined people’s souls “on the couch” for 37 years. When I “retired,” I continued my couch explorations in writing biographies.

What resources did you use?

I read over 100 books and all the articles I could find on Jackie. But I never felt any of them understood her as a live human being, with all the assets and foibles of which human beings are capable.

How hard was it to be Jackie as you wrote this?

It wasn’t hard at all. The book just flowed out of me.

Did you get any times writing it where you met a brickwall?

If I did, I don’t remember them. I never experience writers’ block. Where I do encounter problems (as I am now) is in finding my next subject. Picking a person to write about is like a marriage.. One must be prepared to spend at least a year and possibly many more with that individual. If I am not “in love,” I lose interest in writing the book. I have started several that I lost interest in and gave up on.

What kept you inspired?

My fascination with the subject of the biography.

What was the one thing you learned during the research and writing of this?

I have published 20 books, but none have taken off like “Jackie O: On the Couch.” I think several of them, i.e. “The Autobiography of Maria Callas, a Novel,” and “Camille Claudel, a Novel,“ are as good, but the public does not seem to think so - as least not yet. What I have learned is that you never can tell what will make a book “take off.”

If there was one thing you could do differently in regard to this book, what would it be?

I would have written it years before, when I could have done my best to get to know Jackie personally. I almost didn’t write this one. I said to my daughter, Dr. Janet Bond Brill, “I would like to write about Jackie O, but there have been so many written about her. Janet replied, “But YOURS will be different!” As usual, she turned out to be right. Now she wants me to write about Marilyn Monroe. I just may, but I am not “in love” with her.

Are you working on any new projects? If so, what?

As I wrote above, I am looking for a subject who enchants me, so far without success. Any ideas will be appreciated. Is there any celebrated woman you are “in love” with, whom you would like to read about?

I would appreciate any ideas you can give me.

RG: I've been thinking really hard about the question you posed to me about who I would be interested to learn more about. It wasn't as easy as I thought it might be. I actually have a few.

Dr. Sara Josephine Baker - So few know about her and what she did to help save lives even those of today.
Katherine of Aragon - I always pity her for how her husband treated her and used her to sever England from the Catholic Church
Princess Diana - She was either loved or hated and I think no one really knew the real her.
Marie Antoinette - A woman who was completely misunderstood through history and blamed for many things.
Lucretia Borgia - The acts of her father and brothers maligned her name for centuries.

AB: Thanks so much, Rebecca! Princess Diana might be a good fit. Lucretia Borgia is also a good idea I hadn't thought of.

What inspired you to be a writer?

Books, both reading and writing, are the core of my life. That has been true since I was four years old when I taught myself to read. I remember looking at a comic called “Dolly Dimple,” and noticing that words differ from each other. I thought, “Mother” is different from “other.” I began to cry, as I realized I would never have to ask anyone to read to me again. When I was 11 years old, I wrote a poem called “Ambitions,” in which I said I wanted to be a great writer. It began:“When all the world is sleeping sound/My pencil is writing and my head’s going round.”

If you had one word of advice to tell a person who wants to write, what would it be?

Write! Write! Write! Don’t listen to criticism, but write from the heart. Sooner or later the writing will be good.

What are your favorite hobbies?

If I weren’t a writer, I would be a sculptor, but in my opinion there isn’t time enough in one lifetime to do two arts well. Below is a sculpture of mine which won a prize from American Art Awards 2010. I created it when I was writing “Camille Claudel, a Novel,” so I would know what she felt like when she was sculpting.

Where do you write? What is your ideal writing environment?

I write wherever I am. My first book was written on a bus as I came home from work every day. The ideal writing environment in internal. But if I must pin myself down, my favorite writing spot is at home on my desktop computer.

What do you have to say to the people who scoff at looking at the Kennedy’s lives anymore?

I’d say they are missing a lot.

Thank you, Dr. Bond, for your time and your honesty in your answers. The book was a wonderful read with the review by me being found on the BellaOnline.com's history site. I noticed there were several very negative reviews based on how the real Jackie was and how it was not how she would have acted. I stress again when you read this book it is a fiction piece with historical information in it. Jackie Kennedy Onassis did not write this or sit on a couch with the author. It is a work of fiction that should be taken as such and enjoyed as a prompt to learn more about history.

Below is a link to the book on Amazon that you can use to purchase it.

Once again, thank you, Dr. Bond. I deeply appreciate you taking your time to answer my questions.