This is my first work of nonfiction that’s not humor. Not at all. I cover difficult subjects like sexual abuse, date rape, suicide, as well as love and trust. It’s quite a range.

The last time we talked was about The Mancode: Exposed, which is a very funny book. Many of your fans fell in love with your snarky sense of humour. Is there anything in this book for those readers?
Thank you! There are a few stories where perhaps a sarcastic line escaped (ahem), but if people are looking to laugh, Broken Pieces is not that book.

Broken Pieces takes the reader all the way from something as black as the suicide of an ex-lover to some quite happy places. Is there a unifying theme?
Interestingly, it’s the ‘pieces’ themselves, presented in a fragmented way (as opposed to chronological) that establishes the theme. It’s about men and women, relationships, and all that entails.

What genre is it? Who is it aimed at?
It’s nonfiction, told in poetry, prose, and essays. The audience is men and women. Because of the graphic nature of some of my experiences, I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone under age eighteen. It’s ranked on the poetry and women’s studies lists, primarily, won an honourable mention with the San Francisco Book Festival, and has received amazing reviews from Midwest Book Review and several Top 10 Hall of Fame Amazon reviewers. A print version will be available in the fall.

How did you decide the right medium – essay, prose or poetry – for each ‘piece’?
It was not a conscious thought process of choosing one over the other. It was more that I wrote what fit the subject matter.

Would you share one of the poems from the book with us?
Sure.

Light
Allow me to drape my limbs over you; my secret murmurs soothing fears that keep you awake as the rays of the day fade on borrowed rest.

Grasping your hand to keep you from losing your way back to me, you meet my eyes with a rush of desire that slams me in a hard, brilliant flash.

Do you hear me? I whisper along your skin, cooled by the night air. Crossing this wide river to you, I pray you’ll reach for me as I pass by, drowning in your depths.

You, my only salvation.

Will you save me?

Waiting for the sun, I barely breathe so as not to wake you, unable to turn away from the glare of what we’ve wrought.

I bathe in our entangled gleam, where love lives inside the knowledge that tomorrow fades again.

Illumination only lasts until darkness decides to fall.

That’s lovely. Complete this sentence for us: if you like __________, you’ll love Broken Pieces.
The Glass Castle.

You’re very active on social media. Tell us how we can follow you.
@RachelintheOC is the best place for my writing (same on Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, etc). I’m also at @BadRedheadMedia (my business).

Can you tell us about your various websites and ventures?
I have my own two sites (RachelintheOC.com and BadRedheadMedia.com), as well as a site for indie authors to gain exposure IndieBookPromo.com (for stupid cheap ads, features, interviews, etc). I also write a monthly social media column for the San Francisco Book Review (BadRedhead Says…) and a weekly column for BookPromotion.com.

We felt as if we knew you after reading A Walk In The Snark and The Mancode: Exposed, but with Broken Pieces we feel like we’ve met a new you. Who is Rachel Thompson?
Ha. Well, definitely a nonfiction writer. I find the truth far more interesting than fiction could ever be. There were hints, shall we say, of some of my more serious writing in Snark. Broken Pieces expands on that, certainly, while adding in more poetic elements.

What’s next?
My social media for authors book is with my editor. I’ve started writing the next book in the Pieces series, titled Broken Places. I still have Chickspeak: Uncovered on the back burner (the next in the humor series), and I’ve also bonded so intensely with other survivors of childhood sexual abuse (I created a secret, private Facebook group for adult survivors) that I’m creating a platform for others’ stories and maybe a Twitter chat. More on that next time, I hope!

And of course, working away helping authors with my business, providing lots of free tips on my Twitter, Facebook page, and blog.