Today’s special guest is writer Jennifer Learmont to chat about her biography, Kiss My Boots.
Bio:
Jennifer Learmont has lived, and continues to live, life on her own terms. She is a pleasure to see and a joy to know. She loves her friends readily without being anyone’s fool except her own. Always following her own star and relying on her own wits, she’s pushed and pulled herself through the joys and the pains, the cares and the scares. She never lets good luck or bad undo her.
Please tell us about your current release.
Kiss My Boots is a tell-all memoir of a young girl growing up in Australia, going to America for a three-month holiday, getting caught up in the web of Hollywood and staying for 20 years. It’s what can happen to a fearless, brave, beautiful young girl with a few stars in her eyes. It’s not a success story; it’s a survival story. It’s a decidedly unvarnished and, in some respects, pretty damning account of my life in the dark side of Tinseltown.
Having said all that, even with all the darkness, there is still so much love in here.
It’s my account of one woman’s life journey overcoming family tragedy in Australia, drug addiction and domestic violence in the heights of Los Angeles in its heyday of the 80s and 90s, with hilarious twists.
Kiss My Boots was not easy to write as I was totally honest and I did not hold back at all.
This is a powerful story about the fascinating life of a young Australian woman who embraces manifold trials and tribulations in her time in America. A young woman with survival instinct which kicked in to revel in the hedonistic pursuits of the lifestyle of LA of its time, and then stumbling into a calling in the niche world of a Dominatrix.
It’s heart wrenching, heartbreaking, funny, scary and ultimately uplifting.
Kiss My Boots is my story.
What inspired you to write this book?
My ex-husband contacted me after 20 years from America and told me that he was writing a memoir. Of course, I was to be in it, so I began helping him with research for a few years, going back and forth to America.
When I did finally read the chapters that I was in, I realised that it was showing me in the darkest time of my life. Unlike himself saying where he came from and where he ended up, he didn’t explain where I began or where I ended up or why any of this really happened, or why I chose to do the things I did.
After reading his chapters about me, I realised I need it to tell my story myself. Perhaps I could leave a legacy for my family, as well, telling them what I was actually doing over in the states for 20 years and how it all came to be. My side of this story so to speak. So, I started out writing a journal. As I read snippets to friends and family they said, “oh this is really good! You should write a book.” And that’s what inspired me. It was a very cathartic experience and my stories just poured out.
Excerpt from Kiss My Boots:
Chapter Sixteen, 76
“One night, Steve and I were at home smoking cocaine and naturally, we ran out, which is the most desperate feeling. Steve went out to get some more, and he seemed to take forever; I was frantically pacing the floor for him to return. I couldn’t stand it any longer, so to take the edge off, I took some over the counter sleeping pills to relax my agitation. Finally, Steve returned and quickly cooked up the cocaine. I took one hit, and that’s all I remember.”
What exciting story are you working on next?
I’m working on a follow up book which starts in Hollywood and goes more in depth into the extremely colourful characters along the way, and maybe more of the Dominatrix world as well, I’m really excited about this project.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
Not professionally. Not yet.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I don’t write full-time. I’m a licensed civil wedding celebrant and a yoga instructor.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I’m not sure I have a writing quirk, all I know is I set time out each day to go to the beach, have a swim go and have a workout, a green smoothie, and then I would write from 10am until at least 2pm every day. I drank quite a bit of coffee. I know that I’m the kind of person that needs a strict schedule, otherwise I wouldn’t get it done. I wouldn’t make any plans between those writing times; I was very committed, so I guess I would say maybe commitment is my quirk.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
As a child I want to be a singer, perhaps even a rock star. I came from a family full of musicians. My mother and auntie, grandmothers were all opera singers, so it was all about the music in my family. My brother was also a great Blues guitarist.
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