SWAMPSCOTT – Bob Bochnak from Swampscott has taken on an exciting new venture: the release of his first novel, “The Forest Runner.”
Bochnak spoke with The Item, where he dove deep into his background and what compelled him to take on the mission of releasing his first novel, which he said he wrote entirely on his iPhone.
Bochnak, who now resides in Texas, graduated from Tufts University in 1997 and worked as an editor for the university’s paper. He explained that growing up, he was always interested in pursuing an endeavor in writing, having spent his childhood reading books whenever he got the chance.
“I also spent quite a bit of time on the Tedesco Golf Course, just reading in nature and in the woods,” he recalled. “I had always felt comfortable there. … Later on, after college, I got really into running, something about the forest really resonated with me.”
He continued, explaining the genesis for the story.
“It was an idea of this person who’s solitary, cut off from the greater society,” he said. “I built a story around the general idea, and there was something interesting about why a person would go those lengths to cut themselves off from everything.”
Bochnak said that it’s about a character who has suffered a “serious loss” and is grappling with his attempts to reconcile with it. The main character lives alone in a cabin in the woods with a “dog that he never wanted,” where the first part of the book covers the main character making peace with the notion of loss.
Part two, he said, shifts the focus to the main character’s wife. “It’s also a story about her and the things that she’s trying to reconcile with her life and regrets,” he said.
He elaborated on his creative process, noting that it would come in bursts whenever he had free time, where he would have the chance to write anywhere from ten minutes to an hour at a time — a process that ultimately took Bochnak roughly a year.
“I had a little more free time now that my kids are older, and as someone who has worked in social media, my default was to go and scroll through social media. … And I realized that I wanted to do something more productive with my time,” he said.
One of the biggest takeaways that Bochnak wanted people to experience was “not being afraid to do what you’ve always wanted to do,” he said. “The message that I want them to take away is that your past and your experiences don’t dictate your present or future. … You can move on from certain things.”
Bochnak’s novel is available for purchase on Amazon.
