About the BonusParts

What are the BonusParts? In the simplest explanation, the BonusParts are Mayumi Hirtzel…everything beyond what you think you might already know about me.

I cut my writing teeth on what’s known as “fan fiction”: taking pre-existing worlds and characters, and creating my own personal universe of stories from that. My first attempts at storytelling – with the help of my sister, who filled the role of beloved mythology architect for our strange new worlds – revolved mostly around “Star Wars”, followed by “Transformers”, and “Jem”, and a mash-up of the worlds of “The Dark Crystal”, “Krull”, and an alternate universe of “The Avengers” where Captain America was a paladin and The Wasp was a fairy princess. Needless to say, I had an active imagination as a kid.

I still have an active imagination. And, I still write fan fiction, for those series I enjoy.

I also write my own original stories, many of which developed out of the frenetic burst of writing energy that is National Novel Writing Month, sometimes referred to as NaNoWriMo, or simply NaNo, for short. I’ve been an on-and-off participant in NaNo since 2005, when a journey to Japan rekindled my interest in my heritage, and that led to the tale of a family in feudal Japan, whose adventures are told through the eyes of the family cat. NaNo taught me the value of writing every day…and I’ve been writing every day since!

The blog is about my writing: fiction pieces, personal observations, and ramblings on what works and what doesn’t, at least for me. Hopefully, you will find something here that resonates with you!

As for updates, I do those when I can. That is a terrible incentive to keep readers around, but with so much going on both online and in my “real” life, some sacrifices must be made.