First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com! My name is Jen, and I’ll be your server toda…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
I guess if I go back to when I was in grade school I could say I wrote all the time, journals, poems, short stories and should have known then that writing would be my destiny. However, I did not “know” I wanted to be a writer until I was much older and at home with my son taking a break from a real career. I had just lost my father to cancer and my son was getting into his ‘too much to handle stage’ and I sat down one day and started writing. I don’t know why or what got me to write exactly or what I was writing, but before I knew it I had been developing characters and plotting out “The Year I Lost My Popularity!”.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
I would love to tell you it was hard and long, but I went about it all not knowing what the industry was about. Once I had a finished novel I was still unsure of what I should do with it. Scared to death to have someone actually read it. I didn’t want anyone telling me I was in the wrong business. But I began to research the markets and learned how and what to do with a finished novel and then sent my manuscript out to publishing houses. I knew from other writers that I was in for a long road and not to get discouraged as the reject letters start to pour in. Some where during the process I heard from my publisher Publish America and they wanted to see me entire book. I was so excited. I did some quick checks to make sure they were a real company and sent it off. Two weeks later, very fast in the publishers world, they e-mailed me and said they wanted to offer me a contract. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Now what? I thought. Is this real? I figured I wasn’t paying anything to get it published and I would have my book in print in less than a year. I went for it. Well, as I went on with my career and learned a little more everyday, I learned that Publish America is a Print On Demand (POD) company and it was very difficult for anyone in the book buying business to take you serious unless you were with a traditional publisher. I guess you live and you learn and I am learning something new every day. I am thrilled my book will never go out of print and I have learned also that unless you are famous or have written a few best sellers out there, it is hard to get your books in stores any way. So, I am getting lots of experience and in the mean time I have had two of my middle grade novels published! It is very exciting any way you get there.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
My latest book release, “Summer Vineyard” is about the relationship between two sisters. They are five years apart and have totally different personalities. They spend their summer vacation visiting their aunt and uncle in California, so their parents can take a well deserved vacation together. They learn soon into their trip that it is more than just a vacation their parents need, their mother is suffering from breast cancer, so the sisters end up spending the entire summer in California. Instead of leaning on each other, they pull further apart.
During there visit someone is trying to damage the vineyard property by destroying different parts of it. The youngest sister gets involved to hopefully figure it out the mystery, but the oldest sister decides to entertain herself with a work hand for their uncle. The two of them keep busy any way they can except by depending on each other.
One thing: “Whether you are the oldest or the youngest in your family or maybe you just need a reminder how important family is, this book will help you with that and give you the awareness that you need the people you love in your life to get through to the next day”.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
My life. Everything and everyone in my life has given me inspiration. Something happens one day and I remember back to a time something similar happened to me as a child or recently with my children. I see someone around town or hear about something happening and I think that would make an excellent topic or maybe I think it could happen to a character in one of my books. I am always working (my husband tells me) Every day life is and can be a story. That’s what makes it interesting enough to want to read about it.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My husband has praised me the most. He was so thrilled when I learned my first novel, The Year I Lost My Popularity!, was being published. He had just learned months before that I was writing. He was surprised to know that I had the time and patience to sit down and actually write a story. When I finished it, he knew how much I went through to get it out there and published, so he was very excited for me and has been a big cheerleader through the entire experience.
My mom was surprised, people who have known me for a long time didn’t know I had it in me. I wonder sometimes what they thought I was doing all the time. My father past away recently and he never knew I was writing. I hope he understands now why I did not get into Real Estate like he always wanted. I have two young kids and my son who is four has always known me to be a writer. He tells people, “my mommy writes girls books,” because those are the only things he has seen so far. My little girl doesn’t care what I do, she just cares if I am there when she needs me. And that is why I love what I do, I can be home for my family and still get away for an escape now and then to work.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream and pizza.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Feed my nine-month-old daughter, make a cup of coffee, and sit down at my computer to write a little.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that;writers block’ hits or you just don’t want to ‘work’ that day.
