I’ve loved books for as long as I can remember. The first chapter book I remember reading was A Room for Cathy by Catherine Woolly. I recently googled it to see if it’s still available, and it is. For a steep price. It was published in 1956. Just so you know, it wasn’t a new book when I read it, so don’t use that as a gauge for my age. But there was something magical about getting lost in story that has stayed with me ever since. It was only natural that my love of reading eventually transitioned into a love of writing. I have had a yearning in my heart to write stories and the characters who live them for as long as I remember.
William Faulkner said it this way—“It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.”
That was certainly true of the main character in my first contracted novel. Her name is Tess O’Shay and she was born as a very minor character in the first draft of my first finished novel, Providence (which was published third in the Apple Hill series.) She didn’t survive the rewrites, but she was such a powerful entity, I had to give her a book of her own. Now, I’m hoping you will grow to love her as much as I do.
A little background on me. I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area but moved to the valley when I married at a much-too-young age. I have two beautiful children—Nikki and Christopher—who were by far the best thing that came out of my marriage. I am a romantic at heart and always thought one day I’d become a romance novelist. Instead of following that dream, I decided on a more practical path and became a teacher. I taught middle school for several years—and yes, I loved it. But the dream of becoming a writer wouldn’t be put to rest. Then my “season” began—my daughter nearly died in a car accident and had to go through months of rehabilitation for traumatic brain injury; my husband of nearly 23 years abandoned our marriage; my beloved mother lost her fight with leukemia and went home to the Lord—all in less than two years. A few years later, my brother, who was a Christian, committed suicide.
I have been contracted with Celebrate Lit Publishing since 2018. My first series (Apple Hill) is set in Northern California. Two of the three novels in this series were inspired by the tragedies God allowed in my life—my daughter’s TBI (Illusions) and my brother’s suicide (Providence). The second series (Bedford County) is set in middle Tennessee. Both are contemporary women’s fiction with a strong element of romance—because what is life without it? Women’s fiction/romance was my calling for a long time.
God is so incredibly good. He has taken every loss and tear and used it as a way for me to write with emotion. Even better, he brought to me my own real-life hero. My husband, Chris, and I have been married since 2006. Although both of us were California born and raised, in 2018 we took a huge step of faith and moved across the country. We now reside in Lewisburg, Tennessee and love it!
I look forward to you being a part of this writing journey. Truly, I am writing for an audience of One, but I pray He will put my work into the hands of those who need it.
– Jennifer
