Showing posts with label Jenness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jenness. Show all posts
Best Roadtrip(s) Ever
As you probably know, it's almost summer. Which makes me think of watermelon, cookouts, reading in the sun, extra projects, and roadtrips. Oh, and Bliss, too, because it's such a good beach read. :-) We'll be talking about a contest in June for Bliss, but for now, let's talk roadtrip memories! Here are some of mine.1. The summer after seventh grade, my parents bought an RV, and our family took a trip out West for the summer. Lots of memories from this--mostly of mishaps, like having to stop alongside the road in Kansas--repeatedly--because the wind would unravel the awning from the side of the RV. Or getting so badly sunburnt from tubing down the Wisconsin River, that when we went to the Mall of America the following day, my father was in a wheelchair. lol. But there were some great moments. Singing Zoe--yeah, you've never heard of them, have you?--at the top of our lungs, watching The Lion King a million times on the road, the buffalo wandering a few feet away from us in Yellowstone Park, and so much more.
2. Running across Bell Buckle, TN. How fun! Loved that place, with its one row of great shops, and drinking from old-fashioned Coke bottles.
3. Abbeville, SC, with it's cemetery with long epitaphs about Civil War soldiers, watching a hysterical play at the old Opera House, hanging out in the town square, and eating cheesecake in Abbey's Alley while an elderly man played the saxaphone by flickering lantern light.
4. Accidentally running across a historic site of an old Moravian village or something like that. It was practically deserted, but so picturesque and peaceful.
5. Dunnellin, FL. What a cute town! Antique shops and restaurants in old houses. The Front Porch restaurant with its amazing chocolate meringue pie! I could live there, I think. (The town, not the restaurant. Although...maybe.)
Okay, I could keep going and talk about the Italian restaurant Papa Pia's in Memphis, or standing on the pedestrian bridge and listening to live music from one of the nearby restaurants in Chattanooga, or the bed and breakfast that had a pet pig called Esmerelda, or being invited to a random rehearsal dinner party at a hotel where we were staying ("because no one knows each other anyway!"), or...
Fine. I'll stop. Now it's your turn! What are some fun or disastrous memories you have from past roadtrips?
~ Jenness
Change
Tracy and I had finally finished writing and editing Bliss. We were ready and excited to find the perfect publisher for it as we went to a writers’ conference that year. We were going to pitch together for the first time. Nerve-wracking, but much better than facing the editors alone.
But then we received some news that made it more nerve-wracking. Chick lit was supposedly out. A taboo term. The year before, everyone wanted that genre. This time, no one was buying it—they all wanted historical romances instead. So we went to one meeting, smiled, and said we had a light-hearted women’s fiction story.
He smiled and said, “Are you trying to avoid the term ‘chick lit’?”
We had a story we believed in. Full of laughter (at least we cracked ourselves up, and I heard my grandmother got a kick out of it, too) and a meaningful journey about faith and relationships and the true Source of bliss. But the markets had changed. What were we supposed to do with this thing that we loved, believed in, poured our heart into?
The world’s kind of like that, isn’t it? You think you have things figured out and they change. You think you’re trucking along just fine, and suddenly there’s a tree in your path and your life takes an unexpected twist and you don’t know what to do or what lies ahead of you.
Well, you know what? There’s Someone Who never changes. You’ll never go to church one Sunday and find out that God decided to change up the requirements for salvation. He loves you. That will never change. He has a bird’s eye view of your life. He will be there to help you, to hold you, to guide you. He is the I AM. He was, He is, and He will be. Forever.
Interview with Jenness
Do you have a favorite chocolate indulgence? Maybe Lindt truffles? Honestly, when it comes to chocolate, I’m not that picky. I’ll go for the chocolate chips if there’s nothing else around.
Give your own definition of chick lit.
To me, it’s a fun story told about and narrated by a sassy woman with a quirky cast of secondary characters. In a way, it's a coming-of-age tale--with or without a romance thread--where the heroine learns what is truly important in life.
Do you have any chick lit-like moments from your own life that you could share?
I live the klutzy side of chick lit. I don’t wear the stilettos, but I do have some honkin’ shoes. Once on a trip, I took a few books and a single shoe out of my suitcase before my flight in order to keep from paying the overweight baggage fee. It felt a little odd walking around the airport with that lone shoe hanging out of my carry-on…
Do you have any writing quirks?
I have issues with names. I almost always have to go back and change quite a few, because, for some unknown reason, most of my female characters have names ending in “y” or “ie” and my last names tend to be Irish or Scottish.
What are a couple of your favorite lit novels from the CBA?
Two in my long list of favorites are Flabbergasted by Ray Blackston and Miss Match by Erynn Mangum.
Where would you go on your dream “research” trip, and would you take anyone with you? Who?I don’t have a story for it yet, but send me back to Antigua, Guatemala, and I’m sure I could come up with one. I was there briefly in high school and loved the cobblestone streets, the cathedral ruins, drinking hot chocolate at midnight in a café while someone walked around playing a guitar…Sigh. I would take my husband. If I could get him on a plane.
If you could live in a novel, which one would you choose?
Out of the ones I’ve written, I’d choose Bliss. As much as I love writing suspense, I’d much rather live in a fun, happy world. J Out of the ones I’ve read…how about Secrets by Kristen Heitzmann? I’d love to try Lance’s food and see that house.
If you weren’t pursuing writing, is there another dream career you might be chasing?
My dad restores pianos and furniture. My grandpa restores furniture. My sister-in-law paints. And I love finding unique used furniture to fix up. I think it would be amazing to open a business with my family, building and painting and repurposing things to sell. J
Finally, share two pieces of advice—one writing-related and one not.
1. I say this over and over again, but it’s so important. Find other writers. Join writers’ organizations and critique groups. You need the support and the mentoring they offer. I especially love ACFW and My Book Therapy.
2. The best way (for me, at least), to find the willpower to clean your own house is to find an audio book. If it’s a good enough story, you’ll be looking for extra things to clean so you have an excuse to finish it. J
Jenness' Side of the Story
I put that question in an idea file--figured it would be a romantic comedy or chick lit--and put it away, then continued working on my romantic suspense novels.
Enter Tracy.
A new choir member, fresh from South Carolina with the accent and the fried chicken prowess to prove it. We talked some during rehearsals when the director was distracted. He didn't seem to mind, probably for two reason: he happened to be my father, and Tracy and I could make him laugh.
I started reading Tracy's blog. Her status updates on Yahoo 360. (It's been a while, eh?) She has this gift for taking a phrase and twisting it in an unexpected and humorous way. As we got to know each other a little better, she told me she'd like to write a book someday. When an update appeared saying her floor was so clean you could eat off of it...but she'd find you quite odd if you did, I figured writing humor was something this lady needed to do. Since I had had a romantic comedy attempt returned to me for being too slapstick, I thought maybe finding someone to help me write funny could be, well, fun. :-) So if I could find a story Tracy would be interested in co-authoring, I was ready to give it a try.
So out came the idea file. And the story about the poor girl addicted to horoscopes. And Tracy was interested. And that, my friends, was the beginning of a great writing partnership.
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