I get asked a lot of questions, mostly in interviews but sometimes off the cuff from readers. I’m going to start expanding on those questions here…but if you have any questions of your own, please don’t hesitate to ask and I’ll do my best to answer!
Here’s a question I’ve been asked on several occasions…
What made you want to be an author?
There was never a “defining moment,” like there is with so many other authors. I was born a writer. As soon as I could put pen to paper, I had to tell stories and write poems and plays. I never had a choice in the matter. I remember at the age of four wanting to unravel the mystery of words. I just knew there was something cool and secret in the things the adults in my life translated from the unknown code of written language, and I remember my grandmother telling me she’d get me started writing. She gave me a pencil and had me draw circles to prepare me for writing cursive. But, dang it, Grandma, that’s not what I meant! I wanted to write and read, not draw. My artistic talent is not in pictures but in words.
That said, I’ve always been compelled to write and so I wrote my first “book” in middle school (I’d written dozens of poems prior to that). I actually wrote eight books to that little mystery “series” (and, in spite of the fact that I really can’t draw, I illustrated it anyway, a la the Nancy Drew books I was reading at the time). Writing is fulfilling, and there’s a lot to be said about creating a reality that doesn’t really exist. What keeps me writing sometimes, though, is that I often don’t know all the details of the stories I’m writing until they’re down on paper…and even I encounter some surprises on occasion. That keeps it fun–and exciting–for me as well. But what made me want to be an author? There was never any thought to it. I just was one.
Before the days of simple self-publishing, I did submit to agents and publishing houses, and I have been published (under another name) in just about every way possible, except “big” publishing (novels). I’ve had poetry, short stories, articles, and academic essays published in some pretty respectable places (but, like I said, don’t look for them, because you won’t find them as Jade)…but the novel had always eluded me. I’m so glad I gave indie publishing a try, because my audience has found me and I get to write the stories I’ve wanted and needed to for so long!
If you have questions for me, just ask!
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