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ABOUT YOU:
1. Tell us about a unique or quirky habit of yours.
I have this habit of talking to myself. I have conversations as my characters. I talk out loud, sometimes in the shower, sometimes in the car, sometimes in a pitch-dark room where I can visualize what’s going on in the conversation.
2. If we opened your browser history, what would we find?
You’ll find that I don’t save my browser history! LOL. I usually use my browser in “stealth” mode. BUT…if you found anything, it would be Baby Yoda.
3. What is your favourite genre to read, and why?
Contemporary romance. I can lose myself in it. Fantastical or historical books sometimes makes my brain work too hard trying to imagine the aesthetic. It’s odd, though, because I wrote a vampire trilogy that started in the 1400s. :D
4. What are your favourite pizza toppings?
Black olives, spinach, and feta cheese. But the pizza has to be special because I’m not a huge fan of pizza. Chicago style…YUM. Thin crust…not so much. I like thick, cheesy – did I mention cheesy – pizza.
5. Sing in the rain or dance in the streets?
Sing in the rain.
6. If you could choose three people to invite for a dinner party, who would they be and why?
Diane Lane, Gal Gadot, Angelina Jolie. Could you imagine the conversation? The lives they’ve led. And their voices! Ugh. I’d just sit there in awe listening to them speak about anything and everything.
7. What is your motto in life?
Nothing, what’s the motto with you? :D Um, I don’t know if I’ve ever had one. Recently I’ve realized that life is shorter than you can imagine. Love and let live. Drama isn’t worth it. Do what you need and want to do in life. Don’t wait. Remember the good. Let go of the bad.
8. Tomorrow I absolutely refuse to…
Hmmm…I don’t usually do things I don’t want to do. And I usually do the things I DO want to do…so…I refuse to change who I am.
9. Tell us a funny incident/embarrassing moment in your life.
Oh gosh. Let’s see. When I was a senior in high school, we had what we called Senior day. Our class (of 72 or less because I lived in a tiny town) went to the college coliseum in the town next to ours. We spent all day out of our cliques getting to know each other again. It was all well and good…until…We were all standing in a big circle holding hands. I don’t even remember why or what we were doing. Maybe something like Red Rover. I just remember one of my friends running towards me. I had on a baseball jersey that buttoned up the front (as they do). Well, her hand got caught on my shirt and ripped it right open. I flashed my ENTIRE class. I still blush about that.
ABOUT WRITING:
1. How long have you been writing for and when did you first realise you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve been writing ever since I was a teenager. It was a way to escape the demons in my head that plagued me from my past. They were just little stories. It wasn’t until I saw the movie Unfaithful that I realized I wanted to be a writer. That’s when I wrote Something About Eve.
2. What comes first, the plot or the characters?
Hmm. Characters for the most part. And then they tell me who they are and what’s happened in their lives. Then I go from there.
3. When you’re writing an emotionally draining (or sexy, or sad, etc) scene, how do you get in the mood?
Music. My soundtrack changes during the difficult and sexy scenes. I can listen to an entire playlist or one song on repeat depending on what I’m writing. I have to find a song that makes me feel an emotion. Sex is the hardest thing for me to write, so it could take me quite a while to get through it if I don’t have the right music.
4. When writing a series, how do you keep things fresh for both your readers and also yourself?
I think the readers help me keep it fresh. Their enthusiasm for certain characters makes it easy on my end to keep them alive. I don’t think my readers would have any issue telling me something is boring, and I need to spice it up, so I encourage them to let me know what they’re thinking. I can also get ideas from their interpretation of my work. One reader painted a sensual pole dancer. That’s something I can use to keep it all fresh.
5. What is the one piece of advice you would give to yourself/or a new writer?
Don’t be afraid to write what you want to write. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Don’t be afraid to throw the formula out the window and create your own formula. Don’t be afraid of someone’s thoughts because you know you’ll never please everyone. That was more than one piece….
6. What’s your next project?
A book that is as close to an autobiography as I’ll probably get. It’ll focus on a writer whose mother has Alzheimer’s. Many of my interactions with my mom will be in the book. There will be romance in the book – which will be fiction – because I write romance. But it will be a sort of retelling of my journey with my mom.
ABOUT YOUR BOOKS:
1. Tell us about your first published book? What was the journey like?
Something About Eve. It was scary! I got an editor that cut like half the book out. I shopped that thing around like it was an epic book. I spoke to one of the top agents in NYC about it. And the thing I remember most that she told me is how she loved my writing. But she couldn’t get behind the book because she didn’t believe in the content. That’s when I realized I wanted to do this myself. I don’t want to rely on someone who doesn’t love my characters and content as much as I do.
2. What is the most surprising thing you discovered while writing your book(s)?
How draining it can be once you’ve finished writing it. There’s a bit of an emptiness when I write The End (or whatever clever thing I try to think of). Then, being an Indie author, I get overwhelmed with how much work it is getting it out there.
3. Do you have a favourite character that you have written? If so, who? And what makes them so special?
Eve, I think. I love them all and if you tell them any differently, I’ll deny it. But Eve helped me address my past so I’ll always have a special place in my heart for her.
4. Where can readers purchase your books?
Amazon or my website www.jourdynkelly.com
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