Thanks, Dylan—I’m thrilled to be with you today. I am a blog interview
virgin, so be gentle with me!
I will, and I promise to cuddle you afterwards. ;)
As many writers read this blog, I want to start with the most frequent question I hear from unpublished authors: What do you think is THE
most important thing writers can do to get an agent/publisher in
today's market?
·
Join a writer’s organization like RWA
(Romance Writers of America). You will learn about craft and the business of
being a published author. I would not have my contract with the Wild Rose Press
without the support and of our local RWA chapter, Sunshine State Romance
Authors (SSRA). I am very grateful.
·
Don’t be afraid to get your feet wet.
So you think your story isn’t perfect? We are all learning, every day. Jump in
and enter one of RWA’s contests: that’s how I got my contract. When I finaled
in NWHRWA’s Lone Star Contest, one of the judges, Allison Byers, editor at TWRP,
requested to read my full manuscript. And now she’s my editor extraordinaire!
Take a chance and let your baby see the light of day. You learn a lot from the
critiques.
·
Most of all, keep writing. Carve out a
routine and do your best to stick to it, even if it’s just 15 minutes a day. Keep
a writer’s journal, where you can encourage yourself, record your brilliant
ideas, and talk to your characters.
Excellent advice! If you could
have done anything differently with your writing career so far, what would it
be?
I wouldn’t
waste a minute being discouraged. I spent several years writing children’s
fiction, and came close to contracting my middle grade novel, but it didn’t pan
out. Did I fail? No. What I learned from writing for children has been a
tremendous help to me as I write historical romances.
Who are your
writing role models, and how have they influenced you?
I love Diana
Gabaldon’s writing and her ability to blend multiple genres so flawlessly. She’s
a genius. But my biggest role models are the founding members of Sunshine State
Romance Authors-you, Loretta Rogers, and Flossie Benton Rogers, multi-published
authors who share their experience and knowledge despite having very busy
lives. You three have shown me how it’s done: with class, generosity, and
kindness.
Aww! You're so sweet! :) Okay, now we know you've just released "Mercy of the Moon" but are you planning any
upcoming releases? Next books?
I am
currently working on the second book in my Rhythm of the Moon series, Heartbeat
of the Moon.
What's one fact
about you that most people don't know.
In 2006, I
volunteered in Romania at a failure to thrive clinic/orphanage with Global
Volunteers. It was a life-changing
experience for me.
My great
grandmother was a postwoman/midwife in the mountains of Idaho. It’s partly why
my heroine, Maggie is a midwife. My uncanny gift for knowing when someone’s
pregnant-sometimes before they do-is probably in my genes.
I fear the
pneumatic tube.
I know people
will want to check you out online. Can you give us your website links and
contact information?
@jennifer4taylor
Thanks for being here on your debut release day, Jennifer! I am loving your historical romance, "Mercy of the Moon" and am looking forward to more novels.
Strange things are happening in King’s Harbour. Midwife Maggie Wilson vows to find the person who almost murdered her sister. When her sister’s behavior ignites old superstitions, the townspeople threaten to send her to an asylum. Maggie turns to handsome Ian for help in a town where everybody is against her.
Apothecary Ian Pierce wants nothing more than to feel whole, as he does when he is near the beautiful midwife, singing to her soul with his music. Only then can he forget the horrors from his past when false accusations sent him to Bedlam.
When they unearth the deeds of a sinister killer, Ian’s most daunting battle will be to safeguard his sanity…and win Maggie’s heart.
The door swung open,
and Mr. Pierce, the singer from the kirkyard, thrust
himself into the room. He carried a body in his arms,
covered in a cloak. Blue-tinged, slender feet dangled
from the tattered, mud-soaked hem.
Samuel stared in slack-jawed shock and backed
away. “Why have you brought this body here?”
To Maggie’s astonishment, the body began
convulsing in great spasms, and the singer struggled to
hold it. The cloak fell off, revealing a shroud-wrapped
body, only the face exposed. The eyes, ice blue, stared
wide and unblinking and blank with terror.
Sarah’s eyes. Her lips blue, dirt-encrusted
eyelashes, cleft chin. “It cannot be,” Maggie whispered,
and shrank back. Coldness enveloped her, as if she had
slipped into a frozen lake, cold water surrounding her,
and could hear only muffled voices, echoing urgent and
sharp. She saw only shapes above the icy water.
“Miss Maggie.”
A voice, masculine and hoarse, broke through the
ice, and she stared into the singer’s eyes. They steadied
and warmed, pulled her out of her daze.
“We must move her by the fire and rid her of this
shroud,” Ian urged.
She took a deep, shaky breath. Yes. It was Sarah,
yet the eyes stared unseeing in a blue-mottled face
covered in dirt.
Samuel’s voice escalated in panic. “She was
buried, she was dead. I saw her. How can this be?” He
turned his head away.
Maggie grabbed him by the shoulders. “Samuel, you must look at her.
Somehow it is our Sarah.”
About the Author:
JenniferTaylor spent her childhood running wild on an Idaho mountainside. Although
she’s lived across the U.S., she is still an Idahoan at heart and a notorious
potato pusher. She has a degree in Human Services and worked as a roofer, a
hoofer, a computer data entry operator and a stay-at-home mom.
Music
has ruled her world since birth: she shimmied out of the womb with a bad case
of Boogie Fever, but soon fell in love with the lyrics, how the words fit
together perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle. Jennifer has dreamt of writing
romances since reading Wuthering Heights at the tender age of twelve, and now lives
that dream, using music on a daily basis to uplift and inspire her writing. It’s
no coincidence that Ian, the hero in Mercy of the Moon, uses music to win heroine Maggie’s heart.
Jennifer
lives in rural Florida with her husband and enjoys the comings and goings of
her three grown children and three grandchildren. She feverishly lobbies for
the return of breeches and would really love to see her husband of thirty-five
years in a pair.
