Online I met Jennifer (Jen) Dodrill. One of the reasons I wanted to become her friend is that she earned a graduate degree at the University of Southern Mississippi, which is the college I attended and earned my Bachelor of Arts.
1. Tell me about yourself.
My dad was
in the Navy until I was two. We lived in Virginia and moved to Gulf Breeze, FL
when I started 6th grade. I went to college in Pensacola,
earning a bachelor's degree in Speech Communication. It was a mistake! I
thought I'd be helping kids who had speech problems. Lesson learned!
After
college, I moved to Nashville and met my husband who was going into the Navy.
We got engaged two months later and married five months after that! We didn't
move a lot, but he was on sea duty for over 14 years and served a total of
almost 23 years. We have 5 kids, all grown, plus 2 granddaughters and our first
grandson is due in November. Eddie and I have been married almost 38 years and
he is my best friend.
I
homeschooled my youngest 3 kids and also blogged about homeschooling, wrote
magazine articles and guest blog posts. I even spoke at a number of online
homeschool conferences. I know that all of these experiences have been
helpful as I've turned to writing.
It's the
hard times that have increased my faith in God. I learned to rely on Him and
allow Him to be my rock when I found out a family member was an addict. Then
two years ago, my dad had terminal cancer. His wife decided she couldn't live
without him and took her life. Unimaginable pain for all of us. I had the
privilege of staying with Dad until he died. Life isn't easy, and these are
just a few things I've dealt with, but God is faithful.
I just signed a 3-book
series contract with Scrivenings Press for my cozy mystery series - The Empty
Nesters Cozy Mystery! Book #1, Birds Alive!, is due out late Feb 2024. I'm
working on book 2 now and just got back from seeing my mom in Pensacola and doing
some research for this book out at Fort Pickens.
I've also written a
contemporary fiction novel that deals with addiction in the family. I'm still
looking for a publisher for it. This novel is something I think will offer hope
and joy to others who live with addiction in the family. It's fiction but is
honest about the toll addiction takes on everyone involved.
I have another contemporary
fiction novel in the works, and so many other ideas just waiting to be written!
3. Tell me about your writing habits.
This made me chuckle. I
don't work so I get to write whenever I want! I do my best in the morning with
coffee and my black cat, Tom, by my side. I will confess that I can do all
kinds of things other than write. I even recently started a coffee mug shop on
Redbubble - JDMugs!
I use Save the Cat Beat
Sheets to plan my books, but I'm more of a pantser than an actual plotter. The
Beat Sheets help me stay on track.
When I stayed with my dad I
came up with the idea for my cozy series. Dad and his wife were big birders and
I'm an empty nester. So, my series is about an empty nester who starts a
birding group to meet people and then she starts finding dead people!
My goals for my writing - I
want to inspire, encourage, and offer hope to people. I am a Christian and
there is a thread of my faith in my books. I also love to make people laugh so
there is always humor, even in the serious novel. I think my readers will be
women 40s and up. Women who want to read about real life, sometimes the hard
stuff, and find a way to walk in joy.
5. Mention some books you like to read.
I read for escape, and I
read a lot. I'm stuck on psychological thrillers/suspense at the moment, but I
also read cozies, mysteries, and historical fiction.
I use The Emotion Thesaurus
almost daily. I also have read On Writing by Stephen King, Save the Cat Writes
a Novel, Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell, and The Dance of Character
& Plot by DiAnnMills. I have more books on my shelf in my study that I will
use as needed.
The first thing I did when
I got serious about writing was attend writing conferences. In 2022 I went to
the Asheville Christian Writing Conference and met Larry Leech. He was
incredibly encouraging and answered so many of my questions. I also went to the
Scrivenings Press Writers Retreat that year and to the Florida Christian
Writing Conference. I'm active in 2 critique groups - one with ACFW and one
with Word Weavers. I still have so much to learn!
6. Talk a little about your platform.
I started
using social media when I blogged about homeschooling, so I understood how
important that is for a writer. Now I blog at Jen Dodrill
Writes and I'm actively working on building my newsletter email list! Because - publishers
want writers to have social media and a newsletter! Plus, I like to talk/write
so I get to share in many areas.
You can also find me
on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (X),
and Pinterest!
