Our featured debut author today is not just an, well, author. She's also a mom to the coolest 2-year old girl, equestrian, web developer and a certified animal lover!
Jadie Jones
13 Random Facts
1. I have two jobs aside from writing. I am a web developer for small businesses, and I am also an equestrian (horse-back riding) coach for a competitive high school team. Additionally, I’m a full-time mom to the coolest two year old girl on the planet.
2. I have one brother. He works for the U.S. Department of Defense. During the hiring process, Federal agents interviewed my brother’s friends and family, including ex-girlfriends (poor guy.) Guess who they didn’t interview: me, the one tree-hugging hippy chick in our whole family. I have to admit, I was kind of disappointed.
3. In high school, I was 100% obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (Okay, I still am.) When a new episode ended, I would run to my dad’s computer, find the script on a fan website, and print it out. I saved every single script in a huge binder, and would tote in around school every day. High school was not an easy place for me, and in retrospect I think that binder became kind of a security blanket.
4. I consider myself “veggie friendly.” I don’t eat meat if I can help it. It’s not a taste thing – trust me, sometimes I still crave a cheese burger – but rather that I can’t accept how animals are often treated in mass-farming situations. Still, I think the larger disrespect is to throw meat away, so if I am invited to dinner at someone’s house, I will eat whatever is prepared instead of allowing it to go to waste.
5. I am very good at determining animals’ personalities and motivations. This probably comes from working with horses for nearly twenty years. It helps me explain to my students how certain horses need to be handled. I’ve also been asked to help friends/family pick out animals from local shelters for adoption.
(Sidenote: Well that explains your "Veggie friendly"-ness. I wish I could be like you, instead of being afraid of them!)
6. I can’t stand the feel of ice on the ends of my fingers. It literally makes me nauseous and I have to force myself not to yank my hand away.
7. I often have a hard time focusing. An idea will strike my brain like lightning and the rest of the world falls away. When I was in high school, I actually had to doodle on my paper to keep my brain in the classroom. I didn’t learn how to be a good student until college, where the classes engaged the creative side of my brain.
(Sidenote: Ohmygosh I'm like you! I'm glad not to be the only one. Hehe)
8. I can walk for hours on end. I was a college athlete (equestrian, cross country runner, and on the dance team.) I had a pretty serious injury my senior year, and was unable to run, ride, or use most cardio equipment, so I walked. Even now, ten years later, I walk for exercise, to help my brain work out a plot tangle, or simply to relax.
(Sidenote: Seriously? Are you my twin or something? I'm not a runner or a dancer but walking..feels good for me. Like you, I love it because it helps me relax and think more. I don't even feel exhausted no matter how long I was walking! Kind of weird but yeah.)
9. I also love to dance. There’s something about turning yourself loose to music – it makes me feel like my soul is rising to the edges of my skin. On the flipside, I am terrified to sing in front of anyone. Only my daughter has ever heard me sing.
10. Most bugs don’t bother me at all, even spiders, bees, roaches, worms, etc. But a wasp will turn me into a total ninja.
(Sidenote: No way. I hate insects!)
11. I am a big believer in shopping second-hand. My family owns several consignment stores, and my brother and I were raised on the principles of resale, reuse, and repurpose. I can buy better quality items, often new with tags, for a fraction of the retail price. I enjoy refinishing lackluster pieces of furniture, or even turning scrap wood into artwork.
12. Jadie Jones is a pen name. When I was working on the first draft of Moonlit, one of my good friends helped me figure out several holes in the plot. She’d recently lost her mother, and was having a very difficult time. I told her that if I ever published the story, I’d find a way to use her mother’s name. Jadie is for her – Judy Dawn (JD.) Jones is in honor of my grandmother, who is not only my favorite person on the planet, but one of the most literary people I know. She once said to me that had she had a little more faith in herself, she would’ve gone after a career in journalism. This is my way of putting at least part of her name in print.
13: My debut year has been unbelievable – and unbelievably fast. The week Moonlit released, I held a very successful launch party and then left 36 hours later for a three day event in New York. I sold out in a day and a half. It was the most thrilling feeling in the world. While I was there, I was invited to appear as a special guest at a world championship horse show in Oklahoma City. I said yes as fast as I could. That trip was so much fun. I learned how to lasso and scored an awesome pair of authentic cowboy boots (and sold a ton of books, too.)
My favorite part, hands down, is that I’ve accomplished the only goal I set for myself at the start of this: I want just one person who doesn’t personally know me to deeply, truly love Moonlit and my main character, Tanzy Hightower. About two weeks after publication, a fan emailed me, raving about the book and begging me to tell her when the sequel would come out. I printed her letter and put it on my wall. If I ever read a negative review that makes me second guess myself, I look at that fan’s email and think: if I’d never written Moonlit, she couldn’t have taken that journey; and what a shame that would’ve been for us both.
I’ve been blessed to receive many fan emails since that first one, and my priority is giving my tribe of supporters everything they deserve in the rest of the series. I am eager to deliver the sequel, currently dubbed “Windswept,” which is slated for a mid-2014 release. With the last couple months of the year, I intend to draft the third and final installment of the Moonlit series. This has, without a doubt, been the best year of my life. I feel like I’ve finally found what I’m meant to do.
Thank you so much for having me!
(Sidenote: Aw, thank YOU for joining us! Congratulations on your achievements!)
***
More about Jadie!
Young-adult author. Equine professional. Southern gal. Especially fond of family, sunlight, and cookie dough.
I wrote my first book in seventh grade, filling one hundred and four pages of a black and white Mead notebook. Back then I lived for two things: horses and R.L. Stine books. Fast forward nearly twenty years, and I work with horses as a coach for the Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA) and hoard books like most women my age collect shoes. Its amazing how much changes... and how much stays the same.
The dream of publishing a novel has hitch-hiked with me down every other path I've taken (and there have been many.) Waitress, farm manager, road manager, bank teller, speech writer, retail, and more. But that need - the call from within to bring pen to paper - refused to quiet. Finally, in 2009, I sat down, pulled out a brand new notebook, and once again let the pictures in my head become words on paper.
Then I got married. Moved. Life sped up the way that it does, claiming each day faster than the last. I became a mother, and my manuscript reverted to something I would do one day. Thankfully, babies take naps, and there's only so much daytime television a person can stomach. And Tanzy, that main character of mine, was shouting at me from my office: "Hellooo? We aren't done yet, Jadie." So I pulled her out. I read our story. I tore it to pieces. And then I put it back together again.
p.s. Like the way I ramble? Be sure to visit my blog: www.jadiejones.blogspot.com
Now lay your eyes on Jadie's debut novel!
(Moonlit #1)
by Jadie Jones
Published April 16th 2013 by WiDo Publishing
Blurb (Goodreads):
Eighteen-year-old Tanzy Hightower knows horses, has grown up with them on Wildwood Farm. She also knows not to venture beyond the trees that line the pasture. Things happen out there that cannot be explained. Or undone. Worse, no one but she and the horses can see what lurks in the shadows of the woods.
When a moonlit ride turns into a terrifying chase, Tanzy is left to question everything, from the freak accident that killed her father to the very blood in her veins. Broken and confused, she turns to Lucas, a scarred, beautiful stranger, and to Vanessa, a charming new friend who has everything Tanzy doesn’t.
But why do they seem to know more about her than she knows herself?
Head over to Oops! I Read A Book Again for her featured author, Stephanie Wardrop!
Yesterday: Elisabeth Dahl (Genie Wishes) and Krystalyn Drown (Legasea)
Tomorrow: Kara Taylor (Prep School Confidential) and Lydia Kang (Control)
Tomorrow: Kara Taylor (Prep School Confidential) and Lydia Kang (Control)
Check out the full schedule here.
Calling YA/NA/MG debut authors of 2014! Want to join us on this fun event? Fill out this form! Don't forget to spread the word with your debuting friends!
GIVEAWAY!
- 1 copy
- open internationally
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Calling YA/NA/MG debut authors of 2014! Want to join us on this fun event? Fill out this form! Don't forget to spread the word with your debuting friends!
GIVEAWAY!
- 1 copy
- open internationally
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you so much for having me!
ReplyDeleteLove + Luck
JDJ