Interview With Author Jeanie Wolfe
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am the youngest of four children. My mother was a junior high school teacher and girl’s counselor. My father was a college professor who traditionally published many textbooks. We had an awesome family, not wealthy, but lots of books and lot of love. Books filled our home and when my dad began writing, which back then was on a typewriter, I always knew he’d found his bliss. His passion for books and writing greatly impacted me. Writing has been a part of my life since I was young. As a professional, I wrote mostly technical pieces. I decided to follow my dreams and start writing creatively in 2008. I’ve spent my entire life inventing character names and stories, and it’s been an absolute joy to watch them transform into real books. Thanks to Amazon, my paperbacks now sit on the shelf next to my dad’s and countless others.
I’ve written six novels and have self-published three of them. All are cozy mysteries: Murder After Hours, Twisted Fate, and Murder at the Christmas Wedding. The three are now available as an eBook box set.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Murder at the Christmas Wedding is the third in the Starry Hill Cozy Mystery series. The setting is a fictional town located east of the Cascade Range in Washington State. My mind always wanders back to the beautiful snowy mountains, where I lived for years, with their winding back roads, mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, and streams. The series begins with the protagonist going through a painful divorce. Along the journey, she meets Mr. Right and they fall in love. In this third book, they have plans to get married at Christmas time, but there’s a blizzard and one cook turns up dead. It was fun to draw from real-life experiences of driving in blizzard conditions. I added the celebrity chefs, as I’ve enjoyed watching some of the cooking shows on TV.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Growing up with three active siblings and two busy parents, there was always a constant buzz of activity around me. Like my father, I became skilled at blocking out the happy chaos and immersing myself in my projects. I can escape into my own little world, where outside noise fades away. My best friend calls it going down the rabbit hole.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
My father was a tremendous influence, as he had such a love of writing and books. My mother did too, and she read a lot of mysteries. She and I stayed up late at night watching scary movies, and I just always loved mysteries. Sherlock Holmes with Nigel Bruce and Basil Rathbone were favorite after school shows. Then I read Edgar Allan Poe, Lewis Carroll, Agatha Christie, and other books, such as The Pink Dress by Anne Alexander. Old Yeller and Savage Sam by Fred Gipson. In high school, I became interested in science fiction and read Ray Bradbury, Aldous Huxley, and was introduced to Kurt Vonnegut with the Sirens of Titan. I went on to read many other books by Vonnegut.
What are you working on now?
I have two major projects I’m working on now: The fourth in the Starry Hill Cozy Mystery series, Murder at Misty Creek, and a Prayer Journal.
I’ve plotted Murder at Misty Creek and have drafted a synopsis and the first five chapters. I’m hoping to have it ready to launch by mid April.
The idea of the Prayer Journal came to me while using one that I bought. Although there are many things I enjoy about the prayer journal I bought, as a writer, I find the provided spaces too cramped. So, I’m designing an 8.5 x 11 for my use and perhaps others will find it useful too. I’m planning to launch that around Easter.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m grateful for the plethora of websites out there to help us indie authors promote our books. My first book just came out in July 2023, and I’ve found the following to be invaluable: Critique Circle, Scrivener, Atticus, Book Sirens, GoDaddy, Awesome Gang, Crave Books, All Author, Kindlepreneur, Prowritingaid, Grammarly, Autocrit, and Anne R Allen’s super fantastic blog.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
As a new author, I’m still learning the ropes in a rapidly changing field. Many have provided me with valuable information through books and the internet, for which I am grateful. One of the most helpful resources for planning a book launch came from Kindlepreneur’s Book Launch Strategy https://kindlepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Book-Launch-Strategy.pdf. This includes steps for building an ARC team, and getting editorial reviews. For building an ARC team, Book Sirens has been extremely helpful. For editorial reviews, I’ve been delighted with Readers’ Favorite.
You can spend a lot of money promoting your books, so I recommend setting a monthly budget and sticking to it. When investing in promotions, focus on one at a time and assess their success by examining sales generated and Amazon sales rank. I set up an excel spreadsheet to help keep track of promos and results.
It was more than a little scary to push the launch button on my first book last year. I found solace in my Prayer Journal and discovered St. Francis de Sales, the Patron Saint of Journalists and Writers. “Be at peace,” he said. (I’m trying.)
I also particularly like Heinlein’s Rules:
“1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you start.
3. You must refrain from rewriting (except to editorial demand).
4. You must put it on the market.
5. You must keep it on the market until sold.“
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Only a small number of readers leave reviews, so don’t worry about it. Just keep writing.
What are you reading now?
During the day, I’m reading Murder at Hawthorn Cottage by Betty Rowlands and it’s very good. She’s an excellent writer. I love reading interesting stories that are well written as they help me learn to be a better writer.
Every night, I read aloud to my husband, a tradition we started years ago, just like my parents. It’s an interesting book, One More Day Everywhere: Crossing 50 Borders on the Road to Global Understanding by Glen Heggstad. The author is an interesting person from California who’s traveled around the world via motorcycle. I read his other book, Two Wheels Through Terror: Diary of a South American Motorcycle Odyssey, which included his capture by Colombia’s rebel ELN army.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I have the next three Starry Hill books plotted and planned. I hope to launch them this year.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Hmmm. I once read Alex Sheshunoff’s delightful book, A Beginner’s Guide to Paradise: A True Story for Dreamers, Drifters, and Other Fugitives from the Ordinary, in which he tells of having a quarter-life crisis, quitting his job (which ironically was his own business) and packing up the 100 books he was most embarrassed not to have read and taking them to a small island in the Pacific to read. He got to pick 100 books. Which 3 or 4 would I take? Possibly Sheshunoff’s again. It was very fun.
I’d also need my Padre Pio’s Spiritual Direction for Every Day and of course The Bible. Then it would have to be either Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection.
But I’d really like a western too. How about A Million Ways to Die in the West by Seth MacFarlane? And a good history book…This is a scary question!! I hope I never have to face it for real. Honestly, if the tsunami alarm went off and I had to grab a book, I think I’d be under water still trying to decide.
I don’t think I’m doing this right. Do I get extra credit for listing more than 4 books?
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