Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am the author of nine books, including the award-winning Hetta Coffey series. Hetta is a sassy Texan with a snazzy yacht, and she’s not afraid to use it!
A ninth-generation Texan, I’ve lived and worked all over the globe, and much like the protagonist in her Hetta Coffey mystery series, I’m a woman with a yacht and not afraid to use it. I write humorous mystery laced with adventure.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Just Needs Killin’, book six in the Hetta Coffey series, finds Hetta still aboard her boat in Mexico’s hauntingly beautiful and remote Sea of Cortez. Hetta, a civil engineer with her own consulting firm, is finishing up her latest job at a Baja mining project when she and her best friend, Jan, become embroiled in a somewhat iffy treasure hunt, a murder, and then they run into an old nemesis who just needs killin’.
I write the Hetta Coffey series based on my past thirty years of boating, with twenty-five of them in the Sea of Cortez, where it is hard NOT to get new ideas; after all, many are based on true events.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I love writing on the boat, and doing my research on dry land. A lot of that has to do with the lack of Internet in many of my favorite anchorage.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love anything written by Larry McMurtry and Nelson DeMille. They combine humor and adventure to tell a good tale. Maybe I should change my name to Jinx DeSchwartz or McSchwartz?
What are you working on now?
I am writing Hetta #7, no title yet. Hetta is still in the Sea of Cortez and, as usual, getting mixed up in stuff that is none of her business. Of course, she is.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Facebook and Twitter have be very good for getting my name out, and sites like this one take it another step.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just do it. I have been self-published, small press published, and now I am an indie. I am finally, after years of getting my books out there in various forms, actually making a success of it.
One thing I have to make very clear; edit. Oh, and then edit. And edit again. The competion is fierce, and readers can be unforgiving. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Fire your publisher.
What are you reading now?
I am reading Wayne Stinnett’s latest in his Fallen series.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I will continue with Hetta until I can no longer keep the adventures fresh. Then? Danged if I know.
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?
Lonesome Dove, and two really long, boring classics. That way I will finally have to read them to the end.
Author Websites and Profiles
Jinx Schwartz Website
Jinx Schwartz Amazon Profile
Jinx Schwartz’s Social Media Links
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