Maggie Jaimeson

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve written 20 books under three names. I write adult fiction (SF, Fantasy, Suspense, Romance) under Maggie Jaimeson. I write YA and children’s fiction under Maggie Faire. My non-fiction books are under Maggie Lynch. I’ve been fortunate to have a long and varied career in psychology, computer science, and education. Since 2013 I’ve been able to stay home and write full time.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Heart Strings, the third book in the Sweetwater Canyon contemporary romance series.

Sarah Cosgrave has been the quiet character in the first two novels. She has a deep Christian faith and has often found herself at odds with the decisions and behaviors of her bandmates. All people have some trauma in their background–for some it is around common experiences like betrayal and distrust. For others it is around larger experiences like assault, dysfunctional families, poverty, or death of a parent or child.

Many people believe that those with a deep faith have it easier–that their belief in a caring and loving God makes it easier to face trauma. I don’t believe it is any easier to face, whether you are Christian or not. However, once one comes to terms with the trauma and is still able to maintain their faith, then perhaps it is easier to accept. However, what I wanted to explore in this story is the existential struggle when someone’s faith is in the balance.

When I was about 10 years old a younger brother died of heart failure. Though he was often ill and hospitalized. As a ten year old I had a simple faith that God would cure him. When he died I was so angry at what I perceived as a betrayal of my faith, that when the pastor visited and offered to comfort me I kicked him in the teeth. Yes, I actually drew blood. Fortunately, the pastor forgave me and understood my combination of anger and grief.

That was a child’s reaction. In many ways, I was fortunate to come to grips with my faith and balancing it against the realities of life at such a young age. The timeline of a child is small. A child has not yet experienced how years and years can add to the questions. I believe that for adults the struggle becomes existential and even more painful. The answers to the questions are more complex and will eventually drive someone either away from their beliefs or more deeply into them.

It is this struggle that Sarah will face–coming to grips with a dysfunctional past, the second death of a parent, and the betrayal of love. Though she is a faith-filled Christian, it is not an easy path. But it was one she must define in order to be whole and find love.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Of course, they aren’t unusual to me. 🙂 I am a slow riser. Though I awake at 6 or 7am, it is important to me that I take my time in the morning with breakfast, plenty of coffee, and reading the newspaper. This is what I call my wake-up-and-face-the-day time. Somewhere between 9 and 10am, I go for my morning walk. This puts me in a more meditative space where I can start to concentrate on the writing day to come.

Around 10am I sit down to write. I write or do admin work from then until 1 or 2pm depending on how things are going and where I am in the story. Then I take my lunch break, and three days of the week after lunch I go to the gym to work out. This is the weight lifting portion of my day. It’s a great time for me to exercise because it is also the time when I would most like to take a nap, so writing isn’t great from about 3-5pm.

After that I may return home and write for a couple more hours before dinner, or I’ll help with dinner. I am very fortunate because my husband loves to cook, and most of the time I leave him to it. But sometimes I get to play sous chef (i.e., chopper of onions, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, etc.). We eat around 7-8pm and then I usually go back to my office to write some more.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
So many authors have influenced me, and that is why I write in multiple genres. I’ve always had this dual love interest in philosophy and in science. My philosophy side was fed by romance and Women’s fiction because of how they dealt with relationships, which ultimately is what philosophy studies. My science side was filed with physics and math and thinking of the future. This my interest in SF and Fantasy.

In Contemporary Romance, I started with Nora Roberts in her Harlequin Days. I’ve always loved her character development and especially in series that involves complex family or friendship relationships. Influences in Romantic Suspense were from the Gothics written in the 1960’s and 70’s primarily from Victoria Holt.

In SF, I was a huge fan of Issac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, and Clifford Simak. Each of them looked at a future world or space in slightly different ways. Both Asimov and Simak seemed to be more optimistic in their books.

Today, many authors influence me. I read widely from romance to thrillers, and from literary fiction to memoirs. I’m always learning and always enjoying a new authors voice.

What are you working on now?
I am finishing up the third book in my YA Urban Fantasy series, Chameleon: The Summoning. The Forest People series features a human chameleon who is just learning of her powers and trying to understand her role in the world. It is a coming-of-age story but set in a world between our reality and that of a paranormal reality with multiple dimensions.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My website is maggielynch.com and it is the place that showcases all of my books, both fiction and non-fiction. I am also on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Google Plus. In terms of promotion, the best for me is through my email list. I find that my fans are there and that is where I can really share with them what is coming up, what I’m working on, and special opportunities for them. I do use social media to do that as well, but so far it doesn’t compare to my fans on my email list.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I think the best advice I have is to keep writing, be patient, and write what speaks to you. Write what YOU want to read. Too many people chase trends, only to find out that they really can’t write in that genre. I truly believe that if I write from my heart and what’s important to me, through my characters, that I will find my readers.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Two things:
1. Be your best self at all times. To me this means there is never a good excuse for being mean or putting others down in order to get ahead. My characters believe this too.

2. Treat others the way you would like to be treated. This is a version of The Golden Rule and it has served me very well throughout my life. Another version of this is Karma. I truly believe that when you help others, it comes back to you tenfold in ways you can’t begin to imagine. That is the Golden Rule and that is Karma.

What are you reading now?
Honestly, I am sooooo far behind in my reading. I have a TBR pile that is several bookshelves filled with books. That being said, I do occasionally take a day off of writing and spend the entire day reading. The last time I did that was two weeks ago when I read Diving into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I’m a fan of her SF books, but had never read this one (written in 2009) and saw it at my local bookstore. It was marvelous, as expected. She is another author who really knows how to create a character that is a bit closed off from the world, but has a deep desire to be part of something important. I gravitate to those characters.

What’s next for you as a writer?
This year I’m writing a book in each of my three series, and starting a new series for “New Adults” featuring the youngest person in my Sweetwater Canyon series as she goes off to college and meets new friends and new love interests. I’m excited to get that one started because it is a great bridge between writing coming-of-age teen stories and my adult romances. Returning to that time in my life and in my children’s life will be fun, exciting, and scary all at once.

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?
I’m going to cheat here and take three packaged book volumes because there is no way I can choose one book out of a series. 🙂

Nora Roberts Dream Trilogy
Octavia Butler Xenogenesis Trilogy
Bartlett’s Quotations (a great book with the wisdom of thousands)

Unfortunately, all three of these are huge volumes so I might drown if I were carry them on a boat and had to get them to shore. 🙂

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