Avalon Books - Author! Author!


	Read some interviews from past editions:
		Zelda Benjamin April, 2008
		Shirley Marks December, 2007
		Donna Wright December, 2007
		Carolyn Brown August, 2007
		Roni Denholtz June, 2007
		Tara Randel April, 2007
		Sydell Voeller February, 2007
		Sheila Robins December, 2006
		Ann Holt October, 2006
		Cynthia Danielewski July, 2006
		Jane McBride Choate March, 2006
		Kathryn Meyer Griffith January, 2006
		Mel Taylor November, 2005
		Kathleen Fuller September, 2005
		Tracey J. Lyons July, 2005
		Ludima Gus Burton May, 2005
		Holly Jacobs March, 2005
		Sandra D. Bricker January, 2005
		Kathryn Quick November, 2004
		Cheri Jetton September, 2004
		Heather S. Webber July, 2004
		Karl Fieldhouse May, 2004
		Shelley Galloway March, 2004
		Ilsa Mayr January, 2004
		Kathy Carmichael November, 2003
		Dorothy P. O'Neill July, 2003
		Joani Ascher May, 2003
		Patricia DeGroot March, 2003
		Nancy J. Parra January, 2003
		Barbara Meyers November, 2002
		Christine Bush September, 2002
		Debby Mayne July, 2002
		Charles E. Friend March, 2002
		Norma Seely January, 2002
		Glen Ebisch November, 2001
		Gina Cresse September, 2001
		John Paxson July, 2001
		Terri Alcock May, 2001
		Clifford Blair March, 2001
		Amanda Harte January, 2001
		Kent Conwell November, 2000
		Carolyn Brown September, 2000
		Annette Mahon July, 2000
		Marjorie McGinley May, 2000
		Jack Lewis March, 2000
		Amanda Harte January, 2000
		Joyce and Jim Lavene November, 1999
	Return to the current Author! Author! interview:
		S.J. Stewart April, 2008


Author! Author!: May, 2002
Click on images to learn more about these books. An Interview with Jean C. Gordon

Have you always wanted to be a writer?
	I have since high school. But I wanted to be a journalist, which I have been. I’ve worked as a feature writer for several newspapers and as a financial editor. I didn’t think about being a novelist until about ten years ago.
Why the change?
	I’m kind of a computer fanatic, as well as an avid reader. When we got our first computer Internet connection, I joined several reader/writer bulletin boards. The conversations there made me realize that I had all these story ideas in my head and no outlet for them. I can be only so creative in my financial writing.
Why did you decide to write romance?
	Romance is my favorite fiction genre. It’s uplifting and entertaining. As a reader and writer, I really enjoy getting inside the characters’ heads, seeing how they grow and work out their differences, and achieve “happily ever after.” I am a firm believer in pursuing happily every afters -- both in books and in real life.
Where do you get your story ideas?
	I often get ideas from news stories. The idea for my first book, Bachelor Father, came from an article in a newsletter I receive from the adoption agency through which we adopted our son. An article about a Securities Exchange Commission investigation that I read about in The Wall Street Journal gave me the seed for the plot of my second book, Love Undercover. My family unknowingly gives me ideas, too, through their interests, activities, and friends. Mandy and the Mayor, my latest book took shape this way.
Are your characters based on real people?
	Yes and no. Most of my characters’ personalities are combinations of people I know, a little bit of me, and how I would like people to be.
Do you use props to make your characters and/or story more real to you as you’re writing?
	While some authors, do, I don’t use props to any great extent. Once I have an idea of who my characters are, I usually also have a fairly good picture of them in my mind. Because I am a visual person, though, sometimes I will look through magazines for a picture that looks like my hero or heroine or an important building or landscape featured in the story and keep the picture(s) by me when I’m writing to stay immersed in the story. I also like to test action scenes with my husband to make sure I’m not having the hero or heroine doing something awkward or physically impossible. Once such scene that comes to mind has the hero and heroine in Mandy and the Mayor falling off a log.
Your first three books are set in Upstate New York. How did you choose this rather unusual setting?
	Except for two years when I went to college in Los Angeles, I have always lived in a small town or village in Upstate or Western New York. Since I like small town life, and know small-town New York, setting my books here seemed natural. Also, traveling around the country, I’ve found that many people don’t even know there are small villages and farms in New York State. By using an Upstate setting, I get the word out in a small way that there is more to New York than big cities. As a native New Yorker, I think we have everything here, from the bustle of New York City to the serenity of the Adirondack Mountains to the wonder of Niagara Falls.
Your book covers say you are a financial editor and financial planner, as well as an author. When do you find time to write?
	I get up by about 5:30 almost every morning and try to write at least two pages before I leave for work. Often, I will edit what I’ve written in the morning when I get home in the evening. My fiction writing has become such a necessary part of my life that if a miss a day of writing, I feel like something is missing. Of course, it helps that my family is grown now and, although we share a duplex with my daughter and her family, I can send my grandchildren back to their side of the house if I’m really trying to write.
What are you working on now?
	I’m currently writing the first book in a three-book series set primarily in tenth century Scotland. The heroine is a Viking warrior. I’m fascinated by history. Historical romances and sagas are my favorites, so I was very excited when Avalon Books announced it would be publishing historical romances, along with the contemporary lines. I also have an idea for another contemporary romance -- a reunion story featuring a motorcross racer and a physical therapist -- tucked away in a folder on my computer.
What advice would you give an aspiring writer?
	Don’t be afraid to put your words on paper and get them out for others to see. I’ve seen too many aspiring authors who hesitate to show their work to anyone and never submit their completed books to any editors. They spend years rewriting what they’ve already written. Letting someone else read your work and getting feedback from another writer can help an aspiring author see where his/her writing weaknesses are and determine if a manuscript is ready to submit to an editor.