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Up until a few years ago, writing a book was not a factor of my reality.
Barring college art history papers on the Baths of Caracalla and Roman Art and
Architecture, or a resume, I had not typed a word of nonfiction, plot or
anything resembling a chapter since high school. Yet it has recently occurred
to me that I’ve always been a writer. I started life with a crayon in my hand.
I drew everything that came to mind. I drew stories. I drew characters. I drew
scenery and events and themes and emotions. As a first grader, I declared I was
going to be a picture book illustrator and imitated all of my favorite book artists.
I grew older and became let down by middle grade novels with sparse pen and ink
illustrations. I wanted to be the artist, the creative hand who drew on the
pages what I imagined in my mind. In
high school and college, my writing emptied out of a paintbrush in watercolor
illustrations. Detailed faces and landscapes came out of colored pencils and
charcoal. I spent a good portion of my adulthood doing portraits and random
freelance design. Until one day my characters demanded voices, conversation and
personalities. Now they grace the pages of my stories.
It was a chilly winter day in 2010 when I first set my laptop on the
kitchen table and watched the white backyard become striped with sled tracks
and footprints. After a stretch of reminiscing and daydreaming, I began typing
the story of how my husband and I met in high school. My tale of a
seventeen-year-old girl blindfolded for a psychology experiment, being teased
by her secret admirer in the art room, morphed into a young adult novel full of
magical realism and teen romance. There was no method to my writing and I found
myself pouring the words onto the pages. Something wonderful overcame me and in
a handful of weeks I finished my first novel. Within a year I wrote a handful
of books and signed with the Belcastro Agency where I began my journey to
publication. I’ve penned several young
adult novels and there are many waiting for their turn inside me. My upcoming
young adult romance STUBBORN is available from Champagne Books on January 6th
followed by THE HAUNT OF THIRTEEN CURVES in June. My writing
gives me the most creative satisfaction, an outlet, completeness. So for now,
the paintbrushes are stashed away and the laptop is my canvas.
Bio:
Jeanne Arnold is an author of young adult romance. At a young age she
found her creative outlet in art, and for years her fictional characters came
to life in drawings and paintings, until they demanded a voice. Now they grace
the pages of her stories. Jeanne shares her time with her fictional teenage
counterparts and her human family in Central New York .
STUBBORN blurb:
With a train ticket, a bad attitude, and an unfortunate scribbling of
obscenities across her forehead, seventeen-year-old Avery Ross is tossed out of
the frying pan and into the fire when she’s sent from New
York to the vast oil field region of North Dakota
Defiant and relegated to work at her aunt’s boarding house, Avery
discovers a connection between her aunt and the striking boy. He and his
brothers are seeking revenge for the wrongful death of their sibling, and Avery
becomes entangled in their battle over oil rights, loyalty, and love. Avery falls for the brooding, younger
brother, Gabriel Halden, against her aunt’s forewarnings and creates more
tribulations than any of them could anticipate.
STUBBORN will be available in e-format on January 6th, 2014 at all major
online retailers. You can follow Jeanne Arnold online at:
Website: www.jeannearnoldbooks.com
Twitter: twitter.com/jeannesbooks
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/jeannesbooks
Tumblr: jeannesbooks.tumblr.com
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/jeannesbooks/boards/
2 comments:
Wow, Jeanne, within a handful of weeks you finished your first novel! Very impressive. It takes me so long to write...I better step it up. Congratulations, can't wait to read Stubborn.
Thanks, Jeanne, for being my guest this week. Wow, I love that cover for your upcoming release.
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