Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jodi Bowersox. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jodi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I’m an author and an artist, and I’d have to say I learned to do what I do mostly by doing it. No one will ever learn to draw or paint by staring at art, although there is value in that, and no one will write a book if they never put their fingers to the keyboard. I got my start in writing long ago as the news reporter for several 4-H clubs. They kept electing me to the office because I actually liked doing it. I moved on to writing perfectly awful poetry, then slightly better poetry, then skits ands stage productions for kids and adults. Then I tried my hand at illustration to bring art and writing together to publish a children’s book. And all this time, I was reading great writers, absorbing the way they bring characters to life and weave a story together. AFTER I TURNED 50, I wrote my first novel. Read that again, because I just published my 17th novel this summer. One might be tempted to think, I wasted a lot of years before finding my passion, but truly, all those years FUELED my passion’s launch. And I’ve now celebrated 4 times this year that my novel Red Rabbit on the Run was selected as a finalist in a book contest.

Jodi, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

While I enjoy painting watercolor pet portraits, I primarily think of myself as an author. My romance novels span genres from faith fiction to suspense to time travel to sci fi, with small town, big city, and interplanetary settings.

I think what sets my writing apart is my characters. I really pour heart, soul and motivation into them. My motto for my novels is “Real Life, Real Love,” and you can’t get any of that without real characters. So whether I’m writing a small town romance, a time-travel romance, or a contemporary mystery, the characters have to be true to themselves, their time, and their setting.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

What drives me is the pure love of writing. It is an obsession that rewards me every time I put my fingers to the keyboard to let the story flow out. Creating rich characters, crafting a twisty plot, tying up the story ends–it’s all a joy.

The awards don’t hurt either. My books have been recognized twelve times since 2019 with finalist and winner designations.

Have you ever had to pivot?

This year, I have pivoted a little bit to go back to Children’s Picture books. (I publish these under the name J.B. Stockings.) I had a number of stories just waiting to be illustrated, so I hired an illustrator for four of them, and I’ve been working on one called CATS that will have 20 watercolor cat portraits that go along with a fun rhyming story. I hope to have this one out in the fall of 2022.

Coming out even sooner is a three-book series I’m calling Sing-a-Story books, which are simple stories for children aged birth to 3-years-old that can be told as a story or sung as a song. The musical score is in the back for those who read music and a QR code to take parents to the audio for those who don’t. I have several more stories, but they’ll have to wait until next year. I feel a novel coming on…

Contact Info:

• Website: http://jodibowersox.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jodi.bowersox/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JodiBowersoxArtistry
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JodiBowersox

Image Credits
Tristan Bowersox