We recently connected with Jodi Jensen and have shared our conversation below.

Jodi, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

My newest novel, 187 Days, is by far the most meaningful book I’ve written. I saw a need to represent more everyday heroes and heroines in literature. Ordinary people who do extraordinary things when presented with life-altering circumstances. My heroine is a lunch lady in her mid-thirties who needs to lose fifty pounds. She doesn’t see herself as brave and in the face of a post-apocalyptic landscape, she doesn’t want to save the world, just one person. The reason it’s so meaningful to me personally, is because I’ve also felt like I wasn’t brave enough to do hard things in life. But I learned that it’s okay to be scared and you can still do hard things, you just do them scared. I feel like this is so important to realize because I’ve seen so many people who don’t follow their dreams, or don’t take care of their past traumas, or don’t make needed changes in their lives because they’re scared. I believe learning how to not let your fear stop you is the most freeing and meaningful thing you can do for yourself. In 187 Days, it’s all about survival, about my main character choosing not to be a victim and instead choosing to fight for her future. It’s not easy, and there are consequences, but that’s life. That’s how we grow and learn and change. It’s how we survive.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve loved stories as far back as I can remember. As a child, I devoured The Boxcar Children books and even wrote my first story, a Boxcar FanFic at age nine. In high school, writing was an escape for me. I wrote my first novel working the night shift as a desk clerk at a hotel. All sixty thousand words were handwritten in spiral notebooks, then later typed on an old thrift-store typewriter. Back then, the joy of writing was all-consuming, and I had such high hopes, but I didn’t know where to begin to look for a publisher. I ended up looking on the inside cover of a book I was reading to get the name of the publisher and from there, I wrote to them and asked how one goes about getting a book published. They were kind enough to write back and tell me, so, per their instructions, I sent a query letter, synopsis, and the first three chapters. To my absolute delight, they requested a full manuscript. My inexperienced self then sent in my rough draft (cringing even now *smile*) and waited for months with bated breath. Ultimately, they passed, but I got so much confidence from that experience that I went on to write five more novels before landing my first publishing contract.

One thing about that story though, is a lot of life happened in between. Twenty years, to be exact. Countless rejections, writer’s groups, conferences, critique partners, and finally, a mentor. I was forty-nine when I got my first contract. I still remember that day, that feeling. Overwhelming happiness, a sense of accomplishment I’d never had before, and a strong desire to encourage other writers to never give up on their dreams. Thus began my journey of becoming a book editor. I wanted to work with writers; give them the encouragement I hadn’t had. Share whatever knowledge I could. Help them achieve their dreams too.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My biggest lesson in resilience was that it took me over twenty years to get my first publishing contract. I can remember, before that happened, I had a significant person in my life tell me I would never get published and I should just give up. That stuck with me. Not because I intended to give up. No, instead, it made me even more determined to succeed. Long before I got that contract, I got plenty of rejections. But those rejections taught me something too. They taught me that without failure, there is no success. They taught me to pull myself up and keep trying. To keep writing, to keep putting my work out there. And when I finally did get that contract, I kind of became a poster child for the slogan “Never Give Up”. I received an outpouring of support when I announced the news on my social media, which boosted my confidence even more. I still do get rejections, but now, more than ever, I understand the importance of never giving up on yourself or your dreams.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding part of being an author is getting to tell my stories in a way that resonates with me. To take little snippets from life, the news, people I know, and turn them into something is an incredible experience. And most of my stories have a hidden meaning, something that’s just for myself. Maybe it’s a way I interpreted an event or a way I represented something meaningful to me, but to know those little things are hidden among the words I write is empowering on a level I never expected.

The most rewarding part of being a book editor is helping other authors shape their stories into their vision. I absolutely love working with writers and being a part of their creative process and seeing the end result of their hard work. For a long time, I didn’t have the support or encouragement from other writers because I didn’t know anyone like me. Now, I get to give back and offer my support and knowledge to others. That’s an extremely satisfying level of success in and of itself, and I’m grateful I get to experience that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jodijensenwrites.wordpress.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jodijensenauthor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jodijensenwrites/