SIX MINUTES WITH JEANNIE MOBLEY:
Today Jeannie Mobley joins LitPick for Six Minutes with an Author! Jeannie writes middle grade and YA fiction. Her debut novel, KATERINA'S WISH (Margaret K. McElderry Books), won the 2013 Colorado Book Award, is on the 2014-2015 William Allen White Award Master List, and represented Colorado at the 2013 National Book Festival. Her second novel, SEARCHING FOR SILVERHEELS released September 2, 2014, and has been nominated to the Amelia Bloomer List for Feminist Literature. When not writing or reading fiction, Jeannie is a mother, wife, lover of critters, and an anthropology professor at Front Range Community College, where she teaches a variety of classes on cultures past and present.
How did you get started writing?
Like many writers, I've been writing since I was a kid. I grew up in a family that told stories a lot, so telling and listening to stories is a warm memory for me from childhood. My family would also take long trips in the car, and the only entertainment (beyond that really nifty 8-track tape player) was daydreaming as I watched the scenery go by. So writing stories down was, for me, an extension of a thought process that felt natural and normal to me. I wrote my first "novel" when I was in sixth grade, after my family returned from driving from Colorado to Alaska and back, and I had generated enough daydreams to turn into a book. Both of my novels are extensions of this in a sense, as the ideas for them both derived from my experiences and day dreams in places I've visited in Colorado. Katerina's Wish was also inspired by a dream. I'm a vivid dreamer, so for me, the story telling in my head goes on 24/7.
Who influenced you?
As I said, on my dad's side of the family, there has always been a lot of storytelling, and I think that was a big influence. And of course, I had teachers in middle grade and high school who encouraged me. I like to read all kinds of books, and have certainly been influenced by those authors. I don't think "fan fiction" was a thing when I was a kid, at least not in the way it is today, but I will admit to writing a novel in junior high that had some very, very strong resemblances to The Lord of the Rings.
Do you have a favorite book/subject/character/setting?
I read so widely, I would have a hard time picking a single favorite. I'm pretty madly in love with Eugenides, the main character of Megan Whalen Turner's THE THIEF (and subsequent books). As a kid, I loved the Little House books, The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White, The Lord of the Rings, and any book about King Arthur. As an adult, I adore Jane Austen, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Willa Cather, and a whole bunch of modern writers whose books catch my eye. Two kids’ books that I gobbled up with pleasure in the last year were ALL FOUR STARS by Tara Dairman and STRANGE SWEET SONG by Adi Rule.
What advice do you have for someone who wants to be an author?
Write, write, write. Listen to critique and learn from it. Don't be afraid to try new things and stretch yourself in new directions. No writing is wasted as long as you were honing your craft. And remember to find the joy in your work. Because the business end of this crazy writing life can be harrowing, and painful and frustrating, and it's important to keep your eye and your heart on what makes it worthwhile.
Where is your favorite place to write?
A few years ago, we added a sunroom to the back of our little suburban house. It looks out on my quiet back yard, and I have taken it over as my writing space. I feel a little guilty, because the whole family had to help build it, but now I think my husband and kids feel a little evicted from it because I'm always down here writing. Not so guilty as to give it back, though. It's equally lovely when the sun is shining in, as it is right now, or when I can watch the snow fall.
What else would you like to tell us?
Well, to the teachers and book club organizers out there, I'd like to encourage you to go to my website, http://www.jeanniemobley.com
and make use of the curriculum guide and book club kits I have available. And for the readers out there, I'd like to suggest you find books you love and lose yourself in them, because I can't think of a much kinder thing than a good book to wish on anybody.
Jeannie, thank you very much for spending six minutes with LitPick! What a lovely sentence to end your interview! It sounds like a line that should be used to sell books! Beautiful!