O.P.U.S. - Meet Jenna Brownson
O.P.U.S. (Ordinary People/Unusual Stories) - A blog by author Steve Akley designed to introduce you to some of the great people Steve has met online.
#9 of 100
This week we meet…
Jenna Brownson
The Steve & Jenna Connection - Twitter buddies & trusted advisers for one-another as they each navigate the world of writing.
Steve’s Notes - I have to admit something right upfront: I’m jealous of Jenna Brownson. There I said it. It’s out there now.
That’s difficult to admit, not because it isn’t true, mind you. It’s more along the lines of giving Jenna that nugget of information. She can be a bit of, how do you say... hmmm, let’s go with bullocks buster from time-to-time? Yeah, I think that’s how you would say it.
This is just one of the many qualities of my buddy Jenna Brownson. At first glance, I would say you might pick up on several things about Jenna. She’s intelligent. A good family woman. Someone who’s not only “book smart,” but a deep thinker that takes her beyond even social consciousness.
She’s also an incredible writer.
If you follow her blog, or posts on Twitter from time-to-time you get a taste of another quality: her humor. She’s a funny one for sure. It’s a complete surprise coming from someone who is, at first glance, pretty reserved. I’m not talking, “ha, that’s cute” funny. This is the piss your pants laughing stuff. We have a saying in the group of friends I have. When someone new comes to the group, we’re a pretty easy going with them. Say we’re at a birthday party and it’s mixed company, the group of guys I normally hang with and friends and relatives of the person throwing the party. If there is a side conversation and someone not from the group is there, the person who knows this individual might say, he or she “is one of us.”
“One of us” is one of the greatest compliments you can give a person in our world. One of us means you can just be yourself. Laugh, joke, no need for formalities there. For those of you, who, like me, enjoy a good laugh, I can assure you Jenna Brownson is “one of us.”
Another key trait to Jenna is the fact she is difficult to get to know. A little guarded. A little weary of people she doesn’t know. These aren’t bad traits, mind you, it’s just who she is. What goes hand-in-hand with this wall, is if you can get past her barriers it seems like Jenna is one of those people who is a friend for life. Someone who cherishes an inner circle of friends and would do anything for them.
I’m not going to say I’m in that realm with Jenna, but she’s a good friend to me in the virtual world of social media for sure. The best part about my friendship about Jenna is we are able to talk strategy for our writing. You see, we’re both trying to make our mark in this very difficult industry to break in to.
This gets me back to the jealousy comment. I’ve elected to not even attempt the traditional route of publishing and just go with self-publishing. Sure, I love the idea of all the things a traditional publisher brings to the table, but I also like the freedom I have with my writing the way I am doing it.
To me, Jenna has a unique approach which may lead her to the freedom I so desire while still going the traditional route. Her idea is a simple one... write. Try inquiring to a few publishers, if they don’t pick you up, write some more.
Jenna has even created this virtual world in the books she writes. She has six novels complete and a seventh nearing completion. They all appear in the same town, though, they aren’t sequels or a series. The town’s just the backdrop. As such, in this virtual world, the paths of these characters may very well cross at any time. It’s almost like one she gets you sold on the concept, you have to buy every book. After all, you want to see if your favorite characters pop up in this world she’s created in the next book.
She supplements writing novels with a daily blog. Not just any blog, a stream of conscious approach that not only let’s you write about anything you desire, but builds an audience for you as they see how well you write and become attached to your personal world as they are brought in a little further each day with this incredible blog.
Sounds like a pretty good strategy, right? Publishing world, you don’t want this book. Okay, I’ll write some more and build a thirst for these books. By the time you are smart enough to want me, I’ve got the work done, an audience built and the leverage I need to ensure I get the deal that’s right for me.
That’s how I met Jenna. Six novels unpublished and a seventh on the way. She teases all of this with this cool photo which serves as a backdrop for her Twitter page:
Why this works so well for me is the fact she’s just got them in this old school manuscript look. I want to open these books up. I want to tear into them and see what’s going on with Jenna’s writing. If they were actual books with some sort of cover design, it would seem sad. The way she presents them, though, I feel like they are undiscovered gems, just waiting to be found.
After reaching out to Jenna about her unpublished books we talked strategy and have been talking ever since. I’m pleased to introduce you today to someone I know is going to be a star, Ms. Jenna Brownson!
The Jenna Brownson Interview
Where do you live? - I live in a small New England town with about nine thousand residents. Except for my four-year escape to college (Purdue University in Indiana), a two year stint in the Peace Corps (Roja, Latvia), and the ubiquitous couple of years living the single life in the big city (Jamaica Plain section of Boston), I have been in the very same place my entire life. Quite literally: I live in the very same house with my spouse and children where my parents raised my younger sister and me. What do you do for a living? - I have a JD and for a while practiced law as a public defender and in private practice. Nowadays, I co-mediate complex family matters with another mediator who is a licensed mental health counselor. It's a two-for-one deal.
My work as a mediator is infrequent for lack of clients. While the dearth of income is sometimes a challenge, I get a lot of time to write, practice yoga, and find new ways to incorporate flax seed meal into my diet. What's something interesting about you that you would like to share with OPUS readers? - I already mentioned the Peace Corps and writing, so I'll go with the births of my third and fourth children. They were born at home. No doctor, no midwife, no medicine. Each were "unattended home births;" both were caught by their father (the only other person in the room besides me). Who is the most famous person you have ever met? - Bill Weld, the former Governor of Massachusetts, at Foxboro Stadium in 1994 while watching a FIFA World Cup match. I'm pretty sure he was drunk; I know for a fact he was tall. If there was a movie about your life, what actress would play you?- Charlize Theron. In less than two years, you've written six novels. Tell us what's that’s like? - I get up early, when my house is still quiet, and jump into the small town which lives in my head. All six (almost seven) novels are place-centric, i.e., the characters sometimes cross over between stories, they all eat at the same restaurants, and take their dogs to the same walking trails. While not a series, my hope is that when readers go from one to the next, they will feel an affection toward folks they've already met. What most closely resembles how you would say this: I parked my car in the park:A). I paR-ked my caR in the paRkB). I pah-ked my cah in the pahk. - I was born to parents raised in Wisconsin. I have no Boston accent whatsoever.
Author’s Note: I believe everything in this interview except this answer. If someone was visiting Littleton, Massachusetts, what restaurant do they need to eat at? - We don't have any restaurants in town. Hard to believe, but true. It has something to do with permitting and water usage and septic tanks. However, if you need to go to a bank, we have eight in a tenth of a mile stretch of road. I'm not talking about ATM kiosks: eight legitimate, full-sized banks. If you're really bored, which invariably is the case for those who reside here are, you could dress in costume and go from bank to bank for an any-day-is-Halloween sort of outing. (All the banks have candy for their customers.) I'd once considered petitioning for a renaming of the town to "Switzerland" but opted not to based on the likely push back from stodgy traditionalists in town. What guilty pleasure TV show do you...something you watch, you know it's dumb, but you can't help but like it as mindless entertainment. - I don't own a TV. Moreover, there should be no "guilt" in taking pleasure. Life is short: pleasure ought to be guilt free and regularly indulged.
The coolest breed of dog is... The Carolina Dog. We have two. They are a rare and ancient breed of dog. Fun fact: "Ol' Yeller" was a Carolina Dog, not a golden retriever.
Waiter: "And for a side?"
Jenna: "Well, what are my choices?"
Waiter: "Homemade chips, curly fries, regular fries, seasoned fries, green beans or a side salad."
Jenna’s Response - "Seeing as though I ordered a salad for lunch, I don't want a side salad. So, I'll have the homemade potato chips, but only if the skins are still on. Otherwise, I'd like regular fries with a side of vegan mayonnaise. If you don't have vegan mayo, I'll pass on a side unless the chef can make me kale chips. That's what I'd really like: kale chips. Do you have those?"
Where can people find you on social media? blog: www.jennabrownson.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenna.brownson.author
Twitter: @jennabrownson or https://twitter.com/JennaBrownson
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Steve Akley is a St. Louis-based author with a diverse catalog of work. The driving force behind the creativity is a simple mantra of writing about what interests him. As long as a subject matter has his attention, he believe he’s delivering the best possible work he can for his audience. He can be found on Twitter or Instagram with the username of @steveakley.
Steve’s Catalog on Amazon: http://goo.gl/kJpKcP
Unlike Jenna, with her six novels complete, I only have one (slacker!). Pa’u Hana is my only novel, but I have to say I’m pretty proud of it. I worked and reworked this story in my mind for years. Two friends from Hawaii trying to make it into the movie business. It’s a fun adventure and one of my proudest accomplishments. After all, writing a novel... that’s what authors do...or six of them or seven of them. I know Jenna, I’m trying.
Anyway, check it out on Amazon: Buy Pa’u Hana here!