FAQs

Well, I haven’t always been an author. I was a Textiles, Clothing and Design major in college and my career before writing was as a buyer or manufacturer’s rep for things like housewares, gifts, women’s clothing, and gourmet foods. I worked lots of retail jobs from sales associate to managers. As my husband moved up in his career, his jobs were less flexible and didn’t allow him to help me manage our kids, so we decided I’d stay at home and run our household. It was during that time that I wrote That Boy.

Honestly, no. I may get stuck on a certain scene, but I just set it aside and work on another part. By not trying to force it, I find my solutions come naturally. I also find that even if I step away from whatever I might be stuck on, my mind is still working it out. Scenes often come in way of dreams for me.

It depends on how persistent the chaos is. Usually, if I’m interrupted, it’s from a family member or just things going on around me. I can write then because they sort of cease to exist when I’m into a scene. Other times, I know it’s best to just close my computer and go back to it when I can concentrate. Sometimes scene ideas come to me in the midst of chaos. In songs I hear. In something I see or observe. From dreams. When inspiration strikes, I write notes into my phone and then email them to myself. So to answer your question, I can write about anywhere. I just do it in different ways. When I’m editing and fine tuning, I do have to fully concentrate for that.

I’d say the fact that I have two teenagers keeps me current on what real world teens are experiencing. I have never used specific story lines from their lives, but I did use a lot of the emotions I observed and tried to transfer those to my characters. Particularly ones involving boys, relationships, love, and sex.

Florida is warmer and the gulf coast is gorgeous. Worst thing is that it takes way longer to fly places and I’m further from my kids.

I worked sporadically on That Boy for about six years before I self-published it. As for how I went about it. I tried to get an agent. I’m not a form/rule follower, so sending queries and all that stuff you need to do was not my strong suit. I got lots of well-deserved rejections based on those things. So I put it aside and started working on what happens to the characters next. (Which became part of That Wedding) My husband came home one day and handed me a copy of The Wall Street Journal, which had an article about Amanda Hocking’s self publishing success, and he said that I should do it myself. If nothing else, to prove to my children that I could finish a project that started. So I hired an editor, a formatter, a website designer, and did it. That was May 2011. Thirty-six people bought the e-book in the first three months. I was thrilled that people I didn’t know were buying it — because I didn’t tell anyone that I published it. So I decided to actually try to market it, got a blog, on goodreads, etc. And the rest is a lot of long hours. I’ve never worked so many hours in my life, but I’ve also never got so much fulfillment out of a job.

I have never really written an actual script, so I think I would leave that to the experts. I hope if they ever make a TV series or movie I am able to negotiate some control over all of that. I don’t see myself doing anything else.

Well, I already have. The continuation of The Keatyn Chronicles and Vegas Love are contemporary romance. The That Boy series is new adult romance.

First of all, thank you. I’ve always tried to give back. Through That Boy book sales, I’ve donated over $20,000 to my alma mater, my sorority, and the Make-A-Wish foundation. I feel blessed to be able to do something that I love and earn money doing it. So giving back is a big deal to me. And recording the songs for Twisted Dreams was something I did to specifically give back to the readers of the Keatyn Chronicles. My husband thought it was a venture that would have a bad return on investment, and he was right, but I’m still glad I did it. And as far as earning a living, I just keep trying to get my name out there and hope something eventually sticks. Someday, I hope to have enough sales of a book to hit the NYTBS List. That would mean a lot to me but, in the meantime, I’m having fun.

I’ve always made up stories, songs, and art. When I was in middle school, I wrote a musical set to Beach Boys music which I also acted out to entertain myself. I always checked out as many books from the library as they would allow me to and as an adult I could easily read a book a day. I didn’t do that well in English, mostly because they made us write about stuff I didn’t care about, so being a writer was something I never considered until later in life.

I had a series of three dreams about the same characters that I felt compelled to write down. Those scenes became the core of the story.

I work really long hours.

My family is extremely supportive. My kids are also both in college and not living at home, so I have more free time than ever to spend on my writing. My husband deals with financial part of my business and both of my kids work with me as well.

I always know how it ends and usually major scenes in the middle.

You need to know that being an author is a lot of work, no matter what path you choose. It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. You should write because you love it and create stories you are proud of, because once you release it to the world it will be subject to critique and you have to be able to deal with the good, the bad, and the just plain mean. The publishing industry is quickly changing and what I did when I started isn’t what necessarily works now. For those thinking about writing, I’d highly recommend structure and craft books by James Scott Bell. For those wanting to self publish, I’d recommend The Naked Truth About Self Publishing by a group of authors who I greatly admire.

If you have a great idea, you should write it yourself and reap the reward. Please don’t send any unpublished work or story ideas as they will immediately be deleted and Jillian will never see them.