Look and Listen

Biography

Growing up as a military brat, Jennifer and her family moved around the United States until the age of ten when her family settled in East Tennessee. Though her first ten nomadic years kindled a gypsy-like need to continue State-hopping, Jennifer would remain in the state for another 13 years. In order to sate the wanderlust, Jennifer gobbled up every book available and began to write her own imaginings. It wasn’t until receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Middle Tennessee State University that Jennifer gave in to the pull to explore and moved to Tacoma, Washington for a year before popping back across the country to West Virginia University for graduate studies. Once armed with a Master of Arts in counseling, Jennifer spent time in Texas where she worked as a mental health clinician for a state prison. It was during this time that Jennifer first began to write in earnest and recognized that sitting in front of a computer screen filled with words from her own imagination was what she wanted to do everyday. Jennifer quit her job and began writing full time until her debut novel Coffee House Mafia was finished. Of course, around this time, her savings also ran out which meant it was time to get another job. She now splits her time between writing and working.

Inspiration

I've always been one to imagine "what if" scenarios and create the beginnings of stories in my mind. Only recently have I really begun developing these stories and, more importantly, write them down. As a child I devoured all the books I could lay my greedy little hands on, reading everything from C.S Lewis to R.L. Stine. Eventually I discovered there was no magic barrier between the children's and the adult's section of the library and all new worlds opened up. My writing is now very much inspired by the strong female voices in the works of Tamora Pierce, Kim Harrison, Patricia Briggs and Janet Evanovich. However, I'm also mightily impressed by writers like Jim Butcher, Neil Gaiman and, of course, Stephen King.