Spotlight Profile
January 2008
Jackie Griffey lives in Cabot, Arkansas about forty miles north of Little Rock with her grown children, a great big kitty and a tiny Chihuahua with a long list of stuff to bark at. Jackie's idea of breaktime is to sit in the yard swing with a good book. She is currently working on another Maryvale cozy mystery. Readers can learn more about Jackie and her books on her website: www.webspawner.com/users.webspawnerjacspromo.
IC: Can you tell us a little bit about your experiences with Sisters in Crime?
PJ: I first joined SinC over ten years ago when I first found out about the organization and had just finished my first novel. My career choices have evolved somewhat but I've been a member ever since.
IC: Can you tell us a little bit about your experiences with Sisters in Crime?
JG: I joined SinC when I first started writing but there was no chapter close enough to attend meetings (there still isn't), so I got discouraged and dropped out. Then a couple of years later at a book signing, Caroline Hart encouraged me to come back and told me about SinC-ic. I joined, love it, and have been here ever since. It's a wonderful group.
IC: What attracted you to the mystery genre?
JG: I write what I like to read. It was my enjoyment of authors like Evanovich, Hess, Grafton, and Koontz that drew me to these genres but cozy mystery is still my favorite. And there are lots of wonderful, talented writers in SinC and SinC-IC.
IC: You write in several different genres, including mystery and romance. You even write screenplays. Are there any particular advantages or disadvantages to writing in multiple genres and styles as opposed to writing exclusively in one?
JG: There aren't any disadvantages in writing different genres to the writer. (Although when I do a screenplay, it takes weeks to get completely out of present tense!) It's the different imprints that are picky. You have to figure out what your publisher wants. That's why I have multiple publishers.
IC: Your Maryvale series seems to be your most popular to date. What can you tell us about it?
JG: The Maryvale series is moving. I write what I like to (read and) write as I said. I self-published the first two Maryvales. (Several people in my hometown have standing orders for them-bless `em-and the library here and a nearby town also have them). Then Five Star published the third Maryvale. Recipe for Trouble came out in hardback May 16, 2007. I now have a contract with Zumaya for all the series plus one new Maryvale a year. I'm glad to have the series with one publisher but requested the contract be for the Maryvale series only so I can keep writing other things and sending them to other places.
IC: What is it about writing a series that appeals to you?
JG: The thing about series novels that appeals to me as a reader is I know I will enjoy this writer's book and I like getting to know the characters and settings. If I may insert a further comment, I like to read the first one first and wish the publisher would put that in the front of the book. I also like to see a picture of the writer on the back or the back flap and a brief bio. As a writer, I like thinking up new adventures for my characters. For example, in the Maryvale series, I didn't really plan it this way, but since I've got all kinds of characters in Maryvale and Pine County, there are 'gifted' ones too. The Devil in Maryvale has a psychic; The Nelson Scandal has a medium who holds a s‚ance; and Recipe for Trouble has a healer. The one I'm working on now introduces a young witch and has a gory murder on Fat Tuesday in New Orleans. (I hope the editor enjoys it as much as I am. LOL)
IC: How are your characters like you? How are they different?
JG: My protagonists are like me sometimes because though I may give them a rough road to follow, they use their grit, faith, and just plain stubborn genes to get to the happy ending. But they are as different as fingerprints.
IC: Of your own books, do you have a favorite?
JG: My favorite of my own books is Recycling Humanity. I put my heart in it. It's human and funny, it will leave you with a smile.
IC: I believe you've said that your books are all, in some sense, about different kinds of love. Could you expand on that idea a little bit?
JG: No life is complete without love and it is truly a many splendored thing. I've been blessed with loving parents, family, children, friends, and a wonderful husband. My Jim (the Gem) and I would have been married sixty years December 3, 2007 if he hadn't passed away suddenly on June twenty- ninth. His brother in St. Augustine, Florida, and my sister in Memphis, Tennessee both had fifty-year anniversaries in July and we were going to both. We were making plans, enjoying life and each other right up till death parted us. So I know about all kinds of love. I'm also sure that after Jim greets St. Peter and our dear departeds, he will be sitting in with all the bands he's always admired (he played alto sax), and he will be looking around for fun places to show me. I've reserved a place beside him.
IC: I can't imagine how difficult that must have been for you. Yet, you're finding a way to go on with your work. What do you think the future holds for you as a writer?
JG: The most difficult thing is deciding what to do next. Right now I'm getting ready to enter two of my books in contests, hoping for an award; have sent requested info to Central Ark. Library Assoc. for their Authors Day in November; did a blurb for a fellow writer; and am helping proof and critique another fellow writer's cozy mystery; waiting to hear from a publisher I sent another cozy MS to (and praying all the edits don't land on me at the same time - LOL.)
IC: What have you found to be the most rewarding part of being a writer?
JG: The most rewarding thing is knowing someone will enjoy my book as I've enjoyed other writer's books.
IC: And what's the best compliment you've ever gotten from your readers?
JG: The best compliment is that the local readers want "whatever I write next" regardless of genre.
IC: You write across genres, but is there a genre you most enjoy reading?
JG: Yes. I read mostly cozy mysteries. They can make me forget for a little while that Jim won't be coming to the door at two or two-thirty to say "coffee in ten minutes!" Thank you, all you talented ladies and gentlemen.
IC: You have multiple publishers, which seems a little unusual in today's marketplace. How did that come to be? And what is it like to be represented by more than one publisher at a time?
JG: I have different publishers because my books are different and in different genres. Zumaya has just started their mystery imprint. I already had two books with them. They knew I'd done some mysteries so they read them and liked them. I like and am pleased with all my publishers.
IC: You're in the Spotlight. Are there any last thoughts you'd like to leave with your fellow Sisters- and Brothers- in Crime?
JG: Write what you enjoy writing because you like to write. Don't worry about money because not all that many writers make enough money to worry about. Enjoy your writing.
If you have fears your books won't sell, you are not alone. I have them too, and was surprised and encouraged to see in an interview I read of Mary Higgins Clark that she has them too. About page eighty of my first drafts, I think, "This isn't good - nobody's going to read this!" So you're a writer and a re-writer. Keep writing and never give up. I don't know who said it, but type this out and tape it to your computer: "Nobody can call you a failure until you quit!"
This interview was conducted for SinC-IC
by Elizabeth Terrell.
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