An Interview with Jamie Farrell

The Reading Cafe is happy to welcome Jamie Farrell as our guest today.

Jamie is here today to discuss her new book, Southern Fried Blues, which is  the 1st book in her The Officers’ Ex-Wives Club series.

Let’s meet Jamie!

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TRC: Hi Jamie, welcome to The Reading Café. Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions today. We are always looking forward to reading about the author behind the book.

Jamie: I’m excited to be here! Thank you for having me!

TRC: Please tell us about yourself

Jamie: I’m a military wife and stay-at-home mom to three kids. I speak three languages—English, Pirate, and Two-Year-Old—and I have trained my husband to fold laundry. I’m perpetually eight pounds over my Weight Watchers goal, I make my own yogurt, and I’ve recently asked my friend Maria Geraci to be my pop culture godmother, since I’m woefully ignorant of the latest hot movies, TV shows, and celebrities.

TRC: When and how did you first become interested in writing? 

Jamie: I got married right out of college, and when my husband got his first military orders, I was completely unprepared for how our lives would change. Nothing went horribly wrong, but I hadn’t yet learned the ins and outs of military life, I missed home, and I couldn’t find a job to use my shiny engineering degree. So I turned to writing fiction as a way of coping. When my husband discovered what I’d been doing during my frequent nights of insomnia, he pushed me to join Romance Writers of America, and now, *mumble mumble* years later, I’m doing what I love as a career.

TRC: Can you please tell us the premise of Southern Fried Blues, and how you came up with the idea?  Is this book a standalone, or are you planning on making this a series?

Jamie:  Southern Fried Blues is about a redneck rocket scientist halfway through his military career and a divorced Yankee lady stranded in the South who has vowed to never again let another military man’s career derail her own.

As you might’ve guessed, the inspiration for Southern Fried Blues partially came from real life, since my engineering career evaporated after the military started moving us around. My marriage is fine (and it amuses my husband to no end every time he hears me say this), but there are a few strong reasons why a professional career woman wouldn’t want to marry the military. So Anna, the heroine in Southern Fried Blues, was born. When I put some thought into what kind of man I should give an independent, career-minded, never-marrying-the-military-again kind of woman, Southern gentleman Jackson strolled into my head, dressed in military blues and drawling something about somebody’s biscuits. These two were so much fun to write about, and I hope my readers have as much fun with them as I did.

Southern Fried Blues stands alone, but I have plans to return to the Officers’ Ex-Wives Club after I’ve finished my new series. There will be some cross-over between the two series.

TRC: You have a series coming next year, Misfit Brides of Bliss.  Can you please give us a brief description of the premise of this series?  How many books are you planning on this series?

Jamie: The Misfit Brides of Bliss is about three women—a divorced single mother, a divorce lawyer, and a lovably quirky wedding cake baker—who stumble into love despite not fitting the norms of their hometown of Bliss, Illinois. Bliss is the self-proclaimed Most Married-est Town on Earth. It’s also the premiere wedding destination of the Midwest. Every summer, Bliss hosts a Knot Festival where the pinnacle event is the Husband Games. (Think husband Olympics, with events such as fastest tire changer and best lawn mower.) I have three books planned that are actively in the works, and ideas for more if readers love it as much as I do. I am having an absolute ball writing this series.

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TRC: Your first book in this series is The Husband Games.  When do you anticipate the release date and can you please tell us briefly about this book?

Jamie: The Husband Games is Natalie and CJ’s story. It’s scheduled for release in the spring of 2014.

The idea for this book came from a conversation I had with a friend, who was complaining about her husband. I was nodding along, thinking I was glad I was married to my husband and not hers, when the idea for husband Olympics struck me. I don’t think my friend quite followed my logic when I blurted out, “My husband can bench press more than yours can!” but she’s known me long enough to just go with it. Once I had the setting for the games—Bliss, the most married-est town on Earth—my heroine, Natalie, a divorced single mother, instantly clicked. Her hero, CJ, comes from a big family, and it shows in his personality. CJ is a former Husband of the Year, and he’s still coping with his first wife’s death while in the line of military duty.

TRC: What are you currently working on?

Jamie: I’m doing content edits on The Husband Games, along with a dirty first draft of The Wedding Games, which is book three. Book two, The Bride Games, about a divorce lawyer and a country music star, is awaiting my first revision before going out to my critique partners.

TRC: What is your writing process?  Do you have a favorite place or time you like to write?

Jamie: Usually I write a messy first draft, then I go through the story for heavy revisions before sending it to my fabulous critique partners, Kelsey Browning and Maria Geraci. Once they’ve weighed in, I do another round of heavy revisions on the story, then I do a few passes to get nit-picky about specific wording, clichés, making sure the writing is tight, and so on. I let it sit for a week or two, look at it with fresh eyes one last time, then send it off to my editor. I don’t write fast, but I make every effort to ensure my books are the highest quality they can be.

My favorite time and place to write is anytime and anywhere my family will let me. With three little ones underfoot, I take what I can get.

TRC: What are the challenges or difficulties that you found in your writing career?

Jamie: Other than the hubby getting orders for us to move and the normal challenges of finding writing time while being a stay-at-home-mom, my biggest challenge has been in trusting myself, both with the actual writing and with the direction I needed to steer my career.

TRC: Would you like to add anything else?

Jamie: Thank you so much for having me today!

 

LIGHTNING ROUND:

FAVORITE FOOD: Roasted carrots

FAVORITE DESSERT: Brownies

MILK OR DARK CHOCOLATE: Yes

FAVORITE LITERARY CHARACTER (not your own): Molly Weasley

FAVORITE TV SHOW: Castle

LAST MOVIE YOU SAW: Magic Mike (This is why I need a pop culture fairy godmother!)

CATS or DOGS: Cats for now

TRC:Thank you, Jamie for answering our questions. The Reading Café wishes you the best of luck with Southern Fried Blues.


Jamie: Thank you!

Jamie has graciously offered to give one lucky member of The Reading Café either an e-copy (international) or a paper copy (U.S. Only) of her recent release, Southern Fried Blues.

1.  Please register using the Log-In at the top of the page, or by using one of our social log-ins.

2.  If you are using a social log-in e.g. Twitter, please leave your email address along with your comment.

3.  Giveaway open Internationally for an E-Copy or U.S. Only for a paper copy..

4.  Contests runs from October 17, to October 20, 2013