Straight Chatting from the Library: Jenna Jaxon

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READ THE INTERVIEW

What is your writing environment?

Technically, it is my daughter’s bedroom (she moved to an apartment) which I share with my two bunnies. My desk is cluttered, but that is somehow soothing to me (as are the bunnies). I face the wall, as suggested by Stephen King, and when I really need to concentrate, I close the door to the rest of the house. Recently, though, I’ve been doing more work if I go to Starbucks to write. The continual presence of coffee may have something to do with that. I just tune out all the noise and other people, hunker down, and write.

What is your writing process?

I am a plotter, with a bit of a strict regimen. I start with my idea for the book, and I let that percolate for a while, usually thinking about it as I drive. When I’ve got the basics in my head, I sit down and write out a chapter-by-chapter outline. This ends up being 10-12 single-spaced pages. Then when I’m ready, I sit down and start with chapter one and write straight through until I type The End. I can’t skip around and write out of sequence. I have no idea how pantsers do that. But I suddenly get an idea, or a connection I didn’t have before, I will revise the outline to reflect this revelation.

Then I write to a pretty strict self-imposed model for each chapter. I look at the chapter and divide it either into two or three segments. If it’s three segments, each segment is 1,000 words; if two segments, they are 1,500 words each. This way I am assured of a 3,000 word chapter. For a full length novel, that will equal 30 chapters of 3,000 words each, making the final word count 90,000. If it’s a little more or a few words less, that’s fine. But that’s how I keep track so I don’t end up with a very short historical romance.

What authors have caught your interest lately and why?

I have to admit I haven’t been reading romance—or much of anything—recently. I don’t usually go seeking new authors (I’m bad, I know), but if a friend recommends a book, I’ll read it. That’s how I got into the Outlander series. A dear friend told me I had to read Outlander, so I did, and now I’m about to start book 9!

What was your inspiration for this particular novel?

As The Widow Wore Plaid is the last book of the Widows’ Club series, the inspiration was a little different. As Jane, the heroine, had met Kinellan, the hero, back in book three, their early romance is actually off screen, seen only in bits and pieces in books three and five, although their scenes together in book five do sizzle. So, when I came to their story, I decided to do something a little different, an adventure romance in the vein of my book four of the series. As this one was set in Scotland, I thought it should have some sort of intrigue and mystery to it, to match the wild countryside in which it was set.

What is your favorite scene in your new release?

I think my favorite scene in The Widow Wore Plaid is the one in which Kinellan is shot and he and Jane have to scramble to get to the hunting lodge before the shooter finishes them off. It’s very exciting!

What are you working on now and when can we expect it to be available?

My current WIP is a novella for Katheryn Le Veque’s shared world The Lyon’s Den series. It’s set in Regency London, in a notorious gambling house called The Lyon’s Den. It’s also the front for a shady matchmaking service. In my novella, the hero gallantly agrees to marry a woman he’s never met before just to keep her from being ruined. It should be available at the end of June, 2022 from Dragonblade Press.

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

When I’m not writing or marketing my books, I’ve started binge watching seasons of Project Runway. And I got a complete set of the series The West Wing for Christmas, so I can’t wait to start binge watching that!

What is one interesting fact about you that readers don’t know?

They know a lot about me, but they may not know that in summer of 2000 my husband and I went to Egypt for a week. While there I rode a camel and got to go down into one of the pyramids. I have a picture of me down in the pyramid and the way my shadow is cast, I look like Indiana Jones!

Top 3 things on your bucket list?

Ride in a hot air balloon
Visit India
Travel on the Orient Express from Paris to Venice

READ THE BLURB

The Battle of Waterloo made them widows, but each has found new happiness. And Jane, Lady John Tarkington, intends to keep her freedom, even if love—and one particular gentleman—are determined to claim her heart . . .

It is a truth rarely acknowledged—at least in public—that a wealthy widow is free to pursue a great many adventures. For two years, Jane has privately enjoyed her independence. Why should she remarry, even when the gentleman proposing is as wonderful as Gareth, Lord Kinellan? She entreats him never to ask her again. But as her Widows’ Club friends—now all joyfully remarried—gather at Castle Kinellan, Jane begins to wonder if stubbornness has led her to make a terrible mistake . . .

Kinellan needs a wife to give him an heir, and he wants that wife to be Jane. They are perfect together in every way, yet she continually refuses him. Just as he is on the point of convincing her, a series of accidents befall Gareth and point to an enemy in their midst. He has promised Jane a passionate future filled with devotion, but can he keep them both alive long enough to secure it?

READ AN EXCERPT

Parched, Gareth headed for the refreshment table that had been set up sufficiently far from the dancing to be out of danger. Footmen were stationed at each end to help keep those who might have imbibed too much from crashing into the table. He grabbed a cup of ale and drank thirstily until the tankard was empty. Setting it back on the table, he then took a glass of rich, red wine and sipped more moderately before heading back to the dancing.

He skirted the dancing couples, where Lathbury was heying with Jane, who was now flagging a bit. Two sets of fast-paced Scottish dancing was hardly comparable to the more staid English country dances. One actually had time—and breath—to converse during those. The faster paced Scottish tempos demanded stamina and good wind.

A young couple ran laughing in front of him. Smiling at the gaiety of the pair, Gareth backed out of their way, toward the blazing bonfire, his gaze still on Jane’s entrancing form. She did cut a delightful figure when dancing.

A passerby jostled his elbow, but he managed to save most of his wine. He spun toward the ungraceful lout when someone else shoved him harder.

The jolt propelled Gareth, already off balance, backward, directly into the flames of the roaring bonfire.

Desperately windmilling his arms to regain his balance, Gareth fought the sickening, helpless feeling of falling backward. Searing heat on the back of his head and jacket grew greater with each passing second, telling him his efforts to right himself would be in vain. God help him, but this would be a fiery end.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Jenna Jaxon is a best-selling author of historical romance, writing in a variety of time periods because she believes that passion is timeless. She has been reading and writing historical romance since she was a teenager. A romantic herself, Jenna has always loved a dark side to the genre, a twist, suspense, a surprise. She tries to incorporate all of these elements into her own stories.

She lives in Virginia with her family and a small menagerie of pets--including two vocal cats, one almost silent cat, two curious bunnies, and a Shar-pei beagle mix named Frenchie.

Blog: http://www.jennajaxon.wordpress.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenna.jaxon
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jenna_Jaxon
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/passionistimeless

AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B091MJ1C8M/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i6
BARNES & NOBLE: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-widow-wore-plaid-jenna-jaxon/1139126668
KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-widow-wore-plaid
APPLE: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-widow-wore-plaid/id1561405266
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