Please welcome the awesome Jodi Thomas!!!
Jodi, welcome to Deb’s! I have to admit I have a huge, long time fan of your work and I am thrilled that you could take time out of your busy schedule to chat with us.
**Deb, I am glad to be able to touch base with you. Thanks for reading. Most nights when I’m working I stay at the desk an hour longer because I know people are out there waiting. It makes writing so much more fun to know that you’re going on the journey with me. So now to the questions….
Please tell us a bit about yourself. Your family, background, etc.
**I’m married to my best friend, Tom, and we have two sons. We’re both Tech grads so football season around our house is crazy this year. I have a master’s degree in Family Studies and am a certified marriage and Family counselor. I’ve taught school, worked at a Museum and several libraries.
Do you have any hobbies or collections you would like to share with our readers?
**Seven years ago I agreed to be Writer in Residence at West Texas A&M University. I have the coolest office in the center of the campus. In the mornings I open my do to anyone who has questions about writing. Some afternoons you’ll find me in my office listening to beginning writers read their work. I don’t know if you could call it a hobby but teaching others about writing is a great joy in my life. I’m working with the university to put together a week long workshop in June. Anyone wanting to write can come for a week of work, lectures and fun. Plans will be up on my web site by January.
For our readers unfamiliar with your writing, please tell us what kind of books you write and what is the setting for your books.
**I write books set in Texas. With five generations of Texas blood in my veins, I know the land and the history. I’ve written over 20 historical novels and five set in modern day. I write stories about people. They come alive for me and I hope they will for my readers.
How long have you been writing and how many books do you have published now?
**I sold my first book in 1988. There is a list of my books on my web site www.jodithomas.com
Are you a full time writer now or do you still teach? Did you find it hard to find enough writing time when you are working full time?
**I still teach a few classes and find I rarely write during the day. Still, after 20 years, my writing time is between about 9 and midnight every night.
What was your first book and when did it come out? What genre of book was it?
**Beneath the Texas Sky, 1888. It was a Historical Romance.
What was your reaction when you saw your book on the store shelf? I know I would have been ecstatic! Do you still get a thrill from seeing each new book on the store shelves?
**I loved it. I’d go down to bookstores at night just to look at it. I’d type my name in at the library and yell when I saw it come up.
Now with almost thirty books out, I still get excited when I first see the cover. On my third book, THE TENDER TEXAN, my name was on top. I called my editor and cried saying it made me feel like a real writer. She said, “Jodi, you are a real writer.” That was the first day I believed it.
Tell us about your road to publication. How long did it take you to be published and if you were doing it all again, what would you do different?
**I wrote for about four years before I sold my first book. Sometimes I think I started years before that thinking about stories. I don’t think I’d change a thing, it’s been a great journey.
I know you write mainly western historicals but you have also written some wonderful romantic suspense and mainstream fiction. Are there any other types or genres of books you have written or would like to write in the future? If you could write any other genre you wanted, what would it be and why?
**I love reading other genre, but for me I think I’m writing what I want to be writing. I would like to write a book on writing one day. I’ve also wanted to write a cookbook.
I was fortunate to be at the 2006 Rita Awards when you won another RITA for THE TEXAN’S REWARD and were inducted into the Romance Writers Hall of Fame. Your books have won so many well deserved awards. Did you ever expect that your writing would have this kind of impact in the world of romance readers and writer’s?
** In truth, no. I still feel like I have to work very hard just to get the story down and it’s never a good or as polished as I wish it were. From the beginning I wanted to tell a story of two people in love. It’s not about sex scene, or great bodies, it’s about the passion of loving someone so much you’d give your life for them if it came down to it. That kind of passion lasts a lifetime, not a night.
Your newest release, TALL, DARK & TEXAN, the third book in your Whispering Mountain series is getting rave reviews. I know I absolutely loved it! Please tell us a bit about this book and the others in this series.
**I love the men of Whispering Mountain. They had to grow up fast as boys when their father was killed and the battles they fought left them strong and scared. There is a legend that if a man sleeps on the top of Whispering Mountain he’ll dream his future and at some point in the book each man must face that. For the third book, Teagen’s story, I wanted to write a very tender love story because he’d a man who has been hardened by bad times and loneliness.
How many more will be in this series and can you give us a sneak peek into the next book? Do you have a release date for it yet? I know I’m really looking forward to more of your wonderful books!
**There will be two more. I’m working on Sage and Drum now and loving it. This couple is wild and passionate. The next one will be Duck and the ladies and it will be the three little girls, all grown up, from TALL, DARK,AND TEXAN and the little boy from the first book. His uncles tell Duck to find them all husbands.
What do you have in the works now and do you have any idea when it will be released? Is it connected to any of your previous books or will this be the beginning of another series we can look forward to?
**I have a new book to follow in the line of TWISTED CREEK called REWRITING MONDAY that will be out in April 09. It’s about a small town newspaper that is so bad they have to rewrite every Monday and a big city reporter who gets stuck in the town. Love and adventure follow.
**Sage and Drum’s story will be out in Nov. 2009 It’s going to be a fun story.
I know most of your books have been connected in some way. Whether it be a family, brides, etc. Do you enjoy writing the connecting books more than stand alone titles? I know I love re-visiting characters as the series progresses.
**My characters become like family and I like seeing what happens to them as they grow older through the series.
Tell us about the research you do for your books. Do you do a lot of traveling or online research and approximately how long does it take for you to research each book?
**I always try to ‘walk the land’. In FINDING MARY BLAINE I walked among the homeless in Austin for several days. In TWISTED CREEK I rented a lake house and began the book by the water. For books set in the past I like to drive through on country roads where I imagine the lay of the land looks about the same as it did 150 years ago.
What do you use to keep the pertinent information on your characters, backgrounds etc to keep from mixing them up? Do you use note cards, a spread sheet or do you just have a fabulous memory? I’m always fascinated by the different ways the authors keep track of their characters.
**I have a six foot story board next to my desk where I list all facts in the series and I still have to go back again and again and check.
What kind of writer are you? An organized outliner who plots things out thoroughly or are you more relaxed in your writing style? Do your characters ever take off in a direction you haven’t planned for them and do you let them get away with it.
**I sometimes spend months writing the first few chapters trying to catch my character and what I want him or her to be. Then I have a one page outline of where they might go. Sometimes new directions and problems come up. I love that when it happens. On those nights I write longer because I can’t wait to see what is going to happen.
Do you find time to read with your busy writing schedule? If so, please share some of your favorite authors or books with us.
**Of late I read very little. Once I finish a book I’ll take a month and read two or three books a day. I love books and my list of favorite authors is over a 100 long. For me the magic time is on those rare days when an author takes me away and I feel like I’m living in the story. You know those books you carry around with you everywhere just in case you have a minute to read one more page. I’ve even read at stop lights. One of the greatest compliments a reader can pay me is to say, ‘you kept me up all night.’
Do you think your writing style has been influenced by anyone? A family member or another author? If so, how?
**No. it’s the voice I hear when I tell myself a story.
Give us an example of a normal day in your life. Do you try to keep to a specific writing schedule with a certain word or page count per day or does real life get in the way at times?
I leave the house about 9 and drive 30 minutes to work---always listening to a book on tape.
I’m in my office from about 9:30-noon answering e-mail and talking with people who drop in
I eat lunch with writers and friends almost everyday. Canyon only has a handful of restaurants.
From about 1-4 I close my door and try to write but most days something else takes my time.
Around 4 or 5 I drive home. My husband and I eat dinner and watch the news or go out with friends or family.
About 9 I climb the stairs to my study and work until midnight most nights.
All I need is two more hours in the day, then I could buy groceries, go to the gym, work in the garden, read more, watch a movie and talk on the phone. All of which I tell myself I’ll make time for next week.
Jodi, it has been fascinating getting a peek into the life of such a wonderful writer. Thank you so much for coming to visit with us! I know we all look forward to many, many more of your fantastic books!
**Thanks for having me in for a chat. I enjoyed it. Wishing you all great hours of reading and happy trails through life. Love much, Jodi Thomas
