SMALL-TOWN SWEETHEARTS - Jean C Gordon - Free Book

Welcome, Jean. Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.

Sometimes too much, but my critique partners are quick to point out when that happens.

I love those critique partners who can keep me on the right track. What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?
I had to consult my family on this one. They said people are always surprised at my love of rollercoasters. The bigger the better and if they go out over water, perfect! Normally, I’m pretty wimpy about heights and anything that goes fast.

When did you first discover that you were a writer?
It seems like I’ve always been a writer. I was on the high school newspaper staff and had an essay on my family’s Christmas traditions published in the Buffalo Evening News when I was a senior. From THE high school paper, I moved on to my college newspaper (I was a journalism major), followed short stints at the Batavia (NY) Daily News and the Montebello (CA) News, and then to my current job with a financial publisher in Albany, NY.

My first published piece was in the college literary magazine. Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.
I primarily read romance. Historicals are my favorite. But I also like women’s fiction and nonromance historical novels.

How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?
I’m not sure I do. Sunday church service and coffee hour afterwards really help me unwind before the next week starts. We regularly sing a hymn I particularly like, ‘Come and Find the Quiet Center.’

How do you choose your characters’ names?
Sometimes I name characters after people I know. Other times, the characters come to me with their own names.

What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?
Publishing my books.

What is your favorite food?

Ice cream, just about any flavor but coffee. My second favorite food is broccoli.

Broccoli and ice cream. That would make a good character trait for in a novel. What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?
Time and giving my novel writing the priority it should have are my biggest roadblocks. I put in about nine hours a weekday at my day job. Since that’s not something I can change right now, I’ve been working on prioritizing the rest of my time and tasks.

Tell us about the featured book.

I got a germ of an idea for Small-Town Sweethearts when a family member told me she liked her new church because the members were more standoffish and private. From that germ, the story evolved:

With the help of God and the love of Drew Stacey, a down-sized Wall Street analyst turned church camp manager, NYC assistant art director and former town misfit Emily, ne Jinx, Hazard finds the thing she wants most in the place she least wants to be — Paradox Lake. Through having to be responsible for her niece, interaction with the towns’ people, and falling in love with Drew, she learns the meaning of Christian fellowship.

Like all of my books, Small-Town Sweethearts is set in my native Update New York.

Please give us the first page of the book.

The thrumming in her head started at the Essex County line and crescendoed into a pounding by the time she’d reached Route 74. She wiped one hand, then the other on her jeans and gripped the steering wheel of her rented SUV. She was in control. She was Emily Hazard, assistant art director at an award-winning New York City advertising agency. Not Emily Hazard, the klutz-queen jinx-deluxe of Schroon Lake Central High School.

She drove through Hazardtown, the four corners community in New York’s Adirondack Mountains that her ancestors had settled two centuries ago. Little remained to show the once-bustling logging town it had once been. A new name on the diner told her it had changed ownership again. The gas station convenience store proclaimed “Souvenirs Here” in a big red, white, and blue roadside sign. Kitty corner, the Community Church sat as it had for the past one hundred and fifty years with its double entry doors that had originally separated the women parishioners from the men. As a teen, Emily had made a point of entering through the “men’s” door. The new-ish brick volunteer fire department building occupied the fourth corner. Ironically, the old clapboard hall had burned down when she was in college.

How can readers find you on the Internet?
Look for me on Facebook, www.Facebook.com/JeanCGordon.Author. I also tweet, @JeanCGordon. And my website is www.JeanCGordon.com.

Thank you for stopping by today, Jean.

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Small-Town Sweethearts (Love Inspired)


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