Liberty States Create Something Magical Conference Speaker Interview Series: Judi Fennell

I’m so excited to be returning to one of my favorite events this March: the Liberty States Fiction Writers Create Something Magical Conference in New Jersey.  It’s a wonderful event that I enjoy each year and highly recommend attending.  I am honored this year to be hosting an interview each week with the attending speakers!  It begins today and will continue each Monday leading up to the conference. I hope you enjoy! ~Jillian

Today the Liberty States Create Something Magical Conference Speaker Interview Series kicks off with author Judi Fennell:

What made you want to become a writer?
I don’t know that it was a conscious decision. I’ve been writing since I learned how. Still have the very first story I wrote in first grade about being a raindrop who fell from the sky with her friends—written on a big piece of yellow paper that had the dashed lines on the bottom and a big open space on the top for illustrations. Hmmm, maybe I should have been an artist too.

Is there one piece of advice you would give an aspiring writer?

Read. Read some more. Keep reading. You can pick up on the nuances of story-telling by “seeing” storytellers at work.

If you could co-write a book with any author, dead or alive, who would it be?
James Patterson. I want in on that franchise/exposure.

Who is on your bookshelf?
Jill Barnett, Stephanie Julian, Jenny Gardiner, Kate Brady, JK Rowling, John Grisham, Barbara Delinsky, Jude Devereaux, Judi Fennell. J

Can you tell us about one of the most memorable moments in your writing career thus far?
Absolutely. I was at an RT Convention and my first series was out. I was standing in the lobby talking to a friend of mine and all of a sudden, I hear from the opposite side of the very large (atrium) lobby, “Oh my God, it’s Judi Fennell!” and this woman comes running across with her arms outstretched and gives me the biggest hug, crying that she’s so thrilled to meet me. My rock star moment.

Tell us about your newest release/current work in progress:
Geez, which one? LOL. I’m almost finished Manley Maids #5 (What A Guy Wants), am writing the next two Mer books almost simultaneously (Marianna’s and Pearl’s stories), have started the next BeefCake, Inc. book and have a romantic suspense idea germinating in my brain. A typical day in the life of a writer.

About Judi: 

               I have been writing for as long as I can remember, winning my first writing award in a second grade Caldecott Medal contest. Readers’ Digest gave me my very first publishing credit in April, 1994, and I was hooked. I seemed to have followed writing contests around, being a finalist in such online contests as American Title III, sponsored by Romantic Times BOOKreview Magazine and Dorchester Publishing, and two First Chapters contests, sponsored by Gather.com and Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books.

             My imaginary friend was Casper the Friendly Ghost. The little ghoul even had a special place set for him at our dinner table and got blamed for many of my childhood mishaps. I grew up watching Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannieand The Addams Family–my mom looked like Elizabeth Montgomery and I had a special Barbie outfit that looked like Morticia Addams’ dress. My favorite books are Bewitching by Jill Barnett and A Knight In Shining Armor, by Jude Devereaux, so it should come as no surprise that I like to write tongue-in-cheek lighthearted paranormals and contemporaries. 

          I love pop culture and manipulating language, so you’ll find lots of puns, double entrendre, plays-on-words, alliteration, clichés, and twisting of phrases, as well as several one-liners in my stories that give me a few chuckles. I studied Spanish at Penn State (Go Lions!), lived in Spain, and traveled throughout that beautiful country. 

          I’ve always written and still have my journal from fourth grade where, even then, my stories were full of fantastical creatures, whimsy, and magic. I wrote my first romance in 9th grade and still have that story in my memory chest. Even back then I dreamed of being a writer.

          Now with kids, a house, a social life (Go Survivor Girls!), a menagerie of four-legged babies, I get to live my dream of being a writer!

          I also own/operate www.formatting4U.com, a full-service business to help authors self-publish their books. Formatting, copy editing, story editing, cover design, promotional materials, and more… You make it sound good, we make it look good!

Visit Judi:

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