10 Things you never knew about JM Madden!

How did you start your writing career?

Well, like everybody else, I’ve always loved to write. I have notebooks full of ramblings. I think I came up with fan fiction before it was called that. Some of my earliest were where I had a starring role in ‘Tour Of Duty’, only I used horses to rescue the soldiers. Yeah, not very marketable, but it made me happy.

In 2008 I joined RWA and my local Kentucky Romance Writers, and I was so inspired. I was laid off from Toyota in June of 2010, and I decided to get my butt in gear and pursue writing seriously. I loved Decadent’s website, so I submitted to them, and the rest is history.

 

Tell us about your current release.

My current release is Second Time Around which released at the end of December. The release was an excellent Christmas present. I live in Kentucky, so I am surrounded by material. And the story combined everything important to me; love, kids, horses and law enforcement.  If you read it, you will have a very good understanding of me. Here’s the blurb:

     Officer Shane Caldwell responds to a routine end of shift call with some annoyance, but when she tackles and handcuffs her ex-lover and the father of her son, things turn hot in a flash. Four years before Quinn Scott disappeared to make his fortune, and she hasn’t heard a word from him. As his touch ignites old passions, Shane is torn between telling him about the son he’s never known, and protecting young Jackson’s heart from the man who walked away without a backward glance.
When Shane storms back into his life, Quinn isn’t surprised by the incredible attraction which sparks between them. He wants to take up where they left off, but years of lies and unexpected betrayals from family and friends endanger his Thoroughbred breeding operation and his dreams of a future with the woman he never really left behind.
Will old prejudices separate them again or can love grow stronger the Second Time Around?

Tell us about your next release.

My next release is an Urban Fantasy type. It’s a short story, and it will be in an      anthology with two other phenomenal authors through Bonaparte press. That is, if I ever get the edits done. Urban fantasy is not what I normally write, so it has been a learning experience. It’s due out the end of May.

When in the day/night do you write? How long per day?

I have the advantage of being a stay-at-home mom right now. Once the kids and hubby are out the door, I’m usually on the computer.  I try to get all the FB, email stuff out of the way first. Seems like I always have stuff to catch up on because of the time difference with the west coast.

So, mid-morning time is usually the best time for me to write. I write for several hours, break for lunch, then write for a couple hours more. When the kids get home, I actually get up off my butt and do housework. Well, most days. If I’m on a roll, hubby is very understanding of coming home to a disaster area.

What is the hardest part of writing your books?

The hardest part for me is just writing, and not being critical of everything I put    down. I have a tendency to over-analyze what I put to words. I can’t help it though. I think it comes from years of writing police reports, and having to be super-correct in everything I committed to paper.

I have found that liquor quiets my inner critic. ;-)

Do you have critique partners or beta readers?

I have a fantastic group of ladies in my chapter that I ship things to here and there. They are honest and thorough, and I really value their input.

Do you hear from your readers?

Ok, I am pretty tickled about this. A lady wrote me the other day and said she was in my aunt’s quilting circle. She read my story and thought it was wonderful, and was kind enough to send me an email about it.

I’ve heard from other people that they liked it, but she was the first ‘random’ person. I was thrilled to hear from her.

Do you use a pen name? If so, how did you come up with it?

Well, I kind of use a pen-name. JM stands for Jennifer May. I can still hear my mother yelling at me across the house. I knew I was in real trouble when she used my middle name. Maybe using JM is a way to give the memory a good connotation. Hell, I don’t know.

What are your favorite TV shows?

I’m pretty partial to The Big Bang Theory right now. It cracks me up because there are so many subtle references. You really have to listen to the dialogue. Actually, hubby and I record it and usually watch it a second time. Also love S#*% my Dad Says.

As for reality TV, I will admit to keeping up with Idol a little bit. And Mantracker. Whoo-eeee, love that Mantracker. And his horses.

Do you have any suggestions for beginning writers? If so, what are they?

 I think it is never too early to build your social platform. Even if you’re just doing informal book reviews on your blog, or chatting about your kids or animals, do something to get your voice out in the world. And then keep up with it. This is very hard advice to me to follow. I’m terrible about keeping my blog up to date.

Also, too, talk about sex on your blog. Your hits will skyrocket…;-)))))

I hope this gives you a little better idea about my life. Thanks so much for stopping by.

www.jmmadden.com

FB- https://www.facebook.com/people/J.m.Madden#!/

Twitter- #lilbighorse

My New Kentucky Home…

By Jennifer Madden

In 2004, my husband was offered a job at Toyota. It sounded great. Wonderful money, competitive benefits. But it was in Kentucky. Four hours away from all my family. Literally, my mother lived five minutes away from us. It was traumatic to even think about leaving.

We decided that before we packed up the family and moved so far away, hubby should check it out first. So, he went down, rented an apartment, and live in Kentucky during the week, then came home on the weekends to see us. After a year and a half, we decided that it was time to move. We had been apart a long time, and things needed to change.

So, thank goodness for the internet. We found a chunk of land that we liked the look of, and it was within driving distance but out of all the congestion of the city. We bought the land and moved down. The house wasn’t what we wanted, but it would suit us for a little while.

We were very hopeful of what was to come. Until we met our neighbors.

The first lady we ran into was an older lady that lived adjoining the far end of our land. The very first thing out of her mouth was, ‘You all are Buckeyes?’ as if that was bad. I didn’t realize that we had moved to a state that was as passionate about their Cats as we were about our Bucks. 

A neighbor farmer was running cattle on the land, and we let him for several more months, but we finally asked him to remove them because they were tearing up fence. He didn’t appreciate that.

We also discovered a pot cultivation field hidden down in our woods. I’m sure somebody was upset they lost it.

Literally, I chased people off my land a dozen times the first year. Armed, of course. People actually wanted to argue with me that they had permission from the owner. Helloooo, I am the new owner. I slowly realized that there was a cultural reluctance to admit anything to a woman.

It was also an eye opening experience going into a SMOKING grocery store. You walk through the aisles and step on cigarette butts. The bread  tastes like ash.  For a lifelong non-smoker, it was a real shock.

For a long time, I was really set on not liking Kentucky, and I looked at everything negatively. I think because it was so different, and so far away from my family. Mom would call, and I could hear the sadness in her voice because she missed us.

But that distance also created an appreciation for the state I was in. I couldn’t run home every weekend, so I was forced to find other things in our area. Like the 5000 acre wildlife preserve literally a half mile away.  And the drive-in theater in Paris, twenty minutes away.  The operating soda counter in a department store, also in Paris.

Then there were the horses.

My gosh, for a horse crazy girl like I was, Kentucky turned into paradise. There were miles upon miles of black plank fence, and barns that I would be proud to live in. There are four public racetracks within an hour of me, and too many private ones to count. Ads in the paper for broodmare grooms, spindly legged foals every spring.  The list has no end.

I finally realized I was in horse heaven.

So, writing Second Time Around was easy, when I had so much wonderful material. And with my previous law enforcement experience, the two merged perfectly.

 I love Kentucky, now. Well, for the most part anyway. The smoke filled grocery store is still a turnoff, but it gives me a reason to range wider and find new treasures.

Lil Old Me…

by Jennifer Madden

I’ve been debating what to blog about, and thought I would maybe do a quick introduction and give you a little backstory on my life. And what led to Second Time Around, which is coming out in December. I was born in Ohio thirty-five years ago. Small town farm girl, pretty unremarkable. In 1994 I got a job at Longaberger Basket Company. It was in ‘Weaving School’ that I met my future husband. Actually, he came up to me, looked me in the eye and asked me if I plucked or shaved my eyebrows.

No lie. That was the first thing he ever said to me.

He topped that off by asking me how many kids I had. I was only nineteen at the time. When I asked him why he thought I had kids, he said, “Well, you’ve got big hips.”

Yep, I got Mr. Suave. Actually, in spite of how it sounds, he keeps me laughing. And I love him dearly. We’ve been married fourteen years now.

I left the basket company in ’98 and joined a fairly large central Ohio Sheriffs Department. I was a supervisor in the jail for several years, then a road deputy and eventually a school resource officer. I enjoyed the work, and felt I did have a positive impact on a lot of kids.

In amongst helping other people’s kids, I had two of my own. One boy and one girl, both true smart-asses through and through. I love them dearly.

In ’06 we moved to Kentucky for my husband’s job. For the most part, I’ve stayed home and taken care of my kids. And loved every minute of it. I’ve always loved to write, but never actually pursued it until I joined my local RWA chapter. I’ve been hooked ever since.

Second Time Around is my debut book set in Kentucky horse country, and pulls a bit from a personal experience I had with my husband. When I first started at the SO, somehow or another I managed to handcuff his belt loop as we were walking through kmart. I was off duty and don’t remember why I had my cuffs in my jacket pocket to begin with, but I did. And, of course, I didn’t have my handcuff key with me. He had to walk out of the store with my jacket tied around his waist.

I wanted to adapt the situation to where the heroine actually cuffed the hero. And lived to tell about it. Here’s the blurb:

Officer Shane Caldwell responds to a routine end of shift call with some annoyance, but when she tackles and handcuffs her ex-lover and the father of her son, things turn hot in a flash. Four years before, Quinn Scott disappeared to make his fortune, and she hasn’t heard a word from him. As his touch ignites old passions, Shane is torn between telling him about the son he’s never known, and protecting young Jackson’s heart from the man who walked away without a backward glance.

When Shane storms back into his life, Quinn isn’t surprised by the incredible attraction which sparks between them. He wants to take up where they left off, but years of lies and unexpected betrayals from family and friends endanger his Thoroughbred breeding operation and his dreams of a future with the woman he never really left behind.

Will old prejudices separate them again or can love grow stronger the Second Time Around?

I’m due to release sometime (hopefully) in December. Until then, you can find me at these places:

www.jmmadden.com

Facebook

Twitter

Stop by and friend me anywhere.