The Matisse Puzzle welcomes guest: Jennifer Theriot

Jennifer Theriot, author, so far, of two volumes from the planned Out of the Box series (currently available on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Smashwords) has accepted to give us a quick glimpse at her experience as an author. Jennifer's books, Awakening and Regifted, have been hailed by readers as "emotional roller-coasters," "full of true romance," "full of love, redemption, and the never say die attitude." I asked Jennifer to say a few things about the way she started writing, the things that motivate and inspire her, and the writing she has planned for the near future. And here she goes:

I started writing in 2012. I’ve always loved to read and had just finished the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, which I’ll have to admit I had to read twice to get the full gist of the story. 

My youngest son played professional baseball in the minor leagues and had just announced to us that he was retiring. Needless to say, this left an incredible void in my life; we’d been going to baseball games to watch him play for almost 20 years from little league, to college, to the minors. It was like a very bad breakup and I was desperately in need of a remedy for my separation anxiety.

My start

I realized that there weren’t many books out there written about middle-aged lovers, so decided to give it a shot. This was just what I needed to take my mind off of the baseball breakup! I took a couple of my girlfriends who are voracious readers to dinner and told them about what I was thinking of doing. I fully expected them to laugh and tell me how crazy I was, but their response was quite the contrary. They actually challenged me to do it. Never one to turn down a good challenge, I set out to write. These two friends have been incredible throughout this whole process and we’ve spent many nights on my patio (OOBA on the patio as we call it) drinking wine and discussing the book. We’ve even come up with OOBA-isms, which are sayings from the book and I’ve incorporated these into my giveaway items. It’s so much fun and my mind seems to be working 24/7.

My inspiration

Music is a HUGE inspiration in my writing. I love all kinds of music. When I hear a song that I like, immediately a scene from the book will come into my mind. I try and develop a scene around lyrics to a song that inspires me.

As for a message in the book, I would say that life doesn’t stop once you hit 50. Good sex and romance don’t die once you hit mid-life. Life doesn’t stop when someone you love stops loving you. Women need to feel good about themselves and step ‘out of the box’ in order to live and not merely exist. I’ve had several readers’ email me thanking me for giving them hope and I can honestly tell you, that’s the best inspiration!

Following up

After writing the first book, I knew there was more of the story that needed to be told. I’ve just released Out of the Box Regifted and am working on the 3^rd and final in the Out of the Box series entitled Out of the Box Everlasting.  I’ll also write a follow up novella which will be from the POV of a character in the book (Todd).

After I’m finished with these, I have another series planned, also about a middle aged woman who finds love after heartache.

 

I should not forget to mention that Jennifer won the giveaway competition I organized earlier this week at Sexyways of Reading, a Facebook venue for aspiring writers managed by two lovely ladies who will be on this blog soon, with their takes on takeovers.

The competition had asked participants to write a short-short containing the words 'Matisse' and 'Puzzle.' Here is Jennifer's entry:

Our relationship was a complicated puzzle with new pieces emerging every day; magical and colorful like a Matisse painting.

What impressed me in this short text was its simplicity, and also its ability to articulate in a few words a metaphor that can stand alone as a story.

Jennifer Theriot can be found at her personal website, on Facebook, Goodreads, and of course, Twitter.