About J. Richardson:
J.Richardson was born in what she refers to as her beloved Texas. She has lived there all of her life and raised her family. Her children, grandchildren and one great-grandchild are scattered across the state. These days, she and her husband, who she met as a young teen, split their time between home and their summer cabin in Colorado.
Her first e-book was published in 2013. A life filled with rich experiences and small adventures has been the inspiration for her writing, much of that derived from the partnership with her spouse in building four homes in four different locations, from scratch. First there was log house in the woods of east Texas, a lakehouse and a farmhouse, and finally, the cabin in Colorado. Jo says that she is a fascinated observer of people and their endless diversity. She believes the internet is an amazing source of information and her favorite part of writing is the research. A pen name claims ownership of her fiction writings because they are often close facsimiles of her friends and family. She admits, however, they are just as often, products of her imagination and characters she has encountered. The author’s favorite reads are mystery and humor, lately her passion and interest is in the fictional and real life details of prepping for disaster.
She quotes, “I have strong political and patriotic views, but try to avoid them in my novels because anger is not my forte’. I
reserve some of my venting for my blog. I always look forward to hearing from my readers.”
What inspires you to write?
I’ve always enjoyed writing. I learned to read very young, can’t really remember a time when I didn’t know how to read. Books were my escape, English was my favorite subject in school. Married young and raising a family, there was never a practical avenue to have my writing published. Then the amazing internet arrived! A whole new world was opened to me in publishing e-books. To my great surprise, people were actually buying and reading my fiction novels.
Tell us about your writing process.
I’m far too impatient to outline my stories. I always have some ideas in my head, some small thing that is the spark for my direction but the joy of writing for me is to discover what might be ahead, as I hope the reader will. The characters lead me through the story and they are my love. Developing the characters and exploring the locations truly are what moves my story forward. Rather than have a story that I embellish with people and places, I have the people and places and build a story around them.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I very much listen to my characters. If you were a small female with thick glasses and wild auburn curls, what would you be saying to me?
What advice would you give other writers?
The most common advice that writers give is—just write. I don’t disagree, you must have some discipline and sit down and try to produce some words on the page. On the other hand, you can’t just churn out words. You need to be a compulsive observer of your surroundings and of people. I am fascinated by the diversity of humans and I use my observations to weave a story around characters and locales that are an eclectic and sometimes exaggerated mix of the world around me.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
Publishers, Editors, agents—never even a remote possibility for me. When the vast universe of Amazon and self publishing was revealed to me, I found a whole new world of possibilities. I would advise new authors to explore any avenue they are able to, but to never rule out self publishing. If I, at not such a young age, can write, edit, design my book covers and publish my novels to even the small degree of success that I’ve experienced—anyone can.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
In my wildest imagination, I can’t see that hard copy books would ever go away. No doubt, e-books in many formats are the future and the booming present.
What genres do you write?: Dystopian Fiction, a couple of young people (age 8 to 12 yrs.) life’s lesson stories
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
J. Richardson Home Page Link
Link To J. Richardson Page On Amazon
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit, to allow you, the reader, to hear the author in their own voice.
