Author Bio:
Jenettha was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida and is the second oldest of five. After graduating from Paxon Senior High School in 1981, she entered into the U.S. Army and completed basic training at Fort Jackson, SC. After completing AIT (Advanced Individual Training) at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana as a personnel management specialist, she was stationed at Fort Bragg, NC her entire Army career, attaining the rank of sergeant/E-5. In 1985 she changed her military occupational skill and attended the executive administrative assistant course at Fort Benjamin Harrison.
In 1987 Jenettha pursued her dream of becoming a police woman. Three months before her ETS (Expiration Term of Service) date from the military, she applied for the DeKalb Police Department and was hired in April 1987. During her employment with the DeKalb Police, she attained the rank of Master Patrol Officer and spent many years as a patrol officer at East and Center Precincts. She also worked undercover for two three month periods making low-level drug buys with the Blackcats Unit. Her last duty assignment was with the Center Precinct C.O.P.S. (Community Oriented Policing Unit) as a bike officer before resigning in June 1997.
Shortly after resigning with plans of relocating to Virgina Beach to work as a Beach Patrol Officer, Jenettha’s dreams were cut short after her Lupus diagnosis. She suffered an entire year of false-positive results before a true diagnosis was made. Unable to return back to the career she loved most, she begin writing after years of depression. Since that time, she completed her first book, The Autobiography of a Gay Black Female (unpublished) and published her second book, 100 of the Most Influential Gay Entertainers, in January 2010.
She has been an aficionado of gay pageants and shows since 1991. She has come to know many of the entertainers personally and was inspired to write their stories in an effort to enhance and foster what matters most, and that is to create a level of understanding and respect between heterosexuals and homosexuals; providing the clear understanding of the true hearts of gay people who desire to live in peace and harmony among others; insuring that basic human rights are afforded to all people, regardless of who they are and the preferences they make in life, and for all gay people to be considered as a respectable, contributing part of society.
It is vitally important that the GLBTQI culture is documented and preserved for several reasons:
1. To provide education and understanding of a lifestyle once considered taboo.
2. To preserve a culture of people in an effort to prevent a cultural decline.
3. To provide tangible information that serves as written documentation which provides information and evidence that serves as a true official record of a culture of people.
4. A means for providing firsthand accounts of the injustices suffered during a time when being gay was considered an illegal practice/act.
5. And, as a form of remembering so that the culture is not forgotten.
Purchase your copy today at these participating locations:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Jenettha currently resides in Lilburn, Georgia with her partner, Kelli, of five years, her sister, Katherine, her mother-in-law, Bridgette, and their min-pin Noah, and their Yorkie, Pedro.
What inspires you to write?
I write from my own personal experiences and the things I have gone through. I was once a victim of a sexual predator in the home; unloved by my mother who was narcissistic; mental, physical, and verbal abuse; death and loss of loved ones; divorce and other issues that I have strong opinions about. I believe that everyone has a story. Our own personal stories and triumphs heals others.
Tell us about your writing process.
I am a seat of the pants writer. If I am given a topic to expound on, I write from experience and usually tie something in with the subject at hand. Experience is a good teacher!
=What advice would you give other writers?
Keep writing. Add as much as you can to what you are writing about, then continue shaping it to perfection. It’s better to have more words to work with then not enough. This helps in the shaping process. Don’t give up. If you get discouraged, put it down and go back to it, but don’t wait too long to get back to it because you may never get it done. Don’t procrastinate. If you are a writer, or if you want to be a writer then write! Get familiar with the English language so that you can write good solid sentences with perfect sentence structure. If your work is filled with errors, it is an immediate turn off to the reader. Take an English course if necessary if you want to become a great writer.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
After my first experience with a publisher and only receiving 15% of royalties for all the work I have done, I decided to self publish my second book. I have complete control and I receive all of my money! I am able to make corrections on the spot and I also learned the entire process through trial and error so that the third book I publish, it won’t be so difficult. I hope to buy back my first book from the publisher and began receiving 100% of sales from both of my books. I did the work, therefore no one else should profit while I receive pennies.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I hope that the publishing market turns around and publishers go back to supporting the authors they represent with marketing and royalty fees. The self publishing industry is very popular, but there is much difficulty in an author getting themselves recognized.
What do you use?
Dictated and got transcribed, Professional Cover Designer
What genres do you write?
Nonfiction
What formats are your books in?
Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Jenettha J. Baines Home Page Link
Link To Jenettha J. Baines Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on other site
Your Social Media Links
http://www.facebook.com/jenetthajbaines
http://www.twitter.com/jenetthajbaines
