Jodie Bailey Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.

A.The toughest question of all. I’m a born and raised Carolina Girl who loves the beach, reading, and cooking. For the first 15 years of our marriage, I followed my husband all over the country for the Army, but we’ve finally settled in our “forever” home. We have one daughter who is a little mini me. I teach literature to middle schoolers and, in my free time, manage to write. Sometimes I even get to sleep.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

A. I’ve been writing my whole life, just for fun. When I was 33, I was sitting in a Beth Moore Bible study thinking how cool her job is, when God whapped me in the back of the head.  He gave me a talent, so why was I shoving it in a drawer?  That’s scary, to go from hobby to “this is for real.”  It’s like saying, “I wanna be a rock star.” Believe me, His hand has been on the steering wheel this whole journey, and He has let me know it!

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?  

A.  I wrote a book and, being completely ignorant of how publishing worked at the time, I figured I’d sell it.  That’s funny.  Long story short, I got some education, queried three agents, and got a request for a full.  During that time, I started reading Chip MacGregor’s blog and realized I wanted an agent like him.  Someone who would tell me straight if my words were good or bad.  Because I heard he was going to be at Blue Ridge, I registered.  On the drive up, God told me not to pitch my book.  Uhm, I thought that was the whole reason I was going?  I obeyed, but not without arguing.  Instead, I had a blast.  I met new friends, learned SO MUCH, and did get to sit down with Chip.  He coached me on how to write a proposal, help I desperately needed.  I accidentally threw a pen at his head.  Yeah, not my best moment.  I think I might have died that day. But I queried him a few months later, and now Sandra Bishop at MacGregor is my agent.  I love her!  She gives me the freedom to do what I need to do, but she’s right there when I need her.  She’s the one who suggested I try a suspense, and Freefall sold, then Crossfire.  Then she suggested something different, and Quilted by Christmas comes out in October.  She’s really good at seeing in me the things I don’t see.  And by the way, that first book has never sold, even though it’s one of my favorites.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release Crossfire?

A: After her brother died of a drug overdose overseas, Andrea Donovan left the military to become a substance abuse counselor, driven by the conviction that no solider should suffer the same fate. When she is attacked after one of her patients vanishes, Andrea is rescued by Josh Walker, a soldier from her brother’s past, a man she thought she’d never see again.  When it’s clear the disappearance and attack are connected and the threat to Andrea escalates, she has to team up with Josh to discover why someone wants her to shut her doors, and why they want her dead.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for Crossfire?

A:  It took some work to come up with the ideas behind Crossfire.  Honestly, it came one word at a time.  I wouldn’t say there was an inspiration, though what God did after was amazing. In the original story, the missing patient had a twin brother who died of a drug overdose.  And, as in the final story, Andrea’s brother had died as a result of a drug overdose driven by PTSD.  It’s why she became a counselor.  I taught twin brothers in 2001.  All they wanted was to be soldiers, and both of them joined right out of high school.  About six months after I finished Crossfire, the day after I found out Freefall was contracted, Aaron died of a drug overdose.  He’d battled PTSD and it sadly got the best of him.  In talking to his mother, I learned his sister had become a counselor partly because of the battle her brother was fighting.  It was one of those times when God did that really crazy thing He does that blows my mind.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?

A: While the focus of the story is not the PTSD or drug abuse aspect, it’s important to me that people realize some of our military men and women suffer “invisible” wounds.  They need our support, our love, our help, not our judgment.

Q: What is your favorite scene/chapter from the book?

A: There is a scene about midway through the book.  It’s one of those scenes where the characters get to pause and take a breath, and they’re talking on the deck as Josh cooks dinner.  For the first time, they really talk about their pasts, what has happened to them, and the reader learns quite a bit about their broken places and what makes them tick.  It was fun to write, to pull out their words while they’re still trying to hide their inner selves.  Some walls broke between them in that scene, and it was fun to see.

Q: What inspires you to write?  

A. The joy of making things happen, of watching characters grow and evolve.  As they develop and “tell” me more about themselves, that’s the fun part.  It’s what keeps me going, knowing that these “people” won’t get to exist if I don’t put them on the page

Q: How has being a published novelist differed from your expectations of the profession?  

A: It’s taken some of the “fun” out of it.  When it’s not a hobby any more, you can’t just stick it in a drawer and wait for inspiration to strike.  You have to write whether you have an idea that day or not.  Those wind up being some of the best writing days, when I sit down and pull the words out letter by letter.  They’re the hardest, but they make some of the best scenes.

Q: What advice or tips do you have for writers who are just getting started?

A:  FINISH!  No matter what, don’t stop in the middle and give up. Finish a manuscript, even if you think it’s horrible.  You can fix terrible, but you can’t fix a blank page.  And that moment when you get to THE END, and you print it out on your printer for the first time and hold it in your hands?  When you realize all of those letters came from your fingertips and those words came out of your brain?  I think even holding a published book in your hands still doesn’t match that first moment of holding the weight of printed copy pages in your hands and realizing, “I did this.”

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?  

A. I’m working on another suspense, about a former MP who has been pulled into an investigation five years after she left the military.  She has zero desire to be involved, is terrified by some things that happened to her on the job in the past, and was put in the middle of an active investigation without her permission.  She has to overcome everything in order to save a friend.  And, of course, she’s got help in the form of a CID agent who was there when her life fell apart the first time.  She’s not quite sure if she trusts him or not, but she really has no choice .

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?  

A. We recently became “trailer people” and bought a travel trailer.  We are loving the fishing trips to the beach!  And I still love those days when there is NOTHING on my plate, when my husband takes our daughter to the movies, and I get to curl up under the blanket in MY chair with a good book and a cup of coffee.  

Q: Where can readers find you on the internet? 

1. www.jodiebailey.com
2. www.facebook.com/writerjodiebailey
3. www.twitter.com/jodiebailey

Q: Anything else you’d like to tell or share with us?  

A. Thank you so much for having me!  This was so much fun!