Jodie Bailey Interview

Q: How long have you been writing and what other careers or jobs have you had?

A: I don’t remember ever not writing. Ask my best friends in school. I was telling them all sorts of personalized stories back in the day. I was famous for it. As a career, I’ve been writing since 2009. I’m also a middle school English and social studies teacher, though God’s letting me write mostly full time at the moment and while only teaching one class. Spending a little bit of time with the kids at school every day keeps me from getting really, really bored with my own thoughts.

Q: Do you write in only one genre and if so which one and why? If not, which ones and why?

A: I write contemporary romance and romantic suspense. I love a good love story, so that’s where I gravitated naturally. It wasn’t until my agent suggested I leverage my Army wife knowledge that I decided to try suspense. It turned out I liked it. A lot. I still dabble with straight-up romance, but Love Inspired keeps me busy with the suspense.

Q: How does your faith play into your writing?

A: I think what is in you comes out of you. When it comes to Jesus, I know Him best as my deliverer, as the One who bought my freedom from sin, from fear… from so many things. A lot of what comes out in my books is that true freedom comes from God alone. It doesn’t start out that way, but as the characters progress, there always seems to be that need for release from some sort of bondage. That’s who Jesus is… our great delivering conquering God.

Q: How do you choose your settings for your books?

A: For the military suspense, they are set on bases where we have lived or spent a lot of time. I try not to write about places I have never been and, if I have to, I make sure someone who is familiar with the setting goes over it. People love their spaces, and I never want someone to pick up one of my books to find I’ve disrespected their home with my cluelessness. For contemporary romance, the character usually lets me know where they live. Place makes us who we are, and place is a large part of characterization.

Q: Do you base your characters on people you know or are they totally made up?

A: For the most part, they are totally made up. Personal experience plays into it, just like faith does. There is always some small piece of me—an experience, a thought, an emotion—that shows up. There seems to always be some small piece of someone I know who wanders in. A lot of my soldiers walk and talk like my husband, because he is the soldier I know best, but they aren’t based on him.

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

A: Compromised Identity is the unofficial “sequel” to Smokescreen, which came out in August 2015. In that novel, Sean Turner was kidnapped by terrorists and was rescued by Ethan Kincaid and Ashley Colson. We pick up Sean’s story shortly after he is back on the job for an Army special missions unit tasked with hunting down a terror cell that is hacking military computers. He’s still dealing with the aftermath of his ordeal, and he doesn’t count on this mission being tied to the one he was taken on, nor does he count on falling in love with Jessica Dylan, who’s being targeted by the same terror cell.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for this story?

A: I was reading military crime reports and I came across the story of a soldier who committed identity theft so that he could arm his own personal militia. The idea spun up from there. After I wrote Smokescreen, I wanted to tell the story of what happened to Sean, of how he dealt with the aftermath of being kidnaped and tortured. The two ideas came together in Compromised Identity.

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

A: This goes back to several questions we already talked about. Some of my faith story shows up with Sean. I battled fear for years, and that is something that emerges with Sean, the idea that we have to trust God, that He is always there even when it seems He’s not. We just have to step back and watch what He is doing, because it’s not always what we think it should be, but it’s always for our best.

Q: Tell us what you like about the main characters of this book.

A: Jessica Dylan is tough and stubborn and she tells it like it is. She was fun to get to know because, really, she held nothing back. Sean Turner was a challenge and a thrill to write, all at the same time. He is this flawed hero, this outwardly strong soldier and protector who is slowly falling apart inside. He is tough and vulnerable all at the same time, and he just sort of makes you fall in love with every part of him.

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

A: I just wrapped up the third took in this sort of unofficial trilogy. In Smokescreen and in Compromised Identity, Tate Walker is the guy they call when they need someone to step in and save the day. Book 3 is Tate’s story, and how he reunites with his former partner Meghan McGuire to finally bring the hacker who has been tormenting their team to justice. I’ve just started another suspense, about a ring smuggling stolen artifacts out of Iraq, the soldier investigating them, and the sister of a dead soldier who might be the ringleader… or who might be an innocent scapegoat.

Q: If money were no object what vacation would you like to take and why?

A: I’d spend a year on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I know there are people who want to travel the world and see all of these amazing things, and that would be fun, but I’m like Dorothy when she comes back from Oz. My heart’s desire is in my own back yard. I just came back from a week-long writing retreat out there but, oh, to have a year in that amazing half-wild place, just writing.

Q: What is the silliest thing you have ever done?

A: That’s a tough one, because I am pretty well known for being silly. The first one that comes to mind is the year I was the Junior Class advisor and I took a heavy-duty role in a prank war against the Seniors. I was an instigator for sure. 🙂

Q: What is the hardest thing you have ever done?

A: Wow, I don’t know. When I’m in things, they seem hard. But when I come out on the other side, there is always Jesus there when I look back. I guess being 18 and having my entire life come to a halt when a panic disorder tore everything apart. I lost my scholarship to my dream college, became a prisoner in my own house, and saw every dream I’d ever dreamed totally derail. For three months, I couldn’t even leave my house without losing my mind. But I look back now, after God healed me ten years later, and I see so much Jesus there. Yes, while I was in it, it was hard and I would never want to go through that again, but the abundance of blessing Jesus was able to make out of it? There is no way to be anything but grateful on the other side.

Q: Where can readers find you on the internet?

A: I hang out at www.jodiebailey.com. From there, you can find all the links you need to find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. My storyboards live on Pinterest, so if you ever want to see what was in my head when I was writing, that’s a fun place to visit.

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

A: Thank you so much for having me here. I’ve enjoyed the visit! And keep a lookout for Tate’s story, which is coming in August!