Author Interview - Jordan Rosenfeld

Please welcome Jordan Rosenfeld for this week's author interview!

1. Have you always had a passion for writing? 

 Unequivocally, yes. I started keeping journals at age 7, not long after the magic day I learned to read in first grade. In third grade I wrote an essay about wanting to be an “authoress” when I grew up.

2. Does what you read influence what you write and what are some of your favourite authors/books? 

 I think it’s more that I have an aesthetic—dark, lyrical, plot-driven—that informs how I choose what I read and also what I write, if that makes sense. Indirectly my reading does inform my writing though it’s hard to say precisely how. I’ve become the kind of reader now who is really only turned on by books that pay attention to language and imagery as much as plot. I love so many authors, but recently I’d say: Tana French, Gillian Flynn, Donna Tartt, Ann Patchett.

3. What are your biggest inspirations? 

The “underbelly” of people’s lives. Secrets. Things hidden and denied. I’m inspired by what we hide and the shadow side of life. I’m also inspired by selfless acts and courage.

4. Do you have a technique in how you choose characters and/or locational settings? 

I tend to model both on people and places I know or have been; the rest just show up and I can’t always claim credit

5. Do you listen to music while you are creating your masterpieces? 

Rarely. And only the kind without lyrics.

6. What do you do to stay motivated and avoid writer’s block? 

I’ve learned after a lot of trial and error, publishing mishaps and successes, to treat my writing as a writing practice—something that must be tended and nourished, because it always, always pays off for me on a personal level. So I treat it like exercise: do a little every day. Switch forms. If my fiction isn’t flowing, blog. I’ve got two books under contract right now (for writers, non-fiction) and a romantic suspense novel coming out so that gives me a lot of room to play around. I also have become better at “loving the journey” and worrying less about the outcome. My motto is: Practice, Polish, Persist.

7. How has becoming a published author (independent or traditional) changed your perspective on life and is it everything you expected it to be? (If you are not published yet – what changes do you foresee?) 

 My first book was published back in 2007 and it didn’t really change my perspective—which was that I always wanted to be a published author—but it did open a lot of doors for me that I have always appreciated. I think most of all it’s just made clear that writing is a craft like many others, and that if you stick with it and make time for it, it does lead to fruition in some form.

8. What are your biggest challenges as an author? 

 Having enough time to write. I have a 5 year old son, and I work from home, but only during his school hours. So my time is very limited.

9. Do you have any pets? 

One cat, Elvert. A “tuxedo”—black and white.

10. What hobbies do you have outside of reading and writing? 

It’s funny…honestly, reading and writing ARE my main hobbies. I exercise regularly and occasionally make beaded jewelry, spend time with my husband and son.

11. Where is the most exciting/memorable place you have been in the world? 

Probably Italy. Beautiful, steeped in history and art. But I’ve also been to France and that was equally fabulous.

12. Tell us about your latest work in progress or most recent published work… 

My novel of romantic suspense, due out in April under the pen name “JP Rose” is: Night Oracle: An artist with prophetic dreams and a jazz club owner with night terrors fall for each other over exotic cocktails, an orphaned child, and a tragic murder in this moody, sexy novel of romantic suspense.

My website: www.jordanrosenfeld.net. Jordan is author of the novel of suspense Forged in Grace, and the writing guides Make a Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time, and Write Free: Attracting the Creative Life with Rebecca Lawton.Jordan’s essays and articles have appeared in such publications as AlterNet.org, Marin Magazine, Publisher’s Weekly, San Francisco Chronicle, The St. Petersburg Times, Whole Life Times, The Writer and Writer’s Digest magazine. Jordan is working on two forthcoming writing books from Writer’s Digest Books: A Writer’s Guide to Persistence: A Toolkit to Build & Bolster a Lasting Writing Practice (Spring: 2015), and, with Martha Alderson, (“The Plot Whisperer”) Deep Scenes: Plot Your Story Scene-by-Scene Through Action, Emotion & Theme (Fall, 2015). Also, under the pen name J.P. Rose, Jordan’s first novel of Romantic Suspense, Night Oracles, releases in Spring, 2014.