Jenni L. Walsh

This week: Jenni L. Walsh!

I found out about Jenni through a good friend (and fellow author!) and found her work quite interesting. Her books follow real-life historical figures and really get into their mind's eye. Take a look over the answers she has for The Writer's Pane this week!

Name: Jenni L. Walsh

Website: www.jennilwalsh.com

Social Media: Facebook: facebook.com/jennilwalsh
Twitter: @jennilwalsh
Instagram: @jennilwalsh
Genre: Historical Fiction for Adults; Nonfiction for Children

Where do you find inspiration?
From my kiddos. Both are too young to read and write, but I still find them scratching away at a paper, scribbling. When I ask what they are drawing, they tell me they are telling stories like Mommy. It means a lot.

Which character in literature do you associate yourself with the most?
Jo from Little Women.

Which piece of your writing was the most entertaining/enjoyable to write? Why?
I enjoyed researching and learning about surfing maneuvers while writing Bethany Hamilton’s story for my SHE DARED series.

Was the first novel you published the first you ever wrote? What was? 
Nope. I have a few young adult novels I wrote that are sitting in a drawer. It was about mythology and other fantastical things. It was a fun book, but looking back… not very good, haha. My first published novel BECOMING BONNIE was actually pitched as young adult, but the acquiring editor asked if I’d be willing to age it up to adult. Since then, I’ve continued to write adult. I really love it.

When I’m not writing I’m usually…
Chasing after my kiddos. They keep me very busy!

If you had lived a different life, made different choices, what would you be doing now? 
I’m right where I want to be :)

What are five things you couldn’t do without? 
My family. Books. Wine. The sound of rainfall. Laughter.

What do few people know about you? 
I’m a huge introvert. I love talking books, but I got to mentally prepare myself to do so with people I’m not very familiar with.

Are you working on any current projects?
I just finished a new historical novel for adults that I enjoyed writing so much. It’s about real-life figure Eleanor Dumont, who established blackjack in the US during the California gold rush. I’m also tinkering with a historical idea for middle graders, but that one is still in the brainstorming phase.

Why do you write?
I love it! And hopefully, it’ll become a way for me to help support my family.

What are some profound experiences from your life you’ve worked into your fiction?
In SIDE BY SIDE, which is a novel about Bonnie and Clyde’s crime spree, I had to create decoy names that Bonnie used while checking into a hotel. I ended up working it out so the names were my grandparent’s names.

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Author Bio: Jenni L. Walsh spent a decade enticing readers as an award-winning advertising copywriter before becoming an author. Now her passion lies in transporting readers to another world, be it in historical or contemporary settings. She is a proud graduate of Villanova University, and lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with her husband, daughter, son, newfypoo, and kitten. For the mamas, she’s the author of historical novels BECOMING BONNIE and SIDE BY SIDE from Macmillan Publishers. For the kiddos, she writes a nonfiction biography series with Scholastic, called SHE DARED. Learn more about Jenni and her books at jennilwalsh.com.