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When Real Life Inspires Fiction
Manage episode 410438926 series 3421100
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Jill Hannah Anderson first began writing in eighth grade when a friend gave her a large notebook with Donny Osmund on the cover. She started using it as a diary, and added several more diary notebooks over the years. She also started writing notes for stories in notebooks. Cruddy, haphazard plot ideas… but the writing bug had burrowed in.
Then “life” happened. Marriage, kids, owning a business, and a day job. She took a few writing classes, and in 2006, when she was at the busiest point in her life, she stumbled upon a women’s magazine that she wanted to write for. While working full-time at a Communications company, part-time bartending (to help with her eldest daughter’s upcoming wedding and three more kids in college), and training for her first half-marathon, Jill wrote the first of thirty articles/stories for the Minnesota women’s magazine.
A few years later, shortly after the last of the kid’s graduated college and Jill quit bartending, her best friend was dying of cancer, and it planted a seed of a story in Jill’s head. The idea of losing your support system when you need them most transpired to become Jill’s first book, The to Hell and Back Club. Jill hit the writing ground running, wisely quitting the magazine side job after ten years and focusing on books. The following year, Crazy Little Town Called Love was released, and in 2022, A Life Unraveled was published.
Closer to Home debuted in March, and by the time this podcast is live, Jill will have submitted her fifth book to her publisher. She has been a proud member of WFWA (Women's Fiction Writers Association) from its early stages before it was an association, back when it was a Yahoo email group!
You can learn more about Jill on her website: www.jillhannahanderson.com and follow her on Facebook, the best social media place to get book updates from her: https://www.facebook.com/jillhannah.anderson/
Get your copy of Closer to Home here: https://amzn.to/3VEqiLN
or
support your local bookstore & this podcast by getting your copy of Closer to Home at https://bookshop.org/a/90599/9781958231432
A little about today's host-
Kristi Leonard is a modern Renaissance woman deeply rooted in the book world. When she's not immersed in crafting novels, she's orchestrating writing retreats through her business, Writers in the Wild, or lending her voice to non-fiction audiobooks. She leads the Women’s Fiction Writers Association as the president of the board, and interviews her writer pals as one of the hosts of the Author Express Podcast. She will start querying her first book in 2024.
Beyond the realm of words, Kristi embraces the Florida sunshine by hiking with her writer-hiker group and leisurely walks on the beach. She and her husband juggle a couple side businesses and take turns sharing the couch with their goofy Golden-doodle, Maddie. Kristi enjoys travel adventures with her twin sister and living vicariously through her grown children. You can learn more about her and connect at: https://linktr.ee/kristileonard.
Be sure to follow or subscribe to Author Express wherever you listen to podcasts and to follow us on Instagram @AuthorExpressPodcast
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