Kimberly Jarrett

On September 17, 1968, I was born at Charlotte Memorial Hospital (now Atrium-Carolinas Medical Center). My maternal grandmother, being separated from my grandfather, moved in with my parents when they were married in 1962; so, I had the daily privilege of knowing the love of three individuals during my childhood as an only child.

In 1972, we moved to Matthews, which is a nearby suburb of Charlotte. Members of both sides of my family lived near us, giving me the rare opportunity to interact with many of my relatives, including three great-grandparents, numerous great aunts and uncles, aunts and uncles, and many cousins. I’ve lived in Charlotte most of my life, except for the six years that I spent in Chapel Hill and Durham going to school and working.

North Carolina is a beautiful place to live. Charlotte is close to the mountains and the Carolina beaches and allows one to experience the weather of all four seasons, although the winters are short and extremely mild.

I’ve always been a Christian and grew up attending church; but becoming a parent and, later, being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis has made my faith stronger and deeper.

When we adopted Princess, the director of the rescue gave us a letter that the former owner had left with her. The owner expressed her great sadness at having to surrender the Collie but also shared a story.

Princess had been used as a breeding dog when she young. When she could no longer have puppies, she was tossed away like trash and left in a mud pit to die. That was the extent of the narrative, but it touched my heart so greatly that I knew it had to be shared. So, I began writing in hopes that my words would convince people how important it is to adopt rescue animals.

I’ve asked readers to let me know if they have adopted a rescue animal. If they have, I donate 100% of my profits to their specific rescue and will continue to do so in the future.

Having this type of degree has been a priceless asset to my life. No matter what job I have held or what I do with my life, it has given me the ability to communicate effectively and develop a firm command of the written word.

Experience with first rescue.
Although our first rescue dog was not adopted through a proper organization, he was a rescue none-the-less. Doc Holliday of the West was a full-blooded Golden Retriever that was advertised for adoption through an ad in the newspaper. His fur was a fiery auburn color, resembling the coat of an Irish Setter, and he had lived with four families between his birth in 2000 and the time we adopted him in 2002. He was described as hard to handle, was overweight at 100 pounds, and had to be muzzled the first time my husband took him to our vet.
For the first six months, we showered Doc with unconditional love, kept him on a consistent schedule, and offered gentle and loving discipline. He developed into a sweet, kind, and fiercely loyal dog that blessed our family with his presence for 10 years before he died in 2012 of cancer.

Challenges faced while writing Rescuing Molly: A Journey of Hope.
I felt a duty to write this story in the most accurate and loving way possible. I emailed at length with our vet about the canine medical issues and researched extensively about the birthing and breeding processes. It was important to me to avoid creating villains in this story - the breeders, those addicted to drugs, or those making difficult choices. Life is not black and white but varying shades of gray, so there were many rewrites as I learned to better understand my characters.

I met with a literary agent via a Zoom conference during the pandemic. She was less than impressed with the first two chapters of my book, saying that I needed to read more works from successful authors and learn how to add more description and details to my prose.

At first, I was devastated and wished that she had been willing to read my entire book and see how my writing had evolved throughout the story. After considering some of her comments, though, I decided to use them to make my writing stronger. I reviewed notes that I had takenduring a creative writing course and re-evaluated my book, editing where necessary.

With the help of my family, I also was able to see that all her suggestions were not applicable to me or my writing, especially because she failed to share my passion for rescuing animals.

The lesson for me was to delete emotion from the equation and focus on the elements that may make my writing better and stronger.

As a child, I would write four-or-five-page books with drawings that I would mail to companies in hopes of getting published. Of course, my “works” were not accepted, but I did receive kind and encouraging letters in return. As I grew older, I equated writing with being famous and going on worldwide book tours.

Then, I wrote this book and realized how silly I had been. The actual process of writing is rewarding in and of itself. Producing something that can change people’s minds about a subject creates joy and contentment in and of itself.

However, with these positive feelings also came the crushing reality of trying to secure a literary agent – someone who understands and shares my passion for a story. It’s a grueling process that I waded through for more than a year with no success. The availability of self-publishing gave me new hope, though. It allowed me to create a product, gave me a way to sell it, and showed me how I could affect people with my writing and make a difference.

My writing continues to evolve and, hopefully, is becoming better and more effective with time. Deriving pleasure from the actual writing process and creating stories that positively affect people remain my main reasons for writing.

Not specifically. I simply ask myself if what I am writing at the time makes sense and if it seems logical and realistic. I also have other people read it and give me suggestions. If I question the material or someone else does, I edit it until it will make sense – to every reader.

Multiple Sclerosis is not the end of one’s life. Although there isn’t a cure, many advances have been made in research since the early nineties. Three main injectable medications to help stop progression of the disease were available when I was diagnosed in 2000. Today, though, there are many more options and include medicines that are oral, injectable, or can be infused.

MS does not define me but is merely part of who I am.

While submitting my manuscript to literary agents, I realized that historical fiction, suspense, and mystery are popular genres that are heavily sought after by publishing companies. So, I have started a new historical fiction/mystery novel.

It’s written from the perspective of three women from two different generations - a great aunt, a grandmother, and a granddaughter. The great aunt vanishes mysteriously in 1984 from the family estate, which was built with money obtained from the cotton mill industry that flourished in North Carolina in the early twentieth century. Stories from each woman’s life help to unravel the great aunt’s fate and show how one generation positively and negatively affects another.

All Author has proven successful in getting my name recognized by other authors as evidenced by the 2,005 views to my profile on the website and the rising number of followers to my Instagram account.

The mock-up banners look polished and professional and are easy to personalize and post to Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Amazon provides marketing suggestions and offers ways to fund advertising for my book.

Creating an Author Page on Facebook has also provided me with a way to reach more people. However, I would be interested in learning how to obtain additional “Friends” and post information beyond my list of basic followers.