Jennifer Elizabeth

I have so many simple childhood memories, that it is really hard to narrow one down at random, unless I am asked in more detail.

I can't recall who I shared my first story with, or poems, since the moment I got my first journal/diary, I was always writing. Always creating. If it didn't make it on the page then it came in a theater play form with my dolls, entertaining my little sisters, or when we would play 'pretend' together.

What motivated me to become an actress was when I was 5 years old and I saw the movie 'Splash'. When I saw the actress as a Mermaid, I knew that was what I wanted to do. Low and behold, not only do I occasionally get the booking to act, and I am a professional mermaid, but my dreams beautifully collided when I booked a mermaid role on a Nickelodeon show called 'Knight Squad' and in a SAG union produced short, called 'Mermaid'. I felt that dream came into lovely fruition.

The type of music I listen to is all over the place and varies with my mood. My most requested on my 'Alexa' is Van Morrison Radio, Eagles Radio, Lana Del Rey Radio, Elvis Presley Radio, Sublime Radio, SPA, Vitamin String Quartet radio, and Tommy Dorsey/Glen Miller/ Big Band radio. My grandfather played in the Tommy Dorsey band so that has a very personal connection to me.

I came up with the plot of my children's book with a few inspirations and meshing them together. I was taking a Creative Writing course in high school and our end of year project was to write/create a children's book. I had just gone through a heavy heartbreak with my best friend/boyfriend at the time. Being one who loved fairy tales growing up, this clearly wasn't putting me in the "and they lived happily ever after" mood. I was even more drawn and related more so now to Hans Christian Andersen and his writing. (He is still one of my favorite authors.) While all this high school stuff was going on, there was another boy I was trying on to crush....and one night while we were talking, he told me the Jimi Hendrix song, 'Angel' reminded him of me. Because I loved the moon and stars, along with mermaids. I of course listened to the song and the part about the Angel coming down from heaven to tell the story of the love between the Moon and Sea captivated me. However, there was no more explanation....and so, along with my heartbreak, a touch of Hans Christian Anderson, and this Jimi Hendrix song, I wrote my children's book. I also really loved pearls at this age since I was given a real pearl necklace for my 8th grade graduation. Pearls always reminded me of the moon....and so then I created this folktale. Fun fact: originally, my book was an Angel instead of a Mermaid and started with a girl telling her best guy friend she liked him. The originals are posted on my website. www.seaangeljenn.com

The challenges I faced are so common with all writers. Trying to get a literary agent, submitting to publishing houses....it was a lot of work and rejection over the years. When the pandemic hit and I was still doing remote Mermaid work over Zoom and including my children's book (which changed to a Mermaid from the Angel when I started doing Professional Mermaid work) more people were saying it should be published. They would buy it....so I broke down and went the self-publishing route. It has been a learning experience for sure....however, so many people have shared my book so its moving along slowly. I still would love a big publishing house to sweep it up and to also make it into a short animation.

Story means to me Adventure. Learning a Lesson through imagination and visuals.

Currently, I am doing research for my next children's book in this series and it is taking a little longer than normal. Research can come quickly, connecting the dots, and then sometimes, you have to dig deeper for the inspiration you are looking for. When I do my Monday Morning Mermaid Lessons blog, that research, depending on the specific mermaid subject, can take anywhere from a day to a week.

I wish I was writing everyday....I go through phases and also it can reflect what is going on in my current life. I am a mother, and work freelance in many avenues. When I am in the zone, I leave my phone in another room so I don't get distracted with texts or Instagram. I also have bought fun Writing workshop books, and will assign myself duties, to shake me out of Writer's block. I used to carry a little journal to jot down at random any story ideas and poetry lines that come to mind. I also enjoy reading books on other writers for inspiration.

How I spend quality time with myself is reading books. My family jokes how quickly I devour books. As I have gotten older, I prefer reading books than hanging with friends sometimes...haha....when I do hang with friends, we usually have a game night or meet up for brunch or happy hour. I also really like naps.

My ideal writing space (which I have tried to create at best in my home) is a room with clean bookshelves displaying all my books. My desk is against a window overlooking water, like the ocean or a lake. In my case, it is overlooking my pool. There is a velvet love seat of gem tone colors and my desk chair is the same. There is also a little cat condo by a window for my cats to lounge. A separate table in the middle or corner of room to layout all my books if I am currently working on a research portion of my writing. My desk is fairly neat and tidy.

The highlights of being an author are, well for one, to have finished and accomplished putting a story out there. Regardless of genre, that is something that really feels solid to me. To share your story, thoughts in a unique way and to hear the positive response from others. That really resonates deeply on a human level for me. I understand my story will not be for everyone and there are thoughtless critics, which only make those unique few who DO respond positively so much more special. The struggles, at least what I learned going through the certain self-publishing company I went through, is the lack of support after you made your book. And while money comes in slowly, its not quite enough to life off, yet! Its a moving train though...and every stop is a new experience, good and bad.

Oh goodness, the most supportive people with my writing...I am so very blessed to have a strong support from my family. My father, my sisters, my mother, my daughter, and my husband. I am very blessed. Even a few surprises of people in my church community and a few gems in the mermaid community. I am very grateful. They are all on me for my next one!

My next book(s) since I don't know which I will finish first, is another children's book in this Mermaid Series and a YA novel series that I started writing in 2017 and come back to every now an then over the years. There are so many YA Fantasy novels out there, that I am humbled by. But I do my best to also use that as inspiration.

My experience with AllAuthor has been positive. Not sure if I am using it to my best of benefits....at the beginning of getting my book out and promoted I went all over the place. I still feel very much a novice in THAT department, promoting and marketing my book and what that looks like on a successful level.