Jan Scarbrough

Oak Ridge, Tennessee - perfect. I was a well-loved only child.

Of course, if I could personally own a horse, I would own an American Saddlebred. As it is, I take a weekly riding lesson just to get my horse fix. I do own 1% of a Thoroughbred yearling named Secret Move. There are many other owners, sort of like the many owners of the Kentucky Derby winner Justify.

I enjoy writing my Gothic paranormal romances because they are written in first person.

I was told by a palm reader at the state fair that I had known my ex-husband in a former life. That intrigued me, so I researched reincarnation. I thought including reincarnation in the plot made for a good story. I was truly honored to be a Golden Heart finalist. Even though I didn’t win, my book was honored at the RWA convention and I got to dress up as if I was at an Academy Award show.

Not really; however, I’ll tell you a little secret—I used real life experiences in the story.

Writing My Lord Raven took a long time. That’s why I haven’t written its sequel yet. I bought all kinds of research books, because I started the story just as the Internet became available. Today some of my library is on my Kindle, but I still like holding a physical book and underlining like I did in college. Today I’m reading A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain by Marc Morris.

Yes. Humans are humans. We can do honorable things, but we can betray those we love as well. Human relationships are complicated.

I love seeing a new cover. That’s fun. I don’t like plotting or writing a synopsis. I sort of make a plan, but the characters often have their own idea of what should happen in a book.

Novelists, Inc. (NINC) is the professional network for career novelists. https://ninc.com/ I heard about it from Patricia Rice and Teresa Medieros when I first joined RWA as a wannabe author. It was always my goal to join it. By selling two books to Kensington Precious Gems, I qualified. This was before indie publishing. I’ve maintained my membership so that I’m “grandfathered” into the organization.

Maddie James, Magdalena Scott, Janet Eaves once wrote a series. Each of us wrote our individual books, but we planned the setting and a brief plot—like a snow storm. I learned that you have to be patient and cooperate. You can’t let your ego get in your way when working with friends. Their ideas are just as good as yours.

I’d love to be tradionally published, but self-publishing gives me a way to write books I want to write. My husband works with me to format and publish the books. He makes it easy for me to simply write.

Well, you can say I have quit the day job. My company offered many of us early retirement, so I took the offer! Since January 2018, writing full time has been my career.

Getting that first book published by Precious Gems and having my mother tell all her friends that “the editor wrote the sex scene."

I have the rights back to 8 early books, the Bluegrass Reunion series. I’m working on re-editing and new covers. The series will re-launch over the summer. I’m also working on a 3 book series, a spin-off of the Montana McKenna series written with Maddie James. Then I will eventually write the sequel to My Lord Raven called Raven’s Vow.