Tell us about yourself.:
Action, a little romance, engaging characters, danger–those are the kind of stories I like to read, so those are the stories I write.
When I was in the sixth grade I wrote a heart-wrenching (okay, to me it was heart-wrenching) story of a boy who loved a horse that couldn't be tamed. I wrote 100 pages of it. From then on I was hooked on making up stories and putting them on paper.
When I'm not writing, I am a water aerobics enthusiast, amateur jewelry maker, struggling bridge player, and kick-ass grandmother. I grew up in Kentucky, went to college at the University of Georgia where I had way too much fun, and graduated from the University of Kentucky. After college, I worked for the Associated Press then became a reporter for "The Hartford Courant" in Connecticut. My two daughters were born there. My newspaperman husband got a job in Memphis and we moved there. I became a freelance speechwriter, publicist, and marketing person for major companies in town, but my favorite gigs were with the Memphis City Schools and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. I retired and began doing what I'd always wanted to do: write fiction. I wrote short stories that appeared in such anthologies as "Now There Was a Story", "Low Down Dirty Vote II and III", "Mayhem in Memphis," and "Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem". Since I liked short stories, I tried my hand at a longer form and wrote a novella of love and murder, "The Yellow Fever Revenge." What I really wanted to write a novel, and so was born the civil rights era suspense/thriller series, Sterling Brothers Ltd. So far the series includes "Justice Tomorrow," "The Price of a Future," and coming soon, "Wigs, Mustaches, and Other Disguises".

Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?:
I was raised in Ashland, Ky right where Ohio and West Virginia meet Kentucky. But I spent most of my summers and weekends at my grandmother's farm in Morehead, Ky where my parents built a golf course. Kentucky and Appalachia are featured in many of my books and stories.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
If I get writer's block I clean the house. Somehow doing work I hate spurs me to do work I love.
Also, I am the worst speller in the world. Sometimes I am beyond the help of spellcheck.

What authors have influenced you?
I was raised in Ashland, Ky right where Ohio and West Virginia meet Kentucky. But I spent most of my summers and weekends at my grandmother's farm in Morehead, Ky where my parents built a golf course. Kentucky and Appalachia are featured in many of my books and stories.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Learn to market your work. It's a terrible thing, I hate it (all writers do), but you have to learn to do it or no one will see your brilliant work.

What is the best advice you have ever been given?
Give your villain a dog.
The late best-selling author Carolyn McSparren once told me that all villains had to have something good about them–if nothing else give them a dog.
My husband also insists that someone has to die on the first page or he's not interested…meaning, something has to HAPPEN on the first page.

What are you reading now?
Southern Man by Greg Iles

What’s your biggest weakness?
I edit as I go. Terrible habit. I wish I could write a rough draft and THEN go back and edit.
Nope, before I start writing I have to go back and fix what I wrote the day before. Ugh!

What is your favorite book of all time?
To Kill a Mockingbird

When you’re not writing, how do you like to spend your time?
After writing, the project closest to my heart is Team Read, a second-grade tutoring program I helped develop that has proven to be popular and effective with volunteers and struggling students.
And since I believe every writer needs a support group, I am the immediate president of Malice in Memphis a Killer Writing Group.

Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
All the Nancy Drew books. I wanted to be her.

What has inspired you and your writing style?
"I would hate to think that all I did was tell a good story." I have forgotten which author said that, but at the time I read it I said to myself: "YES! That's it. Stories change the world, one reader at a time. From the beginning of time that's what books, plays, songs, paintings,etc. have done. I strive to entertain, yes, but I want the reader to come away with a little fire burning in their bellies.

What are you working on now?
I'm finishing the third book in the Sterling Brothers Ltd. series and working on two short stories for up-coming anthologies.

What is your favorite method for promoting your work?
Amazon and Facebook

What’s next for you as a writer?
I'd like to finish the Sterling Brother series in two or three more books then move on to stories about Kentucky.

How well do you work under pressure?
Bring.It. On!
I'm a former journalist, trained to write whole stories in 15 minutes.

How do you decide what tone to use with a particular piece of writing?
Each piece dictates the tone and voice used in the writing. That's why each story speaks with a unique sound.

If you could share one thing with your fans, what would that be?
Writers love readers. We love to engage with readers.

Jackie Ross Flaum’s Author Websites and Profiles
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