Inspirational Sunday-Jenni James

Okay, I realize that it is currently Monday morning, but I had a friend over last night so I didn't get to my blog BUT Mrs. Jenni James is pretty incredible so I still have to talk about her. You'll remember from Saturday's post how I came across her from my friend Kari. Anyway so I start following her on Facebook, because I like to keep up with when books will be released, book signings, ect, ect. and I tell you what, this lady is Superwoman. She has 7 kids and fosters 3 more! And on top of that, she also cans food like crazy, not to mention coming up with healthy, yummy alternative recipes (her latest one was caramel yum!) not to mention that she writes books, as if she didn't already have plenty on her plate. ha ha! I had the opportunity to do a mini interview with her.
1. What got you into writing?
I was never going to be a writer… ever. I sort of thought it’d be boring. So imagine my surprise when the book Pride & Popularity would not leave me alone? Every free second I had this book would hound me until finally I was like—Okay! Okay! You win. I’ll write. I sat down and began writing… as you say, the rest was history.

2. How do you juggle everything (canning, mothering, writing, general supermom-ing)?
Erm… juggle? Lol! I don’t think I’d make a good juggler. I just do it. I have to be doing something or I’ll go mad. So I have a bunch of kids (5 at home/5 at school) always around my legs and feet. To guarantee they don’t make huge messes somewhere, I tend to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. If I’m in there, I might as well be baking or canning. When they’re asleep is my best writing time. It’s when I finally have a moment to myself and can just write. As to the supermom comment… er, I’ll let you know when I get to that status! Lol!

3. What made you want to modernize Jane Austen?
 It was my mom, actually. We were hashing out what to call this book, when I told her it was a lot like Pride and Prejudice. She instantly said, “well, why don’t you call it Pride & Popularity?” I LOVED the idea. We were both huge Jane Austen fans and it would be something super easy for me to tweak and work the storyline into Pride and Prejudice. After I went back to working on the book, I realized I had several other characters already in the first one to inspire the others. It was a no brainer after that to rewrite the whole series.

4. Who inspires you?
 My mom! She’s amazing! No, really. Like, crazy awesome! She can run circles around what I do every day. One day I hope to be just like her.  Thank you for having me!

When I grow up I want to be as cool as Jenni. :D She inspires me, and makes me want to accomplish more in my life. If she can do everything she does with 10 kids, I should be able to do a whole lot with my 2 right? ;) Thanks so much Jenni for letting me feature you and keep being amazing! :)