JL Crosswhite Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.
A. I live in southern California with my two young adult children and three spoiled cats. I grew up out here, but we lived in the Midwest for eleven years. When I’m not writing my own books, I help other writers with their books through coaching, teaching, and editing through my Tandem Services company. And in my spare time, I like gardening and doing projects around the house.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
A. I remember writing stories in kindergarten. I had an active imagination and was always coming up with stories for me and my brothers to act out. When I was in intermediate school, I entered a school writing contest and won. I was hooked at that point.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?
A. I grew up expecting that I would do something practical and that writing would be something I did on the side. As I went through college and then my early working years, I struggled with how to fit writing into the equation. I didn’t know any other writers. I didn’t get any support, and I didn’t have the time. So I would take creative writing classes, attended a conference, and mostly wrote when I felt inspired.

I met another writer at church who became a good friend. She got me into some online classes, and we joined a writer’s group together. I attended Mount Hermon the next year, 2001, when I was pregnant with my son. But shortly after that, I had to go on bed rest with him, and there went my writing for nearly a year. It wasn’t until we moved to Arizona that I was able to commit to writing daily for two hours, and I finished my first manuscript, a historical.

I got an agent after attending an ACFW conference, and we pitched two of my manuscripts, a historical romance and a romantic suspense, for quite some time. We got close a number of times, but I never got that coveted contract. I went through a long period where I wondered if I wasn’t supposed to write any more.

I ended up working for Zondervan, a Christian publisher, and became a managing editor there. I was still getting interest in my work and finaling in contests, but with two little kids at home, it was hard to find time to write. But it also gave me tremendous insight into the publishing world.

My son has autism, and when he entered middle school, it was too difficult to juggle a 60-hour-a-week job and his needs. So I was able to transition into my own business, Tandem Services, helping others with their writing. But it was still two years before I felt confident enough to let the idea of a traditional publishing contract go and indie publish my first book, Coming Home, through my own publishing company.

I’ve never regretted the decision. I’ve published twelve books with two more releasing this year. I love the control I have over all the aspects of publishing. And it’s great hearing from readers who have had their lives impacted by your books.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release Off the Map?
A: Allie Ellis’s neatly ordered life running a relocation service is turned upside down by the reappearance of her old high school crush. Not only does he want her to find him a house, he wants to join a planned road trip with her siblings.

Detective Steve Collins was shocked to discover that a friend of his partner was the sister of the girl he could never quite forget. Now that life has brought them back together, he’s not going to let her go without giving them the chance they never had.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for Off the Map?
A: It’s inspired by the collision of two ideas. What if a group of siblings took a family road trip that they’d dreamed about for years? And what if two high school sweethearts reconnected fifteen years later? Throw in a stalker bent on revenge, and you get a road trip with a lot of twists and turns.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
A: Readers have told me that the book reminds them of how easily bad things can happen to us outside of our control. And yet, we can trust that God has everything under his control, and nothing happens to us that isn’t for our good and his glory. I hope readers see that in this story.

Q: What inspires you to write?
A. My active imagination! I can’t help but think “What if…?” about so many things. I don’t know what I’d do with those ideas if I couldn’t put them into stories.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. Off the Map is the first of a new series, In the Shadow. So book 2 is Out of Range. It follows Matthew and Kim, whom we meet in the first book. Then book 3 is Over Her Head. Because it’s a spinoff series from my Hometown Heroes, you’ll find some of your favorite characters making an appearance throughout.

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?
A. I really like to paint the walls in my house and restore old furniture. I’m constantly thinking of how things might look if they were in a different color. And my mind really wanders with new stories when I’m working with my hands.