By
Lindas Book Obsession Interviews Author Jamie Brenner
- What is your motivation or inspiration in writing your books?
I have been writing for as long as I can remember. It’s the way I process my feelings, the way I deal with the world. I started writing because it was what made me happy, and then I followed the advice to do what you love when it comes to your career. It just took me a long time to figure out how to make it all come together.
- Do you ever base any of your characters on people you know in your life?
I don’t base characters on people I know if real life – at least, not consciously. Sometimes people who know me think they recognize certain people, but it’s never intentional on my part. I do, however, draw on feelings that come from real situations I’ve been in.
- What are your goal for readers to take away after reading your novels?
My goal is to entertain people. If there’s any recurrent theme or message, it’s the importance of family even if that “family” is the family we choose – like our friends.
- How do you maintain a balance in your life, between your family, and being an author.
I don’t know if I do! I probably spend more time writing than my daughters would like. I keep thinking it will get easier to find balance as they get older but so far that hasn’t proven to be the case.
- What is a typical day in the life of Author Jamie Brenner?
When I’m writing a book, and that’s nine or ten months out of the year, I wake up and go straight to my desk with coffee and start writing (after about a half hour of Facebook and Instagram and all that.) I write for a few hours, get back on social media, then back to writing. I might take a break to run errands, but I’m pretty much writing until late afternoon when my daughters get home from school. Then it’s dinner, and after dinner TV with my husband or reading. Usually both at the same time. Late spring and summer is a different routine. My books come out in late April and so I start travelling to bookstores. This is also the time I am usually researching my next book, and that takes me to a new beach town every year.
- Can you tell us anything about your new writing projects?
I just finished a novel coming in May 2019 called Drawing Home. It’s set in Sag Harbor, one of my favorite towns, and is about a single mother working at the front desk of The American Hotel. At the beginning of the summer, her teenage daughter mysteriously inherits the biggest waterfront home in town. It’s a mother-daughter story but it also continues my favorite theme of the families we choose.
- How would you like readers to connect with you?
I’m a big fan of Instagram: @jamiebrennerauthor. I’m on Facebook and I’m always reachable by email: Jamie@jamiebrenner.com
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