Author Interview: Jenny Carlisle

Over the last few years, Scrivenings Press has become a family to me. Needless to say, when a fellow Scrivenings author has a book release, we all cheer and celebrate with her/him. And today, I'm introducing you to Jenny Carlisle, whose first fiction book released last month. And y'all, it's so sweet and fun. I highly recommend it. So, read on to get to know Jenny and then keep reading to find out about her sweet story, Hope Takes the Reins.

Jenny, congratulations on your first fiction publication! What first made you want to be an author?
Thanks so much, Amy. If you had asked five year old Jenny McLeod what she wanted to be when she grew up, she would have probably said, “I want to write books”, I loved reading at a very early age, and wrote stories at every opportunity. I think the first I remember was some sort of treasure hunt story. I also won an award for a poem I wrote in elementary school, and seeing my work hanging in the school hallway was the gratification I needed to really get me hooked.

Your book is set in a sweet little town in Arkansas and as soon as I started reading it, I felt I'd been there before. What made you pick that area to write about?
Crossroads is an entirely fictional town located somewhere between Little Rock and Fort Smith along the Arkansas River. The terrain is beautiful, with the timber-covered Ouachita and Ozark mountains surrounding green pastures perfect for cattle ranches.  Since moving to Arkansas as a senior in high school, this particular part of the state keeps drawing me, and I always enjoy visiting or driving through. I have always lived in a small town, and the feeling of kinship and cooperation is strong. Crossroads combines memories from so many small towns, so I hope it feels familiar to many of my readers.

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