NTRWA August 2004 Spotlight On...

JENNIFER MALONE
          by Juliet Burns

Jennifer Malone grew up in Missoula, Montana. Land of the big sky. The average nightly temperature in January is around 10 degrees and people still ice skate on outdoor ponds. There are more people living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area than in the entire state of Montana! So moving to Texas for a job was quite a culture shock for Jennifer, whose car had no air-conditioning!

But Jennifer speaks of her move very understatedly, as if it were no big deal. This is typical of her: brave, adventuresome and ready to do what must be done. Her parents divorced when she was 12, and she didn’t see much of her father for several years. But she took this in stride and now has a good relationship with him. All of Jennifer’s heroines have these same traits: strong, determined, and brave. Her favorite quote is by Andre Gide, “One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.”

Both her parents are huge readers and they instilled in her a love for reading. And since her mother is an English teacher, her natural talent for beautiful writing is enhanced by a wicked knowledge of grammar, spelling and punctuation. After graduating from the University of Montana in ’95 with a degree in Communication Studies and a minor in History, Jennifer began her first manuscript writing longhand in a spiral notebook. One of her favorite movies is GONE WITH THE WIND, so it’s no surprise her story was about a feisty southern belle who must hold her family’s plantation together at all costs after the civil war.

Jennifer moved to Texas six years ago for her career and she’s now employed as Director of Marketing Communications for United Way. Her job kept her busy, but she wrote as much as she could and joined RWA^® and NT in 2002, quickly making friends and joining a critique group. She’s recently published an article about the history of the rodeo in Texas and is currently working on a contemporary romantic suspense titled Whispers of Thunder set in Fort Worth. Or should I say desperately working on, since Ann Leslie Tuttle at HQN has requested the full manuscript.

Jennifer is an avid jogger and loves to go boot scootin’ to her favorite country songs. She’s still looking for that handsome cowboy to ride up and sweep her away on his horse, she jokingly says, “Mainly so I can stay home and write full time”. But until then, she’ll continue to meet life head on, leave the shore and adventure to far off lands. Even if it’s only in her novels. We’d like to keep her in Texas.

Copyright 2004 NTRWA -- all rights reserved, please obtain written permission before use.