SEELIE KAY: Postcards from The Ledge: This week in The Loft: Author Pauline Baird Jones!

Joining me today in The Loft is USA Today Bestselling Author Pauline Baird Jones. Pauline writes in a broad range of romance sub-genres, including gothic and time travel romance, romantic suspense, romantic comedy, and science fiction. For motivation, she devours chocolate and bacon, and collects flamingoes and mid-century modern anything. She also enjoys reading and building Lego houses. After living with her husband in the south for 34 years, they have returned to the state of their birth--Wyoming.

Author Pauline Baird Jones

S: Good morning, Pauline! Thanks for joining me today.

What would you like people to know about you?

P: I am from small town Wyoming, homemade bread, from black and white television, 8MM movies with no sound, and drinking soda pop from bottles with caps that didn’t twist off. I am from long, hot summer days that began at sun up and ended only when the sun went down--reluctantly—with a nap in the middle for my mom’s sanity. I’m from sleep outs under the moon and snow angels and sledding in the winter. I’m from a grandma who raised her family in a two-bedroom log cabin, and another who came from the city, but married a cowboy and moved to Wyoming. I am from short, from wishing I were taller. I’m from jowls. I’m also from Louisiana. I’m from pastries I can’t forget, beignets and bread pudding. I’m from Texas. I’m from barbecues, the Cotton-eyed Joe, and hurricanes. I’m from the USA, from Earth and the Milky Way and from when Pluto was still a planet. I’m from books that introduced me to the world and inspired me to become a writer.

S: That's quite an adventurous introduction! What attracted you to your current partner?

P: One of the hub’s most enduring qualities is his ability to look past the surface of people to the person inside—and to like them. People see that and they are drawn to him because he is truly interested in them. From the first moment I met him, I felt like I could be better with him around. And I wasn’t wrong about that. We’ve been married for 47 years now and I still feel special when he looks at me.

S: What inspires your stories?

P: I always struggle with this question and I answer it because it is good for my character to answer difficult questions. The thing that drives me to write, I think, is because there is a book in my head that I want to read. I want to read it bad enough that I wrestle with the story, argue with characters, and write-delete-write until I find out what happened. I think I also write to figure out who I am. I grew up in a time of flux and change for women and their roles, so that seems to run through my books quite a bit. And I write to entertain myself and others, to escape sometimes challenging reality. What I hope is that those who read my books will laugh, shiver with fear from time to time, and sigh at the happy ending achieved.

S: What is the best/worst thing that has ever happened to you as a writer?

P: My best and worst thing are the same thing. I had an agent and I was on the cusp of making a sale to a major, New York publisher. I balked when they insisted I add sexual content to my book. I thought about it and realized I just wasn’t comfortable with that. I said, "No," and I lost the agent and contract. I thought it was the biggest setback of my career, but it turned out to be a wonderful blessing. When independent publishing arrived, I owned the rights to all my books. I love managing my books and my own business. I won’t lie, it is challenging at times to be author, publisher, publicist, designer and more. I do all my own formatting, but I do have a wonderful cover designer, and editor. I like being in charge of what happens to my books and what goes inside them. And if I had taken the contract? My Big Uneasy series would be completely different from what it is--the editor didn’t want 13 siblings!

S: Sounds like you were true to yourself and reaped the benefits. If you had to do it all over again, would you still choose to write books?

P: Completely and utterly yes! I love being a writer. When I’m asked about my dream job, well, I am living it.

S: What inspired "The Family Way?"

P: "The Family Way' is a story about Alex and Nell, from "Relatively Risky," having a baby. It was inspired by two things. First, Alex is the oldest of 13 siblings. When his mom and then his step-mom died, he helped to raise them. He never wanted to have any more children to take care of. But then he married Nell. Nell attracts kids to her like flowers to bees. Second, Nell is related to the mob, which are sometimes called Family. And when she got “in the family way," well, I knew I had to write the story.

S: Is there anything special you would like people to know about "The Family Way?"

P: I personally only go to baby showers out of friendship and for the cake. So it was kind of a peculiar punishment for me to write about a baby shower. And of course, because I write comedy romantic suspense, things were going to go wrong. Early reviews call it “a short, sweet funny read,” “…a fun-to-read romantic suspense/cozy mystery…” and also said that “This book had all the feels. It was charming and quirky and you simply cannot help but love all of the characters.”

Here's the blurb--

Alex and Nell are expecting!

At Nell’s baby shower, she’s hoping for a ceasefire between the law-enforcing Bakers and her criminal cousins (not to mention her scary grandmother, the mob doyenne).

The girls just want to have fun, but when the silly shower games are interrupted by some unexpected guests, it takes the “fun” right out of this dysfunctional family shower.

Can Baby Baker help these families inch closer to neutral ground and begin to heal old wounds and fractured friendships?