Make-Believe Mondays With Jenna Bayley-Burke

Today on Make-Believe Mondays my guest is Jenna Bayley-Burke.

Jenna, first, tell us a little bit about the manuscript you’re working on now.

Jenna: Right now I'm working on getting my not-quite three-month-old to sleep through the night. In the stolen bits of time I find, I'm roughing out a story about two lawyers who meet again following a one-night stand at a wedding. Kind of like Laws of Attraction, but without the fantastical Irish wedding plot line.

Debra: Oh, those stolen bits of time. They're like little gifts from heaven. Sounds like an interesting beginning for a story. I am impressed that you are finding time to write. (Kind of like breath though, isn't it? We authors need to write.) Congratulations by the way. I want to see photos. ;-)

Ray Bradbury said, “We are cups, constantly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” How do you keep your creative cup filled?

Jenna: That goes beyond seeing the glass half full, doesn't it! Sleep seems to be necessary for my work to be worth reading. Beyond the basics of life, I think reading does it for me. I love a story well told. It gives me something to enjoy and aspire to.

Debra: Yes, it does. I never did like either/or ways of thinking. It boxes us in. I've always loved that quote because it reminds me of how full and joyful our lives can be. Yes, sleep is a requirement, I suspect. And I'll bet you are celebrating every little bit you get these days and nights. :-)

Is there a point when your characters begin to come alive and you can see and hear them?

Jenna: Oh yes, right at the point when I think I know what is going on in their story, they pop up and steer me in their direction instead of my own. In

Par For The Course

I really struggled to keep an aspect of Jillian's past on her terms, reveal her struggle with an eating disorder in a way she would be comfortable with. It would have been much easier to do it my way, but I think it comes across more believable because I let her drive.

Debra: Such an excellent way to put it. Let them drive, yes.

If there were no categories for books, no reader expectations to meet, and you could create the wildest work of imagination that you could think of what kind of story would that be?

Jenna: You mean no word count, no publisher guidelines?

Debra: Yes, exactly. All those parameters.

Jenna: I don't really get fenced in. I think because I read so much, my stories naturally flow with the expected. How's that for exciting?

Debra: Natural flow is very exciting, because those are the stories that are real and have life. They aren't cardboard cutouts.

Jenna, thank you for joining us here on this Make-believe Monday to share a little bit of the magic of writing with our readers. And I hope everyone in your house is soon sleeping through the night.

Jenna: Thank you for having me!

Debra: It's been a pleasure.

Please visit Jenna Bayley-Burke at:
Web: http://www.jennabayleyburke.com/
Blog: http://www.jennabayley-burke.blogspot.com/

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Debra's News/Debra is watching:

This week I am working on my second novel, getting it ready for submissions. It's a contemporary romance. I will also be visiting my family, in Springfield, Ohio, my home town. Sending in my registration for the RT convention in Orlando next year, so if you are planning to attend, I'll see you there!
I've got a calendar on my website where you can keep up with my comings and goings and I'm just starting to fill it in.

I have been watching Gerri Russell's blog as she travels through Scotland. It brings back memories of last August when I escorted a group to Scotland for nine days. Oh, the heather spreading across the hills, sailing on the Loch, the morning and evening mists in the highlands, tea and scones....