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September-October 2009 Interview: Because it is nearing Halloween time we thought it would be
appropriate to featured Jeani Rector.
Q: Welcome! Tell us, how did you get started as a writer?
JR: In 2001, I got really interested in the bubonic plague (don’t ask) during medieval times. I began
reading all the non-fiction books I could get about it. Then I realized that there really weren’t any
fictionalized accounts of what it was like to live through those times from a first-person’s perspective.
So I wrote We All Fall Down about a young girl’s perspective of the
Black Death in 1348 England.
Then I started writing short stories and submitting them to e-zines, and finally to print magazines. I collected several
stories for my book Around a Dark Corner, published by
The Graveyard Press in 2009.
Q: Have you always been interested in art and writing?
JR: In fifth grade, my teacher told my mother:
“Discourage her art. Encourage her writing. She is much better at writing.”
What a twisted endorsement, huh? Maybe the teacher didn’t understand weird art. Maybe I could have turned out to be a
female Picasso.
Q: How do you keep your creative juices flowing?
JR: Writers write. Writers don’t talk about writing, they do it. I have heard so many people say, “Someday I will write a book.”
And they never do. Personally, I just start typing. Of course, it helps to have the sort of mind that can go to strange places!
Q: Do you have any projects you’d like to tell us about?
JR:
The Horror Zine is a new e-zine looking for submissions of dark short stories, poetry, and artwork from morbidly creative people.
My guidelines are: no harming of children, no erotica, and no gore just for gore’s sake. I prefer deliciously dark, eerie, atmospheric
submissions.
The other project is my new book,
Around a Dark Corner.
Q: What is something you wish human creative artists understood?
JR: That stories and films should have plots, not just splatterpunk. Give me thrills and scares, but don’t make me hurl.
Q: What are some of the challenges and obstacles you faced during your career?
JR: In the beginning, my “challenges” were rejection emails. Seriously, no one wants you unless you have been published. You need a
resume to get anywhere. A writer can build a resume with e-zines. I submitted to e-zines. Finally, some accepted my stories. I added
those publications to my resume credits. After a while, larger e-zines had interest in my material because I had been published by
smaller e-zines. Once I secured a number of e-zines publications I submitted material to print magazines.
Q: What is the most rewarding aspect of your career?
JR: Believe it or not, I get fan mail. I don’t care about making money; I just love knowing that my writing gets read. The other rewarding
thing is giving back. That is why I started an e-zine, to promote and display the work of creative people. I provide writers, poets, and
artists another publishing opportunity.
Q: What inspires you?
JR: Writing, but I think writing is more of an obsession for me than an inspiration. I am always thinking up ideas.
Q: How do you manage your time when you are working on more than one project?
JR: See “obsession” above. I am always working on my e-zine, yet at the same time, I still write. I will be the Featured Writer
in the October, 2009 issue of Strange Weird and Wonderful
Magazine, and I am waiting to hear back about a story submitted to
Midnight Street Magazine.
Q: What do you do to relax and to just have fun?
JR: Visit a fellowship of friends. Live one day at a time, put first things first, easy does it, and pause when agitated.
Q: What is the number one thing you would like to tell new creative artists?
JR: Live your dream. Do it. And submit to my e-zine.
Q: Do you have a support system?
JR: Yes, a lot of editors, and I know writers all over the world. It is amazing and I am grateful.
Q: If, at the age you are today, you could spend a day with you at age seven, what would you take
back in time, what would you say, what would you do?
JR: I would tell myself to go to college at age eighteen instead of later.
Q: When you feel creatively blocked, what do you do to get yourself back into the creative flow?
When your muse is napping, what do you do to wake him/her up?
JR: First of all, I grab an idea and start writing. But frequently, my idea is only a beginning and then I don’t
know how to continue. So, I’ve created a file with about 20 one or two page story beginnings. Whenever I feel
creative, I visit those story beginnings, one will strike my fancy, and then I finish the story.
Also, my creativity is inspired by my fascination with diseases. Right now, I am contemplating an idea for a book about
the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that killed
more people than World War I.
They had no vaccine available to inoculate people. In 1995, a doctor went to the permafrost of Alaska to excavate a
Spanish Flu victim’s body to secure a lung sample. What if the virus escaped that doctor’s research laboratory and was
released to the general population? That is how my ideas start.
Q: How do you recharge your creativity?
JR: By reading, I read a lot of non-fiction to get ideas for fiction that is based on facts and reality.
Q: What is your greatest inspiration?
JR:
Stephen King’s early works, especially
The Stand, which is my favorite book of all time.
Q: What advice can you offer to a creative artist who is struggling with their inner critic?
JR: Listen to the advice of editors. I have submitted stories and have had editors suggest revisions. I advise all
writers to listen. Editors are not mean or “out to get you.” They truly want to help. They have an unbiased eye.
Above all, don’t let rejections get to you. Even
Stephen King was rejected often before he sold
Carrie. Opinions are subjective. What one editor
may hate, another may love. Keep trying and do not give up.
Q: Many artistic people struggle to develop a routine that allows them time for their creative
work. What advice can you give that will help them create a balance between work and social life?
JR: Make the time. Plan your weeks. Early morning is my best time to write.
Q: What is your favorite first sentence in a book?
JR: “The flea was hungry.”
It is the first sentence from my book, We All Fall Down.
Q: Are you listening to music as you answer these questions? If yes, what are you listening to?
JR: No, I only listen to music at home with headphones. When I listen to music, I don’t do anything else at the same time.
Q: If you only had one more day to live, what would you do with the 24 hours?
JR: Get my things in order for my children and friends. Make a lot of phone calls to say goodbye. I would have no regrets.
Q: What traits, if any, do you think creative people have compared to people who are not
creative?
JR: I have found that most creative people are outgoing and friendly, and also very earnest.
Q: When do you feel most energized?
JR: In the early morning, after a huge cuppa Joe!
Q: Who is the most creative person you’ve ever known?
JR: Probably Paul Dale Roberts.
He is a real life ghost-hunter and a member of the Sacramento Paranormal Society. He writes articles, appears on television, and can be contacted
through his e-zine, Jazma Online.
The September issue of
The Horror Zine
features Paul Dale Roberts and his ghostly adventures on the News Page.
Q: Can you see your finished project before you start it?
JR: Never, I mean it. I never write outlines. I sit at my computer and my fictional stories write themselves.
If a story is based on fact, then I do a lot of research.
Q: What is the last movie you watched?
JR: Right now I am watching
The Deadliest Catch.
My favorite movies are:
The Lady in White
The Stand
The Changeling
Phantasm
Halloween (1978)
The Sixth Sense
Dead Birds
Poltergeist
The Others
The Orphanage
Q: What is the favorite question you were ever asked?
JR: “What’s a nice, sweet girl like you doing writing stories like that?”
My answer is that my writing influences stem from growing up watching
Bob Wilkins Creature Features.
Q: What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?
JR: Don’t give up.
Q: Your famous last words: will you share a piece of advice, a favorite quote, a tip,
whatever you wish?
JR: “Be you a king or a street sweeper, we all dance with the grim reaper.”
A movie quote from Grim Reaper (played by
William Sadler)
in the 1991 film
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.
Creative Artists Commnity
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