Author Interview with Jennifer Pierce

By Deena Adams

For the month of December, I’m featuring authors with Christmas stories published through Anaiah Press. This week you’ll meet Jennifer Pierce and find out more about her novella, “Giving Grace.”

If you purchase Jennifer’s book, be sure to leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, and other bookish platforms.

Now let’s get to know Jennifer!

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Tell us a little about yourself and your family. 

I live in Arkansas with my husband of 17 years and our two children. I’m a paralegal by trade and an author by free time. I love to read, I’m a huge supporter of law enforcement, and I can quote The Princess Bride.

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How and when did you start writing? 

I started writing in 2015. I had thought about writing before then, going so far as to enter NaNoWriMo one year. Not really sure I actually wrote anything. In 2014 my dad died, and I used reading as my therapy, reading 135 books that year. I was reading one day in 2015 and thought. “I could do this. I could write a book.” And I did.

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How do you incorporate Christ and hope into your writing? 

I try to write real characters with real lives and people that can speak Christ and hope into their lives. 

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Are any of your stories inspired by true events or personal history? 

The stories as a whole are not inspired by personal history/events but there are sprinklings of true things. For example: In Hidden Danger, Maggie is processing the loss of her father and having to go through her father’s estate. I had lost my father the year before. I wrote about finding expired medicine in his cabinet and jars of coins.

I incorporated the time my brother and his friend put a dead snake on our porch steps and called me out to scare me in both Hidden Danger and Expecting Danger, some creative liberties were taken.

The story about the blue tailed skink in Deadly Connection is true. 

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What does your writing space look like? 

After I sold my first novel, I got a desk and put it in my bedroom. It still sits there, covered in books, paperwork, and clothes. I usually take a notebook and pen/pencil to work and work on my lunch break or I’ll lay on the bed or couch and write.

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As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? 

As a younger child, I wanted to be a veterinarian but as I got older and was diagnosed with OCD, that career choice changed. When I graduated high school, I was interested in performing arts and was a theatre major for three years.

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What did God teach you through the writing of Giving Grace?

You wouldn’t be able to tell through my social media presence but I’m rather shy in real life, at first. I’m more introverted and awkward but writing the character Grace and her interactions with Evan and those around her has given me ideas on how I can spread God’s love without making myself the center of attention, like randomly walking up to a stranger and witnessing. That I can live God’s love while serving others.

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What do you hope your readers take away from the book? 

That everyone needs salvation and that it is easy. That you don’t have to get everything right before you come to God. There’s no hard tests or tasks that you need to do before God loves you. He’s loved you all along.

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Which character in Giving Grace was easiest for you to write and why? Which character presented the biggest challenge? 

I think Grace was the easiest to write. She was so carefree and loving. Evan was a little more challenging, see my response to the next question.

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What was the hardest scene to write? 

SPOILERS!!! Not huge spoilers, it is a contemporary romance with a guaranteed HEA so it’s to be expected. The salvation scene with Evan and Pastor Jonathan was the most difficult scene for me. Grace had laid the foundation throughout the book for the why and the how but Evan needed to have his moment with the Pastor. I didn’t know what kinds of questions Evan should ask or how the Pastor should respond.

I know everyone’s salvation story is different and completely personal. My salvation story took place in the middle of a revival when I was an early teen.

The questions people ask leading up to the salvation moment are based on each individual so it was hard for me to figure out Evan’s questions. I actually wrote the scene and asked my Pastor to review it for me.

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What’s next from you? 

I have a couple of ideas/stories that are tap dancing around in my brain begging for attention. I’ll chose one of those and get it down. Probably another romantic suspense novel.

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Besides posting comments on your website, how can your readers and fans support you? 

Follow me on social media and interact with me there, too, leave reviews, recommend my books, sending words of encouragement and prayers are always appreciated. 

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Any last words for your readers? 

Thank you! Thank you for taking time out of your life to read the stories I’ve written. I sincerely hope you enjoy them. Feel free to reach out to me any time. 

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Join the conversation. Do you enjoy novels that feature a character’s salvation journey? What about scenes based on the author’s life experience?

Connect with Jennifer:

Website / Facebook / Amazon  / Twitter / Goodreads / BookBub / Instagram

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If you missed last week’s interview with Christina Sinisi, find it here.