Ask the Author: Jodi Lea Stewart
Answered Questions (6)
Jodi Lea Stewart
The biggest mystery of my own life involves the myriad of sounds I heard while living briefly in a secluded home in the Arkansas Ozarks. Unbelievably strange, and then, my daughter, when I was packed up to leave, wound up on the top of a tall mattress leaning against the wall. She was eight months old, couldn't climb yet, and there was no one to have lifted her up. Spooky, yes? Lol! All true.
Jodi Lea Stewart
Tough question, but I have to say it's the ability to express my random thoughts and ideas cohesively into a great story to share. Truly, it's as my journalism professor told me, "There's magic when your fingers hit those keys on the keyboard." I often can't put into words what is formulating or haunting my mind, but when I sit at my computer with my fingers on the keyboard, the magic begins.
Jodi Lea Stewart
TRIUMPH, a Novel of the Human Spirit is extra special to me for many reasons, not the least of which is because it exemplifies my personal feelings about ethics and the differences in human beings as something celebratory and never horrendous. Regardless of race or creed, we all have so much to contribute to our families, our friends, our communities, and our countries. No one on earth is exactly like another, and for that, I say we should learn from and honor each other with expectant joy. The key is always respect and acceptance. Another aspect of why I wrote this novel was to tell of life in St. Louis during the 1950s and early 1960s. The streetcars, the old bus routes, the drugstore counters with their tomato-stuffed with chicken salad or grilled cheese on rye lunches exist no more. My own mother worked three jobs at a time as a waitress in St. Louis during some of those times, and she was the recipient of seventy-five cents to a dollar an hour and no tips for her back-breaking work. I don't want us, or future generations, to lose sight of how hard times have been in the past for hard-working folks with no way to overcome their circumstances.
Jodi Lea Stewart
Another dynamic historical fiction catapulting the reader from Texas to Mexico to Argentina to China and into the epicenter of another intriguing human drama exemplifying triumph over adversity. Look for it in 2021/2022.
Jodi Lea Stewart
I am new to writer's block and am experiencing a touch of it right now. I know what caused it. It was the tremendous flush of marketing I did with a small team for my latest novel, TRIUMPH, a Novel of the Human Spirit, which launched September 2020. One's brain gets so fired up with the business of writing and how to generate sales that the creative side decides to go away. That happened. I am correcting it by reading a few fiction books, trying to be patient with myself, and writing something else. For example, I felt great relief and satisfaction entering a Writer's Digest personal essay contest the other day. It felt good to write anything. So that's my remedy . . . read, write something else, and calm the heck down. 11/07/20
Jodi Lea Stewart
The advice I give to new authors is DO EVERYTHING TO IMPROVE YOUR CRAFT. I have written several blogs about this, such as "Upon learning the Splendid Craft of Writing" by Jodi Lea Stewart, and I post them in the newbie author pages on Facebook . . . to no avail. They don't even check them out. It's sad that new authors think they can achieve excellent skills without reading, participating in seminars and classes, and without the sweat equity we have all put in to achieve the level at which we find ourselves. If you want to read these blogs, go to https://jodileastewart.com/
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Sep 11, 2025 11:47PM · flag