By Leah Kornacki
Today we are very proud to shine a spotlight on our client and friend Jennifer Beckstrand. Jennifer has been represented by the agency for ten years now, and was discovered by our founder Mary Sue Seymour. We love Jennifer’s story, so we asked her to share more about how she came to be published and what advice she has for budding authors.
Jennifer is a lifelong fan of fiction, but didn't begin her journey as an author until well after she started a family. Jennifer's first passion was algebra, and she actually holds a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics. Even though She isn’t a career mathematician, Jennifer says the math degree was probably the best decision she’s ever made because it has come in handy getting all six of her kids through high school and college.
Her dream of writing came after she had her fourth child and began to suffer from insomnia brought on by restless thoughts. When she couldn’t sleep, Jennifer would write a Western romance story in her head. Eventually, she looked forward to bedtime more than ever before because she could spend the time exploring more of her story.
“You know how about four kids into your life you suffer from chronic insomnia because you can’t stop wondering what you forgot to do that day—like hug your child or go to the bathroom?
Anyway, that is basically how I started my writing career.”
Today Jennifer has 24 books published (with four more on the way!), but she wasn’t always a book writing machine. She says it took her 14 years to finish her first novel, a 130,000-word Western historical romance titled Rachel’s Angel, which won best novel in the League of Utah Writers Contest in 2008 and first place in the Inspirational category at the Utah Romance Writers Conference in 2009.
She says the first thing aspiring writers must make peace with is the very difficult and painful realization that not everyone is going to like their work.
“I pitched my book to one agent who wasn’t interested because she said it wasn’t “steamy” enough. Another agent judged my manuscript in a contest, and I could tell without her having to spell it out for me that she hated my story with a white-hot passion.”
It was Mary Sue Seymour who finally showed interest in Jennifer’s work. Mary Sue was looking for an author who could write inspirational romance, and she knew Jennifer was the right fit for the agency. Today, we know Jennifer as a resident rock star in Amish Fiction, but it was Mary Sue who originally suggested she research the genre. Jennifer quickly put together three synopses and a fifty-page query of her first Amish romance.
“Soon thereafter, ON MY BIRTHDAY, Mary Sue called with an offer to represent me—and a charge to ‘hurry and finish that book.’”
Five months later, Jennifer signed a three-book deal with Guideposts Books for her first Amish romance series, Forever After in Apple Lake.
From the beginning, Jennifer has dedicated herself to becoming the best writer she could be. Early on, she sought help and guidance from her author friends and attended conferences and workshops. She didn’t go it alone, and she didn’t try to rely solely on her storytelling talents. Instead, she researched and read up on writing and editing fiction. Jennifer recommends aspiring authors pick up a copy of Self-editing for Fiction Writers. She says its principles made her a significantly better writer, and she promises she isn’t exaggerating when she says reading it was “absolutely life-changing.”
Jennifer has also co-written her own nonfiction book for helping creative people called Big Ideas. It’s about how to get better ideas and more of those “Aha! Moments” by allowing your brain to go into “rest mode” rather than trying to squeeze ideas and creativity out on demand. She says her ideas usually don’t come easily, and if the inspiration isn’t flowing, she will spend lots of time contemplating and ruminating, sometimes staring at a blank screen. The problem is, sitting still at a desk for more than a few minutes makes her fall asleep.
“The advantage of being a task-oriented, stay-at-home mother is that many of my daily jobs allow ample time for musing. I ruminate while puffing on the treadmill or running a vacuum over my carpet or taking a shower. I am notorious for long, indulgent showers—my guilty pleasure. I do my best thinking in there. (My apologies to the green movement. But I do recycle!)”
At the same time, Jennifer doesn’t give her hard work enough credit. She balances creativity with research. She doesn’t consider herself an expert on the Amish, but she puts in the time to get the facts right to create a believable world and characters that are a fair representation of Amish people and their culture.
“One thing I have discovered about the Amish is that they are just regular people trying to navigate life in the best way they know how, just like the rest of us. So I try to make my characters real, instead of cardboard cutouts of what people think the Amish are like.”
To create her amazing characters, Jennifer seeks additional inspiration by observing the people around her. Anna and Felty Helmuth from her Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series are heavily inspired by her parents, and she made a hero out of her daughter’s boyfriend in one of her books. This method seems to breathe life and humor into Jennifer’s characters. Above all, the magic in her work comes from telling stories centered on what she loves and believes in.
“I would say, write what you love or writing becomes a drudgery very quickly. I love romance, humor, and faith-filled stories, so those are a pleasure to write.”
Jennifer’s formula for success has been equal parts dedication to her craft, dedication to her family, and a confidence that enables her to take criticism and use it. She understands that making mistakes are essential to the learning process, and she doesn’t let negative reviews get her down because she knows even the best writers get them. She says the only criticisms she takes to heart are from her beta readers, her agent, and her editor.
Jennifer says her favorite thing about being an author is hearing that readers enjoy her books, especially when her story has touched, inspired, or helped someone. Her next big goal as an author is to make the USA Today Bestseller list, and to get her first contemporary romance novel, Dandelion Meadows, published. In life, she says she is also striving to spend more time with her grandchildren and get better at pickleball.
Many thanks to Jennifer for sharing how she got started as an author and how she surmounts some of the challenges authors face. We love hearing how hard work and dedication can pay off!
Jennifer Beckstrand has several Amish fiction series including The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill and The Petersheim Brothers. Lovers of Historical Western fiction should read her novel Jessie and James which is a humor-filled romance set in a late 1800s mining town. We can not recommend diving into her worlds enough!
You can find out more about Jennifer and her books at her wonderful website: http://www.jenniferbeckstrand.com/.
Also be sure to join her official Facebook group for updates, giveaways, and more fun! https://www.facebook.com/groups/2061229137272299
