Hey everyone. I’m J.L. Gray. My mom told me once she was going to name me April Dawn, but once she gave birth to me she was so filled with ‘joy’ (I was over nine pounds; take the story anyway you want) she immediately changed my name to reflect that emotion. I grew up in a small town in southern Illinois off the banks of the Wabash River. I was an only child and the oldest of three. How does that happen?
I became a sister at the age of eighteen. I grew up with my cool mom, crazy cousins (so many), awesome aunts, the best uncles, and the greatest grandparents in the world. Seriously, I love my family. Some of my best lines, schemes, stories, and memories could be déjà vu for certain family members. They gave me some great memories over the years along with character associations.
Growing up I dreamed of being a nurse (like my mom) and even tried being a CNA along with going to nursing school. I couldn’t cut it, and it probably has everything to do with my lack of a bedside manner. I dreamed of being a teacher, a writer, and a lawyer; that was so I could be a judge. I wanted to be able to slam that gavel down and throw people in jail who pissed me off. Instead, along the way of growing up I’ve been a babysitter, a waitress, a cake decorator, a Curly Q maker, a pizza baker, warehouse picker, a manager, and discovered I was really good at being a delegator in Corporate America. The best and hardest job I ever had; was being a mom 🙂
My son and I have been on a roller coaster ride and then some. (But, it makes for good writing.) We lived in Indiana for awhile before I dragged him and our two dogs with me to Daytona Beach, Florida. Why Daytona you ask?
I spent a weekend with my sister in the sunshine state and fell in love with the place. Florida always felt like a second home because of the family I spent time with as a kid. It felt like coming home, so I did. I’ve been here ten years and there’s nothing better than living close to the ocean. (Another dream was living in a cottage by the sea.) This is home.
Four years ago I received a Kindle for Christmas (I was like a kid all over again) rediscovering my love of reading that I had forgotten about. It was like a part of my soul had been missing. I consumed book after book like they were feeding me. Growing up I would create characters in my mind and follow them as their stories played out. Once I started reading again, the characters wouldn’t stop coming, and the only way I could get them out of my head was write them down. (I had a memory stick because they were that precious to me that I wanted to keep them safe.) Anytime characters popped inside my head, I would write out their stories until I got them out of my head. My stories were mine and I never planned on sharing them with anyone else. Until now.
I decided to leave the rat race of corporate America behind but discovered that being at home was really boring. I found my thumb drive, dusted it off, and stared at ten different stories I had written over the years. I picked out one or two and after discarding the first one for pure ludicrous content, I picked another one and found something was there. After a year I was somewhat confident in sharing it with the rest of the world, but I had no clue what to do with it. The publishing world was hard to get into but this self-publishing with eBooks seemed like a good way to start. I found a book from one of my favorite author’s on how to self-publish and read it so many times that if it had been a hardcopy the pages would have been worn down.
It was painstaking, publishing my first novel, and I discovered editing is not only boring it is headache worthy, mixed with nerve wracking, but I did it. Yeah me! (I’m patting myself on the back and doing my happy dance.) Trust me on this; you don’t want to see it. So, that’s me in a nutshell. My story is long, it is plentiful, and at times it is a laugh a minute along with tears of joy and sadness along the way because that’s life.
The only solace I can give you is, when life gets too hectic, overwhelming, and stressful there’s always a book ready to help you get lost into another world. Television can be entertaining and inspirational, but there’s nothing better than reading a book. I hope you get caught up in the story lines, I paint a picture inside your head, and make you feel some emotions along the way.
Welcome to my world!
J.L. Gray
P.S.
It’s not easy investing so much of yourself in a book that may or may not ever see the light of day. Would I do it differently if I could? No! I’m determined to get my characters on the pages and to you the readers. What started out to be something only for me; as this has been me for as long as I can remember (childhood) is now hopefully something for you as well. I love to write and create imaginary characters in my head.
My days are filled with working on the books I had in storage and taking care of my seven babies. They are furry four-legged and very much my children. Some days they are patient other days they have been known to crawl into my lap and place their heads on my laptop saying ‘enough today, Mommy’.
I hope that you like my stories and please feel free to offer me that constructive criticsm. But, most importantly, I hope that I can do for you what my favorite authors have done and continue to do for me…..Offer a brief escape where you can laugh, cry, and enjoy their character’s lives hoping and praying everyone lives happily ever after. Above everything else; just sit back and enjoy the journey.
J.L. Gray 