Getting to Know the Authors: Featuring Chloe Jacobs!

Bio:

      Chloe Jacobs is a native of nowhere and everywhere, having jumped around to practically every Province of Canada before finally settling in Ontario where she has now been living for a respectable number of years. Her husband and son are the two best people in the entire world, but they also make her wish she'd at least gotten a female cat. No such luck. And although the day job keeps her busy, she carves out as much time as possible to write.
       Bringing new characters to life and finding out what makes them tick and how badly she can make them suffer is one of her greatest pleasures, almost better than chocolate and fuzzy pink bunny slippers.

What she has written:

Greta and the Goblin King (Mylena Chronicles, #1),

Greta and the Glass Kingdom (Mylena Chronicles, #2), 

 and Greta and the Lost Army (Mylena Chronicles, #3) 

Excerpt of Greta and the Lost Army:   

     She and Isaac sat on the back porch steps. She told him about the foster family, and he shook his head.
    “Siona and I will remove ourselves to the woods and await our return to Mylena from there,” he said stubbornly.
    “You don’t have to do that. I’m sure it’s a nice family, and we’ve got four weeks until the planetary thing. You can’t stay out there. You need shelter and food.”
    He gave her a mulish look. “You are not the only one who can fend for themselves in a strange land.”
   “That’s not the point,” she insisted. “They’ll go after you.”
    “I’m certain we will be able to evade anyone who comes looking for us.”
    “That’s not the point, either.”
    “Then please get to it,” he snapped, his grim frustration leaking through the goblin king facade of calm. She hissed and glanced over her shoulder, worried that someone would hear them.
    “Do you honestly think my parents will let me see you if you buck the system and take off like that?”
    He paused.
    “Right now they’ve promised that you can come over any time you want, but if you run away, they’re going to think I’m a flight risk too, or that you’re a bad influence.”
   “If you tell them the truth—”
    After last night’s incident and the discussion with her father this morning? “I can’t do that, Isaac. It’s too soon. They’re still hurting, and I don’t want to add to that. They would just get more confused.”
    He glanced over her shoulder, mouth tightening as he appeared to consider what she’d said.
She squeezed his hand. “Please. It won’t be so bad,” she promised without any idea if that would be the truth or not.
    Just then her mother called her name from the kitchen. She glanced at Isaac. “Will you at least give it a shot for a few days?”
    He nodded stiffly and leaned down to kiss her. “For you I would do most anything, which you use to your advantage all too often,” he murmured against her lips.
Greta grinned at him over her shoulder as she went inside.

Now on to the Interview!!!

1) How old were you when you started writing, in your opinion?

   I’ve always written, since I was in grade school. But I started writing “seriously” about eight years ago.

2) What do you want a reader to gain from reading your works?

   I just want all my readers to find a great story, find a way of connecting to the characters, and to experience a wide range of emotions.

3) What are your three top suggestions on becoming an author, or being a pleasure writer?

   If you want to become an author, I always suggest lots of patience. Good writing is a large part instinct and voice, but it’s also about craft. And learning the craft is effort, trial and error, and a whole lot of hard work and time.

4) What is your favourite novel, why?

   My favourite series is Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. It has such atmosphere and heart. The sweeping, epic love story is stuck in my bones, and calls me to re-read it more often than any other book.

5) Who is your favourite author, why?

    I’ve always had a soft spot for Stephen King, maybe because I read his books as a child. Today, I love to read authors like Sarah J. Maas, Leah Bardugo, Maggie Stiefvater, and other authors whose writing is poetic and grand, and whose worlds I get lost in.

6) What are your favorite pass times besides writing?

   I love to create, no matter the medium. When I’m not writing, I like to create with stained glass, and with paint. Both of them give me an outlet in different ways: stained glass allows me to indulge my need to go out in the garage and use tools and a soldering iron. It’s also kind of cathartic in the same way putting puzzles together would be because all the pieces have to fit just right. And when I’m painting, I can turn off the rest of the world and live in the moment.

7) Who in your life do you credit your imagination to the most?

   My mother always encouraged my love of reading, but I think my grandfather was the most like me. He loved to create, and he passed on his paint box to me when he passed away. He was so proud when my first book was published, and I am glad he got to experience it with me.

8) What are the top five things on your bucket list?

   I’m doing one of them this summer: a trip to Italy! I’d also love to be able to write full time one day soon. Other than that, I like to live each day as it comes!

9) To the youth of today, if you could tell them one thing, what would it be?

   I think it’s the same thing that all adults have been trying to tell kids in every generation…don’t be in such a rush to grow up. Even if your childhood is so difficult it will leave you with scars, it’s always worth the journey. It will make you strong. And if you’re lucky enough to have a good family life and good friends, then enjoy being young. It’s the only time in your life when the opportunities for fun outweigh the responsibilities piling up.