Jaime Jo Wright


Describe “a day in the home life.” (family size, routine, etc.)
Gosh! A day in the home life? Nothing has been a day in the life since this year began! LOL
In January, I left my career of eighteen years as a director of human resources and employee development to write full time. After that major life change, I contracted the ever-popular Covid-19 and was down for the count for a couple of weeks. Shortly after, my beloved mom was diagnosed with cancer and heart failure, and two weeks after her diagnosis, she entered into the presence of Jesus. So now it’s June??? I’ve yet to find a daily routine and now it’s summer!
But let’s get real. Every morning stars with coffee, some reflection, and snuggles from my snuggle-buddy, Peter Pan, who is nine years old. My eleven-year-old daughter will shuffle out of her room shortly after and proceed to turn the kitchen into her fake television studio as she creates the next episode of her imaginary Food Network cooking show. During which, I feverishly catch up on as much writing as I can before I set it aside after lunch for swimming, karate, planning for our first year of homeschooling this fall, and so on! I typically end my day with coffee, some much-needed companionship with my husband, Cap’n Hook, and usually about twelve interruptions from my preteen, Tinkerbell, even though she’s supposed to be in bed.
Describe your work schedule.
Please see paragraphs above. LOL
I don’t have a bona fide “schedule.” Not yet anyway. I write mostly in sprints. I’m not a marathon writer. I do my best work in fifteen-minute segments of writing, in between chaos, and usually weeks away from my deadline. Yes, I am that person who writes her college thesis the night before.
How do your family and work life affect each other?
See paragraphs above. LOL
But really, they mesh fairly well. At times it can get stressful when deadline looms, or I have calls/presentations to do. But my kids are proud of me, and my husband is remarkably supportive. So it’s a complimentary circle.
Regarding what you do and how you get it done, what makes you bite your nails? What makes you shout hallelujah?
When I run low on coffee beans, i start chewing my nails. When I go a week without even a hint of routine, I start chewing off my fingers. (They’re pretty much stubs this year.) When I’m asked to go on a trip from my publisher, I go into an all-out panic, because Mamma leaving home is about as easy and practical as going to the moon, made worse because I’m an extrovert who loves to go on trips. I think by now I’ve chewed my hand off.
But! I shout praises when I get those family moments with my babies. Snuggles. Loves. All the hearts. It inspires me to not only keep on writing but to not begrudge the interruptions when I am writing.
Any final takeaways for the reader?
No sure. LOL
Share a scripture that encourages or inspires you.
Psalm 4:8 is becoming my go-to verse. I have a chronic autoimmune disease–Lyme–so anxiety and melancholy are part of my existence. This verse has transformed my ability to lay it at HIS feet and rest!
Bio
Jaime Jo Wright is winner of the Christy, Carol, Daphne du Maurier, and INSPY Awards. She’s also the Publishers Weekly and ECPA bestselling author of three novellas. Jaime writes from her house in the Wisconsin woodlands, where she lives with her husband, two children, four felines, gecko, and various aquatic and amphibious tag-a-longs.
