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5 Minutes 5 Questions With… Jacki Simmons, author of Shot Glass Diva

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Jacki Simmons, author of Shot Glass Diva
(Melodrama Publishing)


jacki simmons headshot shot glass diva book cover

(click on the above pictures to see reviews on Amazon.com)

What happens when you combine one part fast-talker, one part hustler and one part taste for danger? You get Honey Davis, a twenty one year old Harlemite who knows what she wants and knows exactly how to get it. When her parents cut her off from her trust fund after a bout of irresponsibility, the spoiled Honey knows she’s going to have to work to get back on her feet. Now smooth-talking and fast-walking, Honey will have to protect an innocent life as well as her own while she desperately seeks to turn back the hands of time.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write Shot Glass Diva?

Jacki Simmons: Shot Glass Diva is actually very loosely based on some of my own exploits as a teenager and a young adult. I wanted to create a character that more young females could connect with because I believe she’s a character many of us know. Her problems, personality, temper and attitude aren’t that far off from mine. I think everyone knows a Honey.

JP: What sets Shot Glass Diva apart from other urban fiction novels?

JS: Shot Glass Diva is able to stand on its own. Although similar literary elements are often shared by different novels, Honey and the situations she endures in Shot Glass Diva are quite unique.

JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that lead to Shot Glass Diva getting out to the public?

JS: It helps to know people! Seriously though, that’s the whole point of exposure, to get people to know you. I am still rather new to this. Over the past few years I’ve gotten to know some amazing people who have helped advance my career further in directions I didn’t think I would be able to go.

JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish Shot Glass Diva?

JS: I try not to overanalyze my characters or their situations. While I am not knocking a carefully planned novel, I hate to read a novel that was overthought. You ever watch a movie and the actors all sounded like they were still reading right off the script? It’s a lot harder to translate emotions into the written word as opposed to seeing them outright. I don’t really have a process. I just write. Shot Glass Diva was actually the longest it’s ever taken me to complete a novel. I started it late last year and it was just finished very recently.

JP: What’s next for Jacki Simmons?

JS: There are a lot of things in the future for me. I’m planning a very big tour, my first real one since I began writing. I’m juggling two more novels and quite a few personal business ventures. My next novel is on the way, so lookout for it come the Fall of 2009.

Website link www.melodramapublishing.com
MySpace link myspace.com/msrippa

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