Interview with Jena C. Henry, author of The Golden Age of Charli

   

Inside the Book:

Title: The Golden Age of Charli

Author: Jena C. Henry

Publisher: iUniverse

Genre: Fiction

Format: Ebook/Paperback

Charlotte McAntic spent her thirties, forties, and even fifties in peace and harmony aligning her marriage, mortgage, careers, and children. As she stumbles into a new phase of life—also known as the Golden Years—Charli cannot help but wonder where the gold and her husband, Pud, are hiding. Pud is happily cruising down the retirement path that, for him, leads straight to the golf course. While Charli spends her days at home cleaning out closets and the basement, she yearns to gaze deeply into Pud's blue eyes and remember all the reasons why she fell in love with him thirty years ago. Unfortunately, the only thing Pud is eying is the next fairway. Knowing there is more to savor in retirement than silver-hair shampoos, senior discounts, and hernia surgery, Charli embarks on a quest to do whatever it takes to spend retirement in the embrace of the man she loves. But is it too late for happily ever after? In this humorous novel, a high-energy wife and her solid guy must learn to adjust to a new chapter in their lives and find their way back into each other's hearts after their retirement begins with a jolt.  

Interview

Can you give us a go-for-the-gut answer as to why you wanted to be an author?

My passion is reading and creative writing and I knew that for me, writing a book would be an amazing achievement.

Tell us (we won’t tell promise!) is it all it’s cracked up to be? I mean what are the perks and what are the demands? 

Yes! My writing life is awesome! Writing, editing, cover design, marketing, promoting- it’s all been the best it could be! Great to learn and create. I love social media and connecting with other authors and readers. But I am still not mobbed at the grocery store.

Which route did you take – traditional or self-published – and can you give us the nitty gritty low down on what’s that like?

My writing journey started when I decided to finally try to write what I called “a book-length document.” As I wrote, I began to feel more positive about my product. One day, while I was writing and using the online thesaurus, an ad popped up- “Are you writing a book?” “Yes… YES!” I shouted. I clicked the link and soon received a call from a consultant at iUniverse. After a long discussion and plenty of questions from me, I chose iUniverse because they are a hybrid self-publisher. They offer a large team of professionals and services- all types of editing, cover design, marketing and promotion. This was the best of both worlds for me- I could move forward and achieve my publishing dream, but have access to all the services I would need to produce a high quality project.

Tell us for real what your family feels about you spending so much time getting your book written, polished, edited, formatted, published, what have you? 

Even though I wish I had started my book writing career decades earlier, the blessing of it has been that I no longer have work demands, and I have young adult children who are thrilled I am no longer hovering over them. So, no one calls me or needs me and my life is my own, which is a luxury. All the components of writing that you listed do take my time and treasure, but I am happy, fulfilled and love learning it all. (The dog just nudged me and said she wants her ears scratched, so I guess someone still needs me,)

In writing your book, how did you deal with the phone ringing, your family needing dinner or your boss calling you saying you’re late? 

As I said, I don’t have those daily family demands any more. However, I have always been organized, on time, disciplined, good at setting and completing goals, so I don’t think I would have ever had trouble mixing a writing life with family and work. I would have put on my super-hero cape and hoped for the best! Yes…really!

Meet the Author:

Jena C. Henry holds a juris doctor degree from the University of Akron, presents writing workshops, and loves good times with friends. Now retired, Jena and her husband, Alan, live in tropical Ohio where they enjoy their two adult children and extended family, friends, and darling dog. This is the first book in The Golden Age of Charli series.