Shirley Jump finds teen voice with help from daughter

September 8, 2:34 PMAustin Writing ExaminerSylvia Dickey Smith

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Austin Writing Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Shirley Jump & daughter & Golden Gate Bridge

Shirley Jump, New York Times bestselling author, sent a photograph of herself and her daughter and explained, "When I first started out writing the horror young adult novels, I asked for my daughter’s input because as far as my teenager is concerned, I’m as “old as dirt,” and about as hip as dirt, too. By working with her, I was able to add that teen voice to the novel. After writing nearly 30 romances, it was fun and exciting to write something new and different, and venturing into the teen world—as well as working with my daughter—has definitely kept me feeling younger than I am. Of course, I don’t think I’ve ever felt my age, which is why I’ll still embarrass my teens from time to time by (gasp!) dancing to rock music or singing along with the radio in public.

"The experience of writing together has also had another added benefit—it’s brought my daughter and I closer together. We’ve always shared a love of books and horror movies, and by being able to combine those two things into a project we can work on as a team, we’ve built a great bond."

Shirley says she didn’t have the willpower to diet nor the talent to master under-eye concealer, so she bowed out of a career in television and opted instead for a career where she could be paid to eat at her desk—writing.

She started out in journalism, selling her first article at the age of eleven and dreaming of being the next Jane Pauley. She hosted two of her own shows on the local cable channel and co-hosted a late-night comedy show. After writing 3000 articles and two non-fiction books, Shirley grew too dependent on her robe and fuzzy slippers, and decided a career as a freelance writer suited her better.

  Photo used by permession

Then she got married. And had two kids.

Humor became the only thing that got her through the mashed potato flingfests and toilet paper decorating sprees. At first, seeking revenge on her children for their grocery store tantrums, she sold embarrassing essays about her children to anthologies such as Chicken Soup for the Working Woman’s Soul and Chocolate for Women II. However, it wasn’t enough to feed her growing addiction to writing funny.

So she turned to the world of romance novels, where messes are (usually) cleaned up before The End and no one is calling anyone a doodoo head. In the worlds Shirley gets to create and control, children listen to their parents, husbands always remember holidays and housework is magically done by elves.

She sold her first book to Silhouette Romance in 2001. That novel, THE VIRGIN’S PROPOSAL, won the Booksellers’ Best Award for Best Traditional Romance of 2003. Two of her subsequent books were finalists in the Golden Quill Awards and two others were finalists in the Madcap Awards for best romantic comedy. She is also a Reviewers’ Choice Award winner. Her novel, RESCUED BY MR. RIGHT, won the prestigious Holt Medallion in 2007, and “Twelve Days” won the More than Magic award for best Novella in 2007.

She became a nationally bestselling author when SUGAR AND SPICE, the anthology that contained her novella, “Twelve Days,” hit the New York Times, the USA Today and the Publishers Weekly bestsellers lists in November and December 2006.

Shirley has sold thirty-eight novels and now writes stories for Harlequin/Silhouette and Kensington Books about love, family and food—the three most important things in her life (though, there are many days when the order is reversed), using that English degree everyone said would be so useless.

A true glutton for punishment in the parenting arena, Shirley began writing horror young adult with her teen daughter. Their first book, THE WELL, will be published by Houghton-Mifflin in 2009. When Shirley’s daughter first read the premise for THE WELL, the story of a boy whose mother is trying to kill him, she asked her mother if there was anything she should know. Shirley claims it’s all fiction.

Look for SIMPLY THE BEST from Shirley Jump in December, as well as two Christmas titles from Harlequin. Shirley will also have a women’s fiction release out from Harlequin Next in 2009, as well as an additional five romances.

Though she’s thrilled to see her books in stores around the world, Shirley mostly writes because it gives her an excuse to avoid cleaning the toilets and helps feed her shoe habit.