Tuesday Spotlight - Jeanette O'Hagan

Each Monday and Thursday, Christian Writers Downunder's faithful and talented blog team contribute blogposts to inspire and inform aspiring and established writers. In 2017 we will be adding Tuesday Spotlights - posts that spotlight both writers and organisations that contribute to the writing scene Downunder. Our first on December 27 was on Nola Passmore, writer, editor, academic and the previous coordinator of Christian Writers Downunder. The Second on 14 February was of Anusha Atukorala, encourager, prayer warrior, and inspirational writer and an invaluable member of the Admin team. Today's and the next one will continue highlight the CWD Administration team: Anusha Atukorala, Paula Vince and Jeanette O’Hagan.

Today's spotlight is on Jeanette O'Hagan with questions from Nola Passmore.

Nola Passmore and Jeanette O'Hagan

Nola: You’ve had a number of interesting jobs, including doctor and Bible college lecturer.  What inspired you to become a writer?

Jeanette: I’ve had a passion for creating stories since I was eight or nine and wrote a novel in my late teens, early twenties. It didn’t occur to me that I could be a writer, so I studied medicine, practiced as a General Practitioner, studied a Bachelor of Theology and began post-graduate studies in theology and was thrilled to lecture in ethics, world religions in a bible college. I loved it and had no time for creative writing. It was only when family commitments meant the door slammed shut on my lecturing that God reminded me of my passion for writing.

Nola: You’ve done a lot of courses and workshops on writing (e.g., a Masters degree in creative writing, a Margie Lawson immersion class, Year of the Edit with the Queensland Writers’ Centre, and more).  How have these classes/workshops helped you in your writing journey?

Jeanette: The different courses as well as networking through writers’ groups, conferences and workshops, have been invaluable in learning writing craft, and in understanding the writing journey and markets, and also, in learning how to research, learn and solve creative challenges. 

On a purely technical level, writing has been a hard craft to perfect. It’s been important to understand current stylistic trends and story requirements. It has been just as important to realize the ‘why’ behind the rules, to know when to bend them, and to know, not only the don’ts (don’t use adverbs, don’t use creative dialogue tags etc), but also to know what to do (how to show, how to add emotion and subtext) – which is what I appreciated about the Margie Lawson Immersion experience.

Nola: Your novella Heart of the Mountain was published last year and it’s been getting great reviews.  How did the idea for the story come about?

Jeanette: Well, Nola – remember when we had the brilliant idea to create and edit an anthology for the International Year of Light – Glimpses of Light? I thought about the theme - not just of light, but a glimpse. Which got me thinking about an underground realm where the lights were failing. I wanted to place it in my imaginary world – Nardva – which gave me a few other ideas about plot and characters. Trouble was, as hard as tried, I couldn’t keep the story to the 7000 word limit. So, I wrote another piece for the anthology – Ruhanna’s Flight – and then, revised and expanded Heart of the Mountain story into a short novella.

Nola: You’re the Queen of Multitasking.  As well as your novella, you’ve had a number of short stories and poems published in various anthologies.  You were the driving force behind the Glimpses of Light anthology, you organised the Omega Writers Book Fair in Brisbane, you coordinate Christian Writers Downunder, you’re working on a series of novels and a poetry anthology, you blog, you paint … Phew!  How do you keep all of those balls in the air and maintain a healthy work-life balance?  I’d love to know your secret.

Jeanette: Oh wow, now I’m blushing.  I’m not sure I do keep all the balls in the air – or maybe I catch them just before they hit the ground. I work well to deadlines. I like to-do lists. I’ve got bull-dog Curtis genes – once I commit to a task, I don’t like not finishing it (my sister-in-law suggests it’s ‘sticking to the rut’ genes). I pray a lot. I prioritise. I focus on my writing. I don’t watch T.V. Writing (and reading) is my hobby as well as my passion. I keep my family clean, clothed, fed and where they need to be (school, interviews) but I am not the best housekeeper. I probably should exercise more (though grocery shopping and gardening are exercise, right?). I pray a lot. I said that, but really, God’s grace and underpinning is everything.

Nola: Tell us about your current work in progress.

Jeanette: I’m currently working on another YA fantasy novella, Blood Crystal, a sequel to Heart of the Mountain – which continues the story of Retza, Delvina and Zadeki about twenty days after HOM finishes with new challenges for the people under the mountain.  I finished a first draft last year but am now revising it and adding some scenes with view of publishing it in a few months’ time. 

I’m also want to get the first few books of my Akrad’s legacy series ready for publication this year. I have put a lot of work (several revisions) into Akrad’s Children and need to get the first drafts of Rasel’s Song and Mannok’s Betrayal into shape. The books follow the fortunes of four young people following a devastating civil war and an uneasy peace —the orphans Dinnis and Ista, the young Tamrin prince Mannok, and Rasel, a mysterious young woman of the forest folk.

I have a few other short story ideas and anthologies I wouldn’t mind working up. We’ll see.

Nola: You’ve done a fantastic job of coordinating CWD in the last year.  What are your hopes and dreams for CWD in 2017 and beyond?

Jeanette: Thank you. If I have, it’s because of the work of previous coordinators like yourself and Lee, and also the wonderful admin team, Anusha and Paula. I love how responsive and helpful the CWD members are to each other's questions and triumphs, and also the faithfulness and creativity of our blog team on the blogsite Christian Writers Downunder. 

Omega Writers 2016 Book Fair

My hopes and dreams are that we continue to be a supportive, accepting and interactive group that honours Christ in our words and deeds. I have ideas of revamping the look and some of the features of the blogsite – some of which I’ve done (adding an about page, some rearrangements in format) and of introducing Tuesday Spotlights.  I like idea of spontaneous interactions – like the Friday Fun  posts — on the CWD Facebook page. I’m glad we have an ongoing cooperation between other groups, as affiliate of Omega Writers (OW), and the Cross-Posts (on Genres in 2017) with our sister group Australasian Christian Writers (ACW) as well as connections with Faith Writers.  I have some ideas brewing on additional pages to the blogsite and maybe events in which we could support each other as writers.  

Thanks Nola for some challenging and interesting questions.  Next Tuesday Spotlight, we’ll be asking another member of the Admin teams, Paula Vince, some curly ... er interesting and intelligent questions.

 Jeanette O’Hagan first started spinning tales in the world of Nardva at the age of nine.

She enjoys writing secondary world fiction, poetry, blogging and editing. Her Nardva stories span continents, time and cultures. They involve a mixture of courtly intrigue, adventure, romance and fantasy.

Recent publications include Heart of the Mountain: a short novella, The Herbalist's Daughter: a short story and Lakwi's Lament: a short story. Jeanette is also writing her Akrad’s Legacy Series—a Young Adult secondary world fantasy fiction with adventure, courtly intrigue and romantic elements.

Her other short stories and poems are published in a number of anthologies including Glimpses of Light, Another Time Another Place and Like a Girl.

 Jeanette has practised medicine, studied communication, history, theology and a Master of Arts (Writing). She loves reading, painting, travel, catching up for coffee with friends, pondering the meaning of life and communicating God’s great love. She lives in Brisbane with her husband and children.

Links

Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/JeanetteOHaganAuthorAndSpeaker/

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9833645.Jeanette_O_Hagan/

Amazon Central  https://www.amazon.com/Jeanette-OHagan/e/B00RBSE85C/

Twitter  https://twitter.com/JeanetteOHagan/

Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/bythelightof2moons/

Jenny's Thread http://jennysthread.com/tag/jeanette-ohagan/

Jeanette O'Hagan Writes http://jeanetteohagan.com/

Email sign-up:  http://eepurl.com/bbLJKT/