Jean Tennant wants to be published, and she's willing to risk public rejection to make that happen. The Iowa resident is the first subject of The Writing Show's reality show, "Getting Published." The series will follow Tennant as she attempts to find an agent and publisher for her women's novel Karaoke Nights at the Twilight Lounge.
Jean is a native Californian transplanted to the Midwest. She was first published twenty-five years ago when she started writing for "The Trues" - 'True Romance', 'True Confessions', 'True Story', etc. From there she moved on to short stories, essays, and finally, novels. Her first, a Silhouette YA titled 'Playing House', was published in 1986. Six horror novels then appeared in quick succession between 1987 and 1992. She has adapted one of them, 'Wild Card', into a screenplay. Though out of print, her books are still available through Amazon.com under the name Jean Simon.
After more than a decade of devoting herself to freelance work, and as a news correspondent for the 'Sioux City Journal', Jean has returned to the tough, time-consuming, frustrating, and ultimately rewarding world of novels. Her soon-to-be completed work is 'Karaoke Nights at the Twilight Lounge', which takes place in the fictional town of Hudson Valley, Minnesota, and explores the friendships and loyalties of women, with a sprinkling of infidelity and murder thrown in for good measure. She's also at work on a thriller, tentatively titled 'Mount Hope', which she hopes to have completed by early 2007.
Jean is a member of the Arts on Grand Writers' Group, which meets twice a month in Spencer, Iowa. She also enjoys word games and puzzles, and is a member of the American Cryptogram Association. She lives in Iowa with her husband, and a terrier named Kirby Puckett.
Episode Index:
Episode 1
Published Monday, September 11, 2006
In episode 1 of "Getting Published, with Jean Tennant", we introduce Jean, her book, and her goals, including:
- What Jean's book is about
- Why she has returned to novel-writing after years in journalism
- How her current novels are different from the ones she wrote in the eighties
- Where she is in the process
- How she approaches writing and editing
- Why she has chosen to tell this particular story
- How she came up with her characters and plot and made sure they were fresh and original
- How she came up with her title
- What her writing and publishing goals are (you've got to hear her elevator pitch!)
- How she feels about the possibility of failure
- Why she doesn't want to self-publish.
Episode 2
Published Wednesday, October 18, 2006
In episode 2 of "Getting Published, with Jean Tennant", Jean explains how she's going about looking for an agent, including:
- Why she decided to look for an agent instead of going straight to a publisher
- Why she isn't using the agent she worked with years ago
- What she's looking for in an agent
- How she's going about her search
- How she feels about agent horror stories
- Whether she plans to query more than one agent at a time
- Whether she will send just a query or some sample chapters and a synopsis
- What she plans to include in her query letter
- How long she thinks it will take agents to reply
- How many letters she plans to send out at a time
- What she'll do if she keeps getting rejected
- Why she hasn't spent much time researching publishers
- How she plans to market her book.
Episode 3
Published Tuesday, November 28, 2006
In episode 3 of "Getting Published, with Jean Tennant", Jean reports back after having sent out several queries, and we share some listener feedback. Join Jean and Paula B. as we discuss:
- What's happened with the agent queries she's sent out
- Why she's tweaking her agent query letter, and how
- Why she's leery of overpolishing her work
- How she feels about following "the rules" writing experts lay down.
Jean also reads more excerpts from her work, which we discuss, and she releases chapter 2 for us to look at.
Episode 4
Published Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Today we hear more about the fate of Jean's queries, discuss the state of the industry, and hear some advice from Writing Show listeners.
Episode 5
Published Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Since last September we've been following Jean as she attempts to find an agent to represent her intergenerational novel Karaoke Nights at the Twilight Lounge. So far, Jean has received a number of rejections, but she still has some queries out.
Today we hear more about the fate of Jean's queries, discuss her dilemma about revising the opening of her story, hear some advice from Writing Show listeners, and learn that-gasp-Jean has been holding out on us.
Episode 6
Published Wednesday, June 13, 2007
In episode 6, we hear more atta girls from a Writing Show listener, find out what happened to two errant agent queries and learn what Jean plans to do about them, and discover that one of Jean's other projects seems to be getting some official interest.
Episode 7
Published Tuesday, November 20, 2007
In episode 7, we hear once again from listener T.A. Evans on the subject of Jean's writing, learn what Jean is going to do about her stalled search for an agent, and get an update on the other projects she's pursuing in the meantime. We also talk about Jean's new podcast, Midwest Writer, where she offers step-by-step help for novelists seeking publication.
Episode 8
Published Thursday, June 26, 2008
In episode 8, we hear what Jean is going to do about Karaoke Nights, which has not garnered interest from agents. We find out how her children's picture book turned out and learn that she's changed her mind about self-publishing--something she never thought she'd do.
Additional Material:
Read the prologue to Jean Tennant's unpublished novel, Karaoke Nights at the Twilight Lounge, here.
Read chapter 1 of Jean Tennant's unpublished novel, Karaoke Nights at the Twilight Lounge, here.
Read the rewritten chapter 1 that brings the action forward here.
Read chapter 2 of Jean Tennant's unpublished novel, Karaoke Nights at the Twilight Lounge, here.
Read Jean's agent query letter here.
Read Jean's interesting rejection letter here.
