In the Spotlight ~ Suspense Your Disbelief

Another edition of "In the Spotlight", this week we are being joined by Jenny from Suspense Your Disbelief, she is a literary suspense writer from New Jersey. Her debut novel comes out next February.


This is quite a honor to welcome author and blogger Jenny.

Thanks for stopping by.

When and how did you decide to create a blog?
It was 2009 and my husband had been urging me to start blogging. Why would my husband care if I blogged? Because I had been trying to get published for nine or ten years then, and though I kept getting close, there was no cigar. My husband is a tech junkie, and knew that building a place for myself could help, if not in finding a publisher, then in finding readers once I did. I had been resisting blogging because I didn’t want to talk about me and my woeful journey. But then I realized two things. One, other people were on that same journey and might like to trade experiences. And two, a blog didn’t have to be just about me. I could use it to spread the word about all the writers I was meeting and their books.

Tell us a little about the Made It Moments forum, which appears on your blog?
The Made It Moments forum is what I meant about a blog being used to feature other writers. Almost 200 authors have appeared—Edgar winners and nominees, international bestsellers, brand-new self-publishers and self-published sensations. They all answer the question, “How did I know I’d made it?” and each Moment is as individual as the writer himself—while all somehow saying the same thing. People report that they find inspiration, commiseration, and strength to go on in the forum, and that’s my dearest wish for it.


What do you do when you are not blogging?
Well, I’m a writer, with a debut novel coming out in February, so what I most want to do is write. But I love blogging and communing with people on the net, so it’s always a balancing act. I am also the mother of a six and an eight year old. Talk about balancing! I feel badly when I’ve been staring at the screen for too many hours. It’s hard to know what to do when—but leaving off to go watch my kids’ Little Mermaid enactment will always be the right choice.

How many followers do you have? How often do you post to your blog? How can people follow you?
First I have to say that my husband, the original progenitor of the blog, is my hands-on tech support, so I don’t really know how many followers I have or hits each month or things of that sort. Google used to have that handy checkerboard, but now you can’t use it if you don’t use their blogging platform (I think). People can follow using the RSS feed or email (buttons are on the side of the blog). I post quite often—between three and five times a week. Sometimes it’s original content—I have a back and front story column detailing what it’s like to get published—but usually it’s a Made It Moment by an author, or a special guest post, such as the Q&A I recently did with four mystery authors who were sent on a bus tour from NY to MO by their publisher.


Tell us about how the name of your blog "Suspense Your Disbelief". What does it mean and how did you come up with it?
Well, I write suspense—literary thrillers, my publisher calls them—so that’s why the play on words. Suspending disbelief, as happens with any great book or movie that really draws us in, is one of my favorite experiences in the world.

Who are your three favorite authors?
Oh wow, I agonize every time I get this question! I can share a few of the writers who had a formative influence on me, if that’s okay. Otherwise, I could never narrow it down to three. Those would be—

· Stephen King
· Doris Miles Disney
· Charlotte Bronte


Which author would you most like to meet (dead or alive)? Tell us more..
I’ve been lucky enough to meet many of the authors I most admire currently. I’ve gotten to hear Jennifer Egan, Laura Lippman, Jodi Picoult, Harlan Coben, Chris Bohjalian all speak. They are funny, incisive, and charismatic in person—it’s been a real thrill. And there are others whose events I hope to catch as soon as I’m anywhere nearby. But if there were one person I could sit down with and talk with, I think that’d have to be Stephen King. The books we encounter as children, but still influence us as adults, have just gotten in there so deep. I can’t imagine a bigger thrill than being able to explain what Mr. King’s books have meant to me.


How big is your TBR pile? How many books do you read/review in a month?
Too big. Delightfully, dazzlingly big. If I had enough time to read, it’d be a joyous and glorious thing. I read much less than I once did—probably two or three books a month. I don’t review at all. I’m much too individualistic a reader to review well. I know what I like, but it doesn’t often correspond to what everyone else does.


Finally, if someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title should be?
Wow, what a question. How about: Jenny Milchman: Stories & Shadows

On A Personal Note:
Jenny Milchman is a literary suspense writer from New Jersey. Her debut novel, COVER OF SNOW, is forthcoming from Ballantine in February 2013. Her short story 'The Closet' will be published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and another short story ‘The Very Old Man’ has been an Amazon bestseller. The short work 'Black Sun on Tupper Lake' will appear in the anthology ADIRONDACK MYSTERIES II.

Jenny is the Chair of International Thriller Writers' Debut Authors Program and the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day. She hosts the Made It Moments forum on her blog and co-hosts the literary series Writing Matters. Jenny teaches writing and publishing for New York Writers Workshop and Arts by the People.