ABOUT THE AUTHOR
About the Author • Works Published • Contact Jessie
Never give up on your dream. Keep in your heart the seed of the gift you will bring into the world. Live for it. Work toward it. If you don't give up, that seed will eventually sprout and grow. It works. I've proved it time and time again. It doesn't always happen the way I expect, but it does happen.
I left college when I was twenty-two years old to get married and raise a family. I have no regrets about the marriage or the family. They have been a source of great joy and fulfillment.
But what about education? I did take many writing classes and seminars while caring for my family. Writing kept me in touch with my dreams. Then when my youngest son was in high school I enrolled at Marylhurst University. Going back to college after gaining many life experiences proved to be an advantage. I had achieved clarity about what I wanted to learn and about how I could use that knowledge in my writing career. See what I did!
When I attended college many years ago I majored in elementary education. I expected at that time to become a classroom teacher. Instead, I became the coordinator of the Stauffer-Will Farm Program of the Aurora Colony Historical Society where we teach pioneer living skills to 4th grade students. In the past five years I have interacted with over ten thousand students! Making a positive difference in the lives of these children gives me immense satisfaction.
One dream that has given me great challenges is that of publishing a novel. For twenty years I have poured my heart into the creation of science fiction and fantasy stories. I have taken courses and seminars from Mt. Hood Community College, Clackamas Community College, the Institute of Children's Literature and private instruction. I have belonged to five different critique groups. I have written queries and cover letters and received rejections. Novel writing truly was the greatest test of my willingness to hang on to my dream. But I did. I kept writing and rewriting young adult literature. And then, when the opportunity presented itself, I was ready.
I think it is marvelous that when you decide to buy my book, you receive a copy created especially for you. And when you hold it in your hands, you are holding proof that dreams can become reality.
MOON IN THE DAY SKY is the first of my novels to break into print - published in 2006 by Inkwater Press. I have been published in the April 2002 Ensign Magazine, the July 2000 Friend Magazine, the Newsletter of the Aurora Colony Historical Society, and the Mt. Hood Community College PERCEPTIONS Literary Magazine. SILHOUETTES OF THOUGHT, a book of my original poetry, was published in 1980 by Hawkes (Liahona) Publishing. My writing appears in poetry.com's THE BEST POEMS AND POETS OF 2003. In 1995 my sister, Abby Gooch, and I published an album of original songs, LITTLE CHILD, SONGS OF COMFORT, for which I wrote the lyrics.
IS ANYBODY BURIED IN THE CELLAR? published in 2008 is a children's non-fiction question and answer book about the Aurora Colony.
Email Jessie Turner
