J.Q. Rose was gracious enough to do a blog swap with me today. I’m talking about my inspiration of how I became a writer over at her blog and she’s discussing her book Girls Succeed: Stories Behind the Careers of Successful Women and offering a giveaway. Welcome, J.Q.!
Thank you, Katie, for hosting me today. I love talking about my interactive e-book for girls, Girls Succeed: Stories Behind the Careers of Successful Women, and the remarkable women who are interviewed in it.
Hello Readers. Thank you for stopping by. I’m excited to visit with you today. Please leave a comment to enter a random drawing for my non-fiction e-book, Girls Succeed.
My Inspiration for Penning Girls Succeed by J.Q. Rose
Because my husband and I were very fortunate to sell our floral shop and garden center business, we were able to take off on an adventure living full-time in our RV, a 34’ fifth wheel trailer for about eight years. I’m not sure the exact number of years because we slipped into full-timing gradually. We worked along the way as we traveled, but we always stayed where the sun would shine, so we were up north in the summers and down south in the winters.
One of our summer jobs was working for a girls’ residence camp in Michigan, Camp Newaygo. It was close to our daughters and their families, so we jumped at the chance. We parked our trailer on the camp grounds, so there were no traffic jams getting to work. I just walked across the parking lot to the rustic cabin where the office was located. My DH was in charge of maintenance for the entire campground. Needless to say we were busy.
We were never too busy to help the young women who were counselors or the delightful girls ages 7- 17 who resided in the cabins. We ate meals with them in the lodge and talked with them after hours at our camper. I marveled at these amazing girls with so much potential. They were full of energy, strength, and smarts. Yes, a lot of smart cookies at camp. We had a lot of fun with them.
I probably bonded with the campers and counselors because I am the mother of two daughters who are now grown and have children of their own. (In fact I have a granddaughter now too!)
I wondered what kind of dreams these counselors and campers had for their lives. Would their dreams ever become reality? Faced with so many possibilities for careers, I contemplated what choices they would make. And who would shepherd them so they could fulfill their passion and desire to have a rich, full life?
I decided then to interview strong, successful women who could serve as role models and inspire girls to reach for their dreams. In Girls Succeed fifteen remarkable career women in a variety of occupations share their stories about their work and the path they took to become successful in their dream careers. These diverse careers encompass women in the arts, business, science, medicine, ministry, entertainment, and sports. For example, girls meet contemporary women who have discovered cures to stamp out disease, made people laugh, earned Olympic and Paralympic gold medals, and crossed the country in the cab of an eighteen wheeler.
This e-book includes resources for more information about careers including live links to videos and websites about the woman and her occupation.
Using the skills I had developed as a freelance writer with feature articles in magazines, online magazines, and newspapers, I was privileged to interview these amazing women and honored that they trusted me to tell their stories.
Girls Succeed was a long time in development and a personal mission for me to lead girls into realizing they can live their dreams.
Find the book on Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Sony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPnpbAOlbmI
About the Author:
After writing feature articles in magazines, newspapers, and online magazines for over fifteen years, J.Q. Rose entered the world of fiction writing with her first published novella, Sunshine Boulevard, released by Muse It Up Publishing in 2011. With Girls Succeed she returns to her first love, writing about real people. Blogging, photography, Pegs and Jokers board games, and travel are the things that keep her out of trouble. Spending winters in Florida with her husband allows Janet the opportunity to enjoy the life of a snowbird. Summer finds her camping and hunting toads, frogs, and salamanders with her four grandsons and granddaughter.
Connect with J.Q. Rose online at the Girls Succeed blog, her blog, her author website, her Amazon author page, her Goodreads page, or Pinterest.
Good mornin’, Katie and Readers, Thanks for swapping blogs with me today. Readers have twice the chance of winning giveaways and, we have twice the delight of visiting with them. Looking forward to comments, questions, waves, and hugs.!!
Thanks for swapping with me, J.Q.! Loved hearing your inspiration behind Girl Succeed!
Your book sounds amazing, JQ. What a brilliant way to inspire young girls. And by strange coincidence, the novel I’m working on at the moment is set in a similar camp for teenage girls. I was very interested to read your experiences. I hope Girls Succeed gets all the success it deserves.
Thanks for stopping by, Helena! Good luck with your camp book. 🙂
Thank you, Helena. Well if you need any “consulting” on girls residence camps, I’m your gal!
Hi JQ, and what a great mission you chose. A great many young girls will succeed because of your mission. They will know that they can make their dreams a reality. Great going. I hope you sell over a million.
Thanks for stopping by, Lorrie! 🙂
Lorrie, thanks so much. I do feel this book is like a mission. Needless to say I’ve given away more books than I have sold…!! I really want these books in the hands of girls or should I say in their e-readers? The pages have live links so girls can just click on the link and go directly to the woman’s web page or pages about her occupation–if they are connected to the Internet. Amazing possibilities these days.
Wow, JQ, I hope you’re taking pride in your work! I think reading and learning about real life peoples’ journeys to success is a major motivator.
Recently I’ve read “No Easy Day”. The author relates that when he was a seventh grader he read an autobiography of a Navy SEAL–from that day on he dreamed of becoming one (he did and was on the team that “eliminated” Bin Laden).
I hope this book reaches many girls!
Loren
P.S. (Do you think if my nine yr.old reads this book she will have bigger aspirations than her present one of baking cookies for a living?)
Loren, thanks for your kind comments. I know the passions we have when we are growing up influence what our futures could be. I bet your daughter will be baking cookies for the President some day!!
Hi, Loren! J.Q.’s works is amazing, isn’t it!
What a fabulous idea, JQ! I’m sure it was a lot of work, but well worth it. Kim Kardashian and Miley Cyrus shouldn’t be the role models for our young women.
Heather, that’s exactly why I wanted to present contemporary, real women.!! In fact when I was shopping this book around to publishers, some told me the idea was good but they wanted a nationally known figure such as Miley Cyrus who was Hannah Montana at the time. They didn’t take the time to figure out that many of the women are well known and respected nationally and internationally in their chosen fields. But celebrities, nooooo!! Thanks for stopping in.
Hi, Heather! Too true that our young women need better role models than many of the women that grab those tabloid headlines!
What an awesome book! This is something I feel really strongly about and am so glad this resource is available!
I feel strongly about this too, Meradeth. It’s an important book.
Loved hearing the story behind GIRLS SUCCEED. You have been privileged to lead a very amazing life. Thanks for taking time to give back this way. Girls need good role models like the ones in your book and yourself. 🙂
Hi, Marsha! Yes, yes, yes, to girls needing role models like J.Q. and the ones in her book.
Aw, shucks, Katie!! Thanks.
Marsha, Thank you. I don’t feel like I am a role model, but I think it’s true we don’t realize how much living our every day lives influence people around us…hopefully it’s a good influence. Yes, I have been blessed to be able to give back in this way. Thanks.
Random.org chose Meradeth as the winner of the free copy of Girls Succeed! Congrats…J.Q. will be contacting you shortly. 🙂
What an amazing, great story! The eBook sounds marvelous!! 🙂