Meet Jennie Hansen
Jennie Hansen, of Utah, is a familiar name to most LDS readers. She was the Whitney award winner for the first ever Lifetime Achievement Award, along with Anita Stansfield, and Dean Hughes. She writes LDS fiction and a review column for Meridian Magazine. We slowed her down enough to find out a little about her highly successful career.
Her publication list is long and well-known: Magazines, newspapers, and the Online Magazine Meridian. She has published many novels: Run Away Home, Journey Home, Coming Home, Macady, When Tomorrow Comes, Some Sweet Day, The River Path, Beyond Summer Dreams, Chance Encounter, Abandoned, All I Hold Dear, Breaking Point, Code Red, High Stakes, Wild Card, The Bracelet, The Emerald, The Topaz, the Ruby(Oct. 2008),
Jennie has won numerous awards for her work: Whitney Life Time Achievement (2008), Heart of the West 1997 for Some Sweet Day, third place, Bronze Trumpet Award (Covenant), numerous journalism awards
Jennie's official bio:
I was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho to Jed and Mary Smith. We lived in many farming and ranching communities in Idaho and Montana. My family moved more than 20 times as I grew up. As a youth, I associated home with family and Mama’s cake tin more than any particular house. Born the fifth of eight children, I grew up with a ready supply of playmates who are still among my closest friends. I married Boyd Hansen and we became the parents of five children of our own and three foster children. We’ve made our home in Utah since our marriage.
I graduated from Ricks College in Idaho, then continued my education at Westminster College in Utah after my oldest child was married and my youngest was in high school. I have been a receptionist, a model, a Utah House page, freelance magazine writer, newspaper reporter, editor, librarian, mother and grandmother.
Numerous first and second place writing awards from the Utah and National Federation of Press Women including the 1978 Second place national award for Page Editing were highlights of my journalism years. I was the 1997 third place winner of the URWA Heart of the West Writers Contest. In 2008 I received the Bronze Trumpet Award from my publisher, Covenant Communications, and in March of 2008 I was honored by the LDStorymakers at their Whitney Gala with the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award.
I have been active in community affairs. In addition to numerous responsibilities in the LDS church, I served a term on the Kearns Town Council, and two terms on the Salt Palace Advisory Board, and was a delegate to the White House Conference on Libraries and Information Services.
All of our children are now married and have so far provided us with ten grandchildren, eight grandsons and two granddaughters.
You can learn more about Jennie by visiting the official Jennie Hansen website or her blog .
Tell us about your children.
Sharon is the oldest. She works for the City Library, does a young adult review column and is the mother of three boys. She is also an accomplished pianist. Bob works for the state and is a paralegal. Mary Jo lives near Washington DC while her husband is recovering from being wounded in Iraq. She’s a counselor in the Relief Society. They have one little boy. Lezlie and Janice are both busy mothers of two boys and a girl and are very involved in PTA, cub scouts, soccer, and their church callings.
What do you do when you're not working?
I don’t have time for hobbies, but if I did, I’d probably just read and garden.
Have you had another career besides writing?
I’m retired from the City Library, though I spent years as a newspaper reporter and editor.
We asked Jennie about her writing career.
How did you first became published?
I was first published in a farm magazine at the age of seven when I wrote a little story about my cat and submitted it to them.
Was there a turning point in your writing life?
When I went back to college years after leaving Ricks. In the middle of a Shakespeare class I knew I had to get back to writing, though I didn’t want to return to journalism and decided to give fiction a try.
What advice do you have for people writing LDS books?
Be doctrinally accurate, write about anything you want to but subtly show how gospel awareness enhances the characters lives, comforts, or increases ability to resolve problems, don’t sugarcoat, but don’t fall for the old “it has to be nasty to be real” nonsense. It’s always a good idea to keep the Thirteenth Article of Faith in mind.
How does the gospel influence your career?
It’s part of what defines who I am, what I stand for, and pushes me to excel.
Why do you write? What do you hope your writing will do?
It’s just something I have to do. I hope my writing entertains and also starts readers thinking about basic religious concepts and human motivations.
What process do you follow when you write?
Each book is different. Sometimes I outline in detail, sometimes just here and there, and sometimes the outline is just in my head. Anything can trigger an idea and the story can begin with a plot concept and sometimes with a character who has a story to tell.
Where do you write?
I have an office now, but when my first book was written my desk was in the kitchen separated by only a thin wall from the piano and TV. I also had five teenagers then with lots of friends.
When do you write?
Whenever I can.
How did you find your current publisher?
I helped an editor with a problem she had with a meeting room at the library.
What are you working on now?
Ruby is in the final prep stages and will be published in October 2008, Two more novels are scheduled for 2009, High Country, and Until Forever I also co-wrote a Christmas book to be released this October with Betsy Brannon Green and Michele Bell. I’m also working on my next column for Meridian.
We asked Jennie to share her advice for those who want to be just like her when their career grows up:
Keep writing, enter contests, comment on blogs, communicate with other writers online or at conferences, join a critique group if possible, and submit what you write.
What surprised you about being a writer?
Public speaking. I didn’t know writers were expected to be able to speak as well as write.
What advice do you have for writers who have a book signing scheduled?
Be on time, make friends with the staff, share personal anecdotes with those who come to meet you.
To puchase Jennie's books, check the right hand column of this page.
The Bracelet, Vol. 3: The Topaz
