Mystery We Write Tour: Jean Henry Mead

Jean Henry Mead has published 18 books, including the Logan & Cafferty mystery/suspense series, Hamilton Kids’ mysteries, and historical fiction and nonfiction. The national award-winning photojournalist has been published domestically as well as abroad. Her latest novel is Gray Wolf Mountain and she's also edited The Mystery Writers, an anthology of interviews and writing advice from bestselling authors such as Sue Grafton and Lawrence Block. To find out more about Jean, visit her blog mysteriouspeople.blogspot.com.

What have you learned from writing your novels?
I’ve learned that it’s not easy to earn a living from writing, although ebook sales have increased my income. Writing is also a great catharsis, which helped me through my daughter’s death from cancer four years ago. Because I then immersed myself in writing, my fiction career began to take off.

Do you have a "day job?" What is it and how do you write around it?
My day job is writing, but I’ve had other jobs along the way, such as secretary, office manager, sales clerk, and business owner. I started my writing career as a news reporter while in college and worked for three newspapers as well as serving as a news, magazine and small press editor. One of my least favorite beats was that of border patrol reporter in the area south of San Diego, although I was the second journalist to ride in the Border Patrol’s first helicopter in 1977. Seated behind an NBC-TV cameraman, I saw hundreds of alien trails and wrote about the experience. That I enjoyed and there were nearly a hundred reporters lined up from all over the country to do the same.

Do you have a writing routine or ritual?
I learned to write as a journalist in a very noisy press room, so I could probably write in the middle of a traffic jam. I don’t need music, candles or wine to write. There’s no such thing as writer’s block for a journalist. You simply sit down and write.

Leave a comment to win a copy of Jean's latest novel, Gray Wolf Mountain – the fourth novel in the Logan & Cafferty series. Also be sure to visit Patricia Gligor's Writers Forum blog to read my essay on how I created the character of Irène Laureux, the protagonist of both Conquering Venus and Remain In Light.