Jody is having a hard time writing her biography. Just
between you and me, I don’t think she’ll ever finish it.
I’m going to have to take over.
Let me introduce myself. My
name is Anna Karenina, and Jody says I’m the most beautiful
Australian Shepherd in the world. You can call me Annie. My
sidekick, Jane Austen, was a Katrina orphan, and we think
she's some kind of a Terrier because she's loaded with
personality. We call her Janie.
I’m in charge of security on
John and Jody’s ranch, and I’m teaching Janie the ropes.
Our duties include riding in the truck to the feed store and
acting as the welcome committee to anyone who turns onto our
little private road. A dog’s work on a ranch is never done,
but we love our humans and help them all we can.
But you didn’t come here to
hear about me. Let me tell you about Jody. She's living her
dream. She says the first childhood you pretty much have to
take what your parents give you. The second one is your
responsibility, and it would be your own fault if you
didn’t enjoy it. She swears her birthplace was a
mistake—God meant her to raise Warmblood horses on a ranch
in Texas.
Romance Writers of
America (RWA®) is just around the corner from us, and Jody
belongs to two great chapters, West Houston and Northwest
Houston. This way she can attend every conference, every
meeting and has a supportive, but extremely firm, critique
group.
Jody’s manuscripts
have won awards even though she doesn’t have a Ph.D. in
creative writing. We wish she did, because she’s destroyed
one dictionary, two thesauruses, and three synonym finders in
the past three years. We think she might be a tiny bit
over-the-top looking for just the right word.
All of Jody's heroes
resemble her husband, John. It’s not surprising; he’s the
love of her life. Trying to keep up with him, she’s
traveled the world, met interesting and exciting people, and
raised two great kids in hotels and hovels. Retired now from
the Air Force, John teaches American history to college
students, and we admit he’s our greatest asset when we
judge historical contest entries for RWA® chapters.
Jody writes book
reviews, nonfiction articles, and even had a newspaper column
for a while, but she’s always been a storyteller. She
believes everyone has a book inside, and she encourages us to
just let go and share it.
Some people call
Jody’s books women’s fiction, because she writes about
relationships. She just shrugs and claims she can’t answer
for men. After forty-four years of marriage, she can safely
say she still hasn’t a clue what goes on in a man’s
brain, but she does so
enjoy trying to find out.
See
what I mean about Jody being a Texan? If she just had bigger
hair, everyone would believe she had been born here.
