by Jacqueline Grider
A few weeks ago, we had the wonderful opportunity to sit down at my kitchen counter and interview Darynda  Jones. It was very hard to do, because she is so warm, friendly and easy to talk to that  it was hard to stay on task and take notes.  I would just get lost in the fascinating conversation.  She says she is not funny, that her character is funny, however we now know she is in fact very funny.
 As successful as she is now, I thought she might not be interested in doing an interview for our local on-line paper, but she answered right away and said she would love to do it.   It is easy to see why she is so successful.   And, boy oh boy, is she successful!   Growing up in Portales on New Mexico Drive in a house with 5 kids, her path to success has taken more than its fair share of twists and turns.   Her writing took a back seat for a time to get married, raise kids, go back to school, and work three jobs at a time.   During all the twists, turns and detours, she knew that one day she would be published.
Darynda is married to Danny Jones.   They have two sons whom they call the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys.    Darynda is a Summa cum Laude graduate from the University of New Mexico with a Bachelor of Science in Sign Language Interpreting.   With 11 books in her Charlie series in publication and three in her Darklight Series, she is a New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author.   She recently hit number #4 on Amazon surpassing Stephen King!   Not too shabby for a girl who started her writing career sitting in a booth at Tastee Freez.

Charley Davidson Series
1.        First Grave On the Right
1.5.    For I Have Sinned
2.      Second Grave On the Left
3.      Third Grave Dead Ahead
4.      Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet
5.      Fifth Grave Past the Light
6.      Sixth Grave On the Edge
7.     Seventh Grave and No Body
8.     Eighth Grave After Dark
8.5     Brighter Than The Sun (novella)
9.   The Dirt On The Ninth Grave
10.   The Curse Of The Tenth Grave
11.   Eleventh Grave In Moonlight

Special Short Stories in the Charley Davidson Series include
Glow  (Takes place during Fifth Grave Past the Light)
Shimmer (Takes place during Fifth Grave Past the Light)
 
 
Darklight Series
1.   Death and the Girl Next Door
2.  Death, Doom and Detention
3.  Death and the Girl He Loves

Awards
• 2012- Daphne du Maurier: Paranormal Romantic Mystery/Suspense
• 2012- a RITA® : Best First Book
• 2012 – 3 Bookie Awards
• 2011-HOLT Medallion: Best First Book
• 2011-HOLT Medallion: Best Paranormal
• 2009- Winner of the RWA® Golden Heart® for Best Paranormal Romance Manuscript
• 2009-1st place- GOTCHA! – FIRST GRAVE ON THE RIGHT (suspense)
• 2007-1st place- PASIC Book of your Heart – RILEY’S SWITCH (now titled DEATH AND THE GIRL NEXT DOOR) (YA)
• 2006-1st place-The Rebecca (LERA) –A THIEF AND A LIAR (historical romance)
Was there a moment that you thought, you know what, this is going to come true?
When I finaled in the Golden Heart, I felt it could actually happen. The Golden Heart’s a really prestigious contest. It gets you a lot of attention. For the first time ever, agents were coming to me, wanting to look at my stuff, instead of me querying and trying to get their attention.
What award did you win?
It’s the Romance Writers of America’s annual contest for unpublished manuscripts called the Golden Heart. When I finaled in that, that’s when I thought, “Oh, my God, this could really happen”.   What I did not know then was that even winning is still not a recipe for success. Publishing is a very subjective business. I just knew I had to make the most of this unique opportunity. So I polished my manuscript and sent it out. After years of nothing, of nobody even wanting a second look, I had eight offers of representation in one week from some of the top agents in New York. It was horrible and wonderful at the same time. So many offers from agents I’d only dreamed of landing, and now I had to choose between them. Which meant I had to reject seven people. I hate rejecting people! That was a crazy week.
I ended up winning the Golden Heart in my category. There were about ten finalists out of hundreds of submissions. Really cool, really surreal. The ceremony was all ball gowns and limousines, and there were like three thousand people in the audience. It’s very prestigious.  It’s like the Academy Awards of romance writing, which, at the time, I thought I wrote. I’ve since learned I actually don’t write romance, but I always have a very strong romantic element in everything I write.  
So, back to the awards ceremony, I was sitting there and my category came up. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I would not win, so I had taken off my shoes. I forgot shoes to go with my ball gown, so I borrowed a pair from a friend, and they were a little small.  So when I sat down, I kicked my shoes off under my chair.
When they announced the winner of the category and said the title of my manuscript ‘First Grave on the Right’ by Darynda Jones, all I heard was ‘first.’ Everything else dropped away and my world literally tunnel-visioned. My best friend Danielle was with me, and I just turned and looked at her with my mouth hanging open. I sat there for a very long time. Everyone was waiting for me to go to the stage. Danielle, God bless her, had to hit me to get me to go up there. When I did, I forgot the shoes. I walked across the stage barefoot.
The first thing I said was, “I’m sorry, I forgot my shoes.” Everybody started laughing so it was a great icebreaker, but I wanted to hide behind the podium. The coordinators tell you that even if you think you know you’re never, ever, ever going to win, write an acceptance speech. Otherwise you’re going to get up there and you’re not going to know what to say. I thank the Lord I listened.
I stood up there, reading my scribbled notes, shaking like crazy. There was just, you know, a sea of people . All my favorite authors on the planet were there. I was completely star struck.
 
After the win, several houses in New York were interested in acquiring the manuscript. It came down to three publishing houses bidding on the book. I ended up with the most amazing editor. We really wanted. She is incredible. She is the senior vice president and now the publisher at St. Martins Press which is a subdivision of MacMillan, one of the Big Five.
Do you enjoy meeting all your fans and talking to them?
I do, I really do.  I just had a signing on Saturday in Albuquerque, and a couple flew in from New York just for the signing! It’s like, oh my God! Of course I spent more time with them. We went to dinner and we did some sightseeing. It was great fun.
Is there a set time that you write?
Yes, professional, grown-up, real writers do that. I am horrible. Oh, my gosh, I’m so bad.   So, what I do is, I kind of mess around and think about it. Let the story simmer in my head. I’m a plotter, so I’ll take like two months to outline a Charley book. That’s really me just thinking about it off and on, and not really doing a whole lot. Then I finally realize that this outline was due a month ago so I sit down and really outline it. My outlines are usually forty to sixty pages long.    Pretty long, so that will sometimes take me a couple of weeks.  By then, the deadline is upon me. Actually, it’s usually past. It makes a whoosh sound as it passes by. Then I have to write my first draft really fast. I’m a very fast first drafter. I’ve written a book in seven days. Every book is different. I’ve written a book in 7 – 10 – 11 days. Just depends. Best case scenario is a good month for the first draft.
Where are you at on the New York Times list?
The highest I’ve gotten is thirteen. On Amazon I’ve hit number one in my genres and even hit number four overall. I was like, look I’m on top of Stephen King! I’m so happy! Of course not J.K. Rowling, she’s still creams me. She creams everybody. And I only stayed on top of Stephen King for one day, but it was a glorious day.
How does your family feel about all of this?
They are very supportive, very proud of me. They have been fantastic. I have such an incredible support system. Mostly my sister, Annette. She actually works for me full time. And my brother Quentin. They are just so amazing. Then my kids and my amazing husband and my brother Luther…they are all fantastic.
What was the thing that surprised you the most after your first success?
As far as business goes, I think what surprised me the most was all the non-writing stuff that you have to do that goes along with it. There is so much work, it’s kind of daunting. That takes a lot of my time every day. I didn’t realize how time consuming it would be.
 On the other end I think probably when I got my first fan letter. Just was really cool. Of course, I get them daily now, and I’m so honored. It’s just back then it was so new. Almost surreal. And I read all of my mail. I just want to adopt them all; my readers are the sweetest people.
 Then of course you always get letters on how, like ‘this changed my life’ and ‘I was going to commit suicide until I read your book’ like seriously, I get this stuff all the time. At first, I thought ‘they’re not serious’, but then you get to meet them and they are dead serious. It’s amazing.
 It’s really funny because one of my good friends who actually finaled in the Golden Heart with me didn’t read my book after it came out for two years because her sister had just died. (The books are about the grim reaper and death and such.) When she first decided to give it a shot, she opened it to the dedication. It’s dedicated to my sister and she told me she couldn’t go any further. That was all she read for the longest time.
Later, she wrote me and said, “Darynda, when I read your book, it changed everything. It changed the way I see death.” I’m like, holy moly! That’s a lot of responsibility. I did not set out to do that. I entertain. My goal is to entertain. I don’t preach. I don’t do anything to force my views upon people. I just want to entertain. The fact that readers gather a deeper meaning out of my prose is very cool and insanely humbling. 
I also never put anything political. I will never use my readership as a forced audience to listen to my political rants. I refuse to do that. Even with my main character, Charley, one of the things I love about her is that she is, even in the face of the darkest moments, still positive.   She sees the light in the blackest of times. If I had a platform, that would be it. You know, see the cup half full kind of thing.
Do you think as Charlie as alive?
You know, she certainly seems to be in my head. It’s crazy because when I wrote the first book it was very much me writing the first book and I really struggled with her humor and just getting to know her. After that, she just took over. When people meet me, they think I must be funny because my books are funny. I’m like ‘I’m sorry. I’m just not that funny. Charley is.”
So when I’m in Charley mode, stuff comes out that I would have never thought of in the real world, ever. It would have never occurred to me to say something that funny, but she does I don’t know how. It’s not that I don’t control where she goes and what she does. I just channel her when I’m writing. I know, weird. But she really is way funnier than I am.
What did not change with the success?
What did not change was pretty much my attitude about anything; again I’m a very positive person. I don’t like negativity in my life. I’ve gotten to this point where I don’t need it and I don’t have to put up with it. So, if anything has changed, it’s the fact that if you’re going to come to me and whine and moan every time I see you, I’m probably not going to see you that often.
I’m trying to think what else hasn’t changed. My relationship with my husband, my kids, and siblings certainly hasn’t changed. Family is still number one. They are everything.
Where did you get the name Charley from?
So, her name is Charley Davidson, but I’d originally named her Harley Davidson. It was Harley even when I won the Golden Heart, but when we sold it, my editor wouldn’t let me keep the name. I tried to convince her there really are people really named Harley Davidson. I looked it up.  There are over 100 people in the US alone named Harley Davidson. She said, “Yeah, no. It’s a risk. You don’t want to take that risk.” So I changed it to Charley.
 Now, it’s kind of fun. I have different characters call her different things. One of the characters calls her ‘Charles’ and another one calls her ‘Chuck’. It makes me giggle.
If you had advice for young women, what would it be?
Just to believe in yourself. Respect yourself and who you are and don’t ever let anyone change that. I freak out at these girls who base their entire self worth on their next boyfriend. They feel like they’re not enough without a boyfriend. Oh, hon, no! I’ve had Danny for thirty-three years, but I still have to know myself and my own worth. It just kills me to see that some young girls do not know that, to see that they place so much value on a boyfriend instead of themselves. It’s heartbreaking.
What would you like people to know?
 I’m very proud that I’m from Portales and also that Jack Williamson is from Portales, you know, not to compare myself to him or anything! It just makes me very happy that we are both from Portales. I love being from New Mexico.