Ladies, try if you will, to wrap your collective brains around this.
At age 13 you meet “the boy of your dreams.” At age 19, you marry him. At age 60, you are still married to him!
While this may sound like a fairy tale, it is the true life story of one of our great American romance writers. I’d say she is one writer we single ladies need to listen to, wouldn’t you agree?
Now celebrating the milestone of her 100th original work, romance author Brenda Jackson releases “A Madaris Bride For Christmas” (Harlequin Kimani Arabesque Press); one of her many series’ books now in its 3rd generation of the Madaris family saga that millions of readers have come to know and love, since Jackson first introduced them in “Tonight and Forever” in 1994.
I caught up with Brenda, who resides in Florida, over the phone to talk about this milestone, her brand, what motivates her to tell love stories, and so much more.
“It took 18 years but I am just so happy to be celebrating this milestone,” she says in acknowledgement of her work. When I surmise that a person who is able to do this must walk around with story ideas in her head all the time, she doesn’t deny it.
“Basically, what you say is true. I know the lay out of the story because I know the characters I want to write about even before I write them.” Jackson says her iPhone recorder really comes in handy when those thoughts surface overnight.
“My guy will say something and I’ll wake up, and say it just like he said it (into the recorder) and go back to sleep,” she muses.
Interesting to hear her say, I’ll say it ‘just like he said it.’
“Yes, just like my person in my mind would say it. If he’s talking to a girl, his girlfriend, or whoever, then I say the conversation and I act it out, then I go back to sleep. And you would be surprised that four minutes of dialogue can come out to like 10 pages.”
Brenda Jackson is a romantic and she makes no excuses for it!
“At 13 I met this guy…and 13 year olds noticing boys for the first time; but I just knew…if there was such a thing as a ‘soul mate’…we started dating at 14. I know a lot of mothers don’t like to hear this; at 15 he gave me a 2-heart ‘going steady’ ring. I still wear my going steady ring. I wear it proudly,” says the woman who has been married to husband Gerald Jackson for the past 41-years. Brenda says six years passed before the two of them decided to have kids.
“I know the good times of a marriage. I know the bad times of a marriage,” she claims after I give her a virtual bow-down. “I know when you have to compromise…when you have to get together and support each other,” she continues.
The Jacksons have been through it and have survived where many others have not. Instead of growing apart after Brenda suffered two miscarriages, it brought them closer together.
Although her books are for entertainment purposes only, and she writes about the ‘happily ever after’ fantasy, Brenda affirms, “there is truth to some of that. You can find your soul mate.”
In Jackson’s books, don’t look for her true-life story in the plot, but she does admit you may find it in the action or outcomes.
“When I think of how I want my hero to treat my heroine, that’s how Mr. Jackson treats me; with dignity and honor and respect. And I think men should be treating their women that way – love them. Put them on a pedestal.”
Read more at EURWeb
