Jenny McGill, a native of Mississippi, has widely traveled the United States and Mexico. She met her husband, Howard, in Texas and discovered he had the same love for Mexico as she. They have lived in the state of Jalisco, Mexico thirty-five years. Fourteen of those years she represented the U.S. Government in Puerto Vallarta as a consular agent. The McGills have retired to a mountain village near the coast where Jenny writes for the Mexican media, promotes young local artists and pursues her own writing career.

You can visit her website at www.mjmcgill.com.

Welcome to Beyond the Books, Jenny. Can you tell us whether you are published for the first time or multi-published? Can you give us the title(s) of your book(s)?

This is the first time I have published a book, and I’m self-published. Drama & Diplomacy is my first book.

What was the name of your very first book regardless of whether it was published or not and, if not published, why?

I wrote a short story called Street Sounds of Mexico that was never published as a book, but it was published by a local newspaper in Puerto Vallarta.

For your first published book, how many rejections did you go through before you either found a mainstream publisher, self-published it, or paid a vanity press to publish it?

I never was rejected since I always planned to self-publish.

How did the rejections make you feel and what did you do to overcome the blows?

If I had been rejected, I probably would have thought, “That proves I am an author, doesn’t it?” I would feel sorry for all the people who missed my wonderful story and then I would have gotten out my Blue Funk File and found a reason to get back in the game.

When your first book was published, who published it and why did you choose them?

I chose McGill Books because I own the company.

How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate?

I felt ten feet tall! I spoke to the Puerto Vallarta Writers Group about the birthing of the book, the local media interviewed me and I was profiled in an upscale Mexican magazine, Vallarta Lifestyles.

What was the first thing you did as for as promotion when you were published for the first time?

I sent out 150 invitations to friends, characters in the book and local press to come join us for a book presentation in one of Puerto Vallarta’s luxurious beach villas, Villa Verano, owned our friends Burt Hixson and Gerry Battle.

If you had to do it over again, would you have chosen another route to be published?

I don’t think so. I wanted my book to be available to the public NOW! I think we all hope a big name publisher will jump at the chance to publish and promote our work, but we have to get started somewhere. I chose to self-publish.

Have you been published since then and how have you grown as an author?

I am a freelance writer in Mexico and I am published in several English newspapers in Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. I write a monthly column for Mexico’s biggest English e-zines, and I am working on another manuscript; a historical novel based on fact, which I hope to have ready to print in the late spring of 2009. How have I grown? I believe I look at life differently now. I don’t paint with oils or watercolors. I paint with words, and a new scene unfolds every day that I want to write about.

Looking back since the early days when you were trying to get published, what do you think you could have done differently to speed things up? What kind of mistakes could you have avoided?

I would have searched for a good literary agent, and I certainly would not depend on my friends, my computer Spell Check or me to edit. The second edition of Drama & Diplomacy was professionally edited twice.

What has been the biggest accomplishment you have achieved since becoming published?

I don’t know that you could call it an ‘accomplishment’, but it is a fine feeling to be introduced as a writer. It is an even better feeling to be recognized by a total stranger who says, “I read your book and I loved it!”

If you could have chosen another profession, what would that profession be?

I don’t think I would have chosen to do anything other than what I’ve done in my life. I used to dream about writing, but when I would wake up I couldn’t remember what I had written. In earlier life I didn’t think I had the extra time to write. Perhaps that is why I enjoy writing now – I have the time.

Would you give up being an author for that profession or have you combined the best of both worlds?

I’m combining life, day by day.

How do you see yourself in ten years?

That would make me 82 years old. If my fingers can still find the keyboard and I still recognize my computer, I can see myself choosing the actors who will play the characters of my books that have been made into movies.

Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day?

Make your dream come true. You can. I did. Thank you for interviewing me.