Hello everyone! Welcome to another Jingle Books Author Spotlight! These will be posts where I discuss and showcase, authors and their writing talents and published works. So without further ado let’s get on with the Author Spotlight!
Meet the Jolly Author
Meredith Ritchie has made a career in business communications and wrote her first novel, Poster Girls, as a cure for acute empty nest syndrome. She lives in Charlotte with her husband and two cats, who encourage her potential to learn from our hidden past, especially forgotten triumphs that took place in my own backyard. She is currently writing her second historical fiction novel and a children’s book.
What And When Started Your Love For Writing?
Writing has always been a big part of my professional career. The ability to understand and connect with an audience has been the core of my success. In 2019, I took a year-long intensive class, which helped me finish my first draft of Poster Girls. I learned a lot. I fell in love with the power and art of crafting a sentence, maximizing the sentiment while minimizing the number of words.
Of all of the book genres, what drew you to write about yours?
Rudyard Kipling said:
“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”
That has been true for me. In history class, I would memorize the required dates, places and names for an upcoming test, then quickly forget them. Contrarily, engaging historical fiction novels with complex characters, put me inside the past. Reading the best of this genre, I often find myself down a Google research rabbit hole at 2:00 a.m. to uncover the true facts and wondering why I didn’t know them before. For me, these stories make the facts come to life and stay with me for years to come.
What’s your favorite book cliché or trope?
A loving but warn-out, working mother trying to add more hours to the clock, because that experience is so universal and true!
If you could meet your favorite author who would it be and why?
I adore Kate Quinn and Christina Baker Kline. I have learned so much from the stories they give to the world.
What is your favorite part of the holiday season?
I love Christmas morning, sitting around drinking coffee or cocoa and taking turns opening gifts with my favorite Christmas playlist in the background.
What makes your book(s) special?
It is about a piece of women’s history that we forgot in this country and especially in the city of Charlotte. Before beginning my research in 2017, I never knew a plant this large that employed 90% women existed here in WWII. Only a handful of people that I have talked to since knew of the plant’s existence. It makes you wonder what else we forgot or “papered over” to conform to society’s “norms.”
So…what are you working on now?
I am writing my second historical fiction novel based in 1930s Tombstone, Arizona – a very manly, but dying, town that was owned by two widows. I also want to write a children’s book.
❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️
Meredith has such a warm and jolly spirit! I loved getting to know her as an author! Best of luck on the new book. Thank you all for reading and remember:
Live. Love. Laugh.
