E.G. and Jennifer Keith share thoughts on their books at local book signing event

[December 20, 2022] 

Both E.G. and Jennifer J. Keith have recently released new books. Twelve-year-old E.G., who released her first novel, “Havoc” last year, has now written a sequel entitled Serenity. The second book is written in the same genre as the first, a mystical world of magicians and dark powers along with light or “good witch” powers in the background while it delves into teen relationships and the growing pains of realizing who one is and what their place in the world might be.

Mom, Jennifer J. Keith has written her first book, “Fixing the Funny Bone,” which explores finding the lighter side of negative life experiences.

While E.G’s book is tagged as young adult fiction, Jennifer’s book is based on fact, and she uses her own personal experiences to illustrate that bad situations can make us better people and finding the lighter side of those experiences than help us heal.

On Sunday, December 11th the Keith ladies hosted a book signing and question and answer session at the Lincoln Woman’s Club. It was a cold, blustery day with a lot of other activities going on in the community. Perhaps because of this, the event was not as well attended as E. G’s book signing last year. However, those who did attend had the wonderful experience of hearing from the two women about their current books and future plans.

The first hour of the afternoon was spent with guests coming in and having the opportunity to purchase books at the door. E.G. and Jennifer sat side-by-side at a signing table at the foot of the elevated stage area in the room.

As guests came to the signing table, they had the opportunity to share a few one-on-one moments with the ladies. Visitors were then invited to enjoy a buffet of snacks until the time came for the Q & A.

When the two took to the stage, standing together behind the podium, E.G. was the first to speak, but spent most of her mic time talking about Jennifer’s new book and exalting her mom as smart, funny, and very supportive.

Jennifer was clearing flattered that E.G. would express such high opinions publicly and wasted no time in returning the complements to her daughter.

The two talked about their books, based on questions taken from audience members.

E.G. was asked if she used people she knew as the models for developing her book characters. She said she felt that was inevitable. If she wanted a character to have a certain trait or habit, she thought of that habit, which led to thinking about people she knew who possessed something similar.

She said she had to be careful because if she ended up creating a character based on someone she didn’t like, then the inevitable was that she would have to kill that person out of the book. The comment brought laughs from the audience, when the question was asked was her sister one of the characters in her book. She said no not really, because if she did that she might end up having to kill the character.

Jennifer was asked what her motivation had been for writing her book. She gave her therapist partial credit, and said E.G.’s accomplishment at age 11 had helped spur that motivation.

Jennifer said in her book she had used life experiences some of which her therapist knew about, some she did not. She said when visiting the therapist last, comments were made about this, and the therapist said she was collecting notes for future visits.

Jennifer talked about her method of writing, saying that she spent one hour a day writing. She had found it to be good therapy but also found that some of the topics she tried to approach were “too hot, or too trigger.” She said she wasn’t sure that her husband Ryan was exactly thrilled with some of the things she wrote. She noted she had written about his proposal, then added that he was still there with her, so he must have taken it in stride.

Jennifer also mentioned the therapy sessions she’s been attending and said that if it hadn’t been for those sessions, she might have written a completely different book.
 

E.G. was asked if there is a book three in the future. She said yes there is, but it will be a prequel to the first two, looking backward instead of forward. She was also asked if she would continue writing after book three and would she maintain the same genre. She said yes, she intends to keep writing, but she is exploring other genre’s including mystery. The issue she said with mystery is that the writer really needs to plan out the plot, and she is not good at planning. In her current books, she lets the storyline flow from her imagination, and it goes where it goes. In a mystery she must have an order of events to develop the mystery and bring it to an end. She isn’t sure she wants to do that but thinks she might give it a try sometime.

Jennifer on the other had said that currently she doesn’t plan to write a second book. She said that this book had been several years coming. Jennifer had thought of writing a book but had just not done it, and she isn’t sure she will ever do it again.

Both ladies are talented writers, and while the books are very different, they are both worthwhile reads. While E. G’s book is labeled as young adult fiction, it is a good book for any age reader and well worth the time spent. Jennifer’s book is deeper, more personal, and yet relatable for any adult who has lived through tough experiences and had to struggle with the aftermath and the lingering memories.

Both books would make great gifts this Christmas season.

Jennifer’s book can be purchased online at Fixingthefunnybone.com. Books ordered from Jennifer’s website will arrive autographed from the author.

Both of E.G.’s books are available through her website egkeith.com.

Books may also be purchased from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Walmart.

[Nila Smith]