Let's Hear it for Jinx Schwartz!
Raised in the jungles of Haiti and Thailand, with returns to Texas in-between, Jinx followed her father's steel-toed footsteps into the Construction and Engineering industry in hopes of building dams. Finding all the good rivers taken, she traveled the world defacing other landscapes with mega-projects in Alaska, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and Mexico.
Like the protagonist in her mystery series, Hetta Coffey, Jinx was a woman with a yacht—and she wasn't afraid to use it—when she met her husband, Mad Dog Schwartz. They opted to become cash-poor cruisers rather than continue chasing the rat, sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge, turned left, and headed for Mexico. They now divide their time between Arizona and Mexico's Sea of Cortez.
Thanks for having me on your blog today, Alice.
Since you gave me carte blanche, I’d like to take this opportunity to address a question I get asked about my books all the time: DID THAT REALLY HAPPEN?
My answer? SORT OF.
My first book (The Texicans) was an epic historical covering the thirty years leading to the fall of the Alamo. It was based on my family history, so it sort of happened…at least in this writer’s mind.
Troubled Sea, an adventure in the Sea of Cortez, had boaters anxiously asking me if my story was true. My answer? No really, but it could be. What is so funny about it is when we are anchored out in the dark of night and I hear a helicopter, I start believing my own stuff.
My Hetta Coffey Mystery Series features a woman with a yacht, and she’s not afraid to use it. In Just Add Water, she buys a boat, hoping to use it as a mantrap. Just Add Salt finds her sailing off to Mexico, and in Just Add Trouble she gets into a dustup with cartel drug thugs in the Sea of Cortez. The latest release, Just Deserts, has Hetta high a dry on the tumultuous Arizona/Mexico, where all hell was breaking loose, even before she got there.
Many readers think Hetta is me, and I cannot lie here; much of Hetta is based on my life experiences, greatly embellished. But isn’t that what most writers do?
The book that people most identify with me is Land of Mountains, a YA fictography of my life as a child in Haiti. Did I actually meet a zombie? Sort of.
9 comments:
Jinx: All writing has a basis in fact and then we are lucky enough to twist and turn it into what we want. It took me a long time to find out what the connection was between Mitch and I. Thanks for making me think about our characters.
Wendy
W.S. Gager on Writing
Thanks for joining me today, Jinx!
Jinx, you certainly have a colorful personal history! Perfect for writing novels--although I have a feeling your nonfiction would be even more interesting.
Writers are really liars. We take the truth and make it into big fat stories. Great post, Jinx.
Marilyn
Jinx, your books all sound fascinating and I've got to read them all.
Love "sort of"--ain't that the truth for so many writers.
Jinx, your background is amazing and every time I read about you in Haiti and Thailand, Alaska, Japan, and on... You certainly have a lot of "sort of"s to draw from. I'm in awe.
Madeline
Loved the post.
Jinx, Each time I see your picture I want to stand up and salute! Love the picture and loved learning more about you.
I can relate to those scary plots seeming all too true, Jinx! That sounds like a great one--I love sea tales--and will look for it.
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