Driven to write: Jo Ann Hernandez
Jo Ann Hernandez, author of the young adult novels, “The Throwaway Piece” and “White Bread Competition” is driven to write constantly and with up 7500 words in one of her books and 6380 tweets on one of her Twitter accounts. We believe her.
In her interview with the Dark Phantom Blog we were moved by the all the adventures that have made her life a great resource to pull stories from. At the age of 43 she moved away from Vermont and everything she knew to pursue a Master’s in Creative Writing in San Francisco. She became homeless while living in San Francisco and also became sick for a few years. She eventually returned to San Antonio and began to write again.
When she joined a women’s artist group they convinced her that the universe needed her voice. Until that moment she thought writing was too fun and easy to be considered one’s life work.
Her book The Throwaway Piece was inspired by some of her experiences as a foster mom. The story is that of a foster kid who doesn’t believe she has an impact on the world around her. Yet, she changes the lives for the better of everyone that enters her life. The Throwaway Piece won first prize at the Chicano/Latino Literary Prize here in Orange County at the University of California at Irvine and a publishing contract came with the award. Technically that book took Jo Ann 10 years to write.
Besides writing novels Jo Ann has two Twitter personas. First, is that of BronzeWord which is ready to assist writers in writing and marketing their books. Her other Twitter persona is LatinoBookNews tweeting news and information in collaboration with Latino Books Examiner Mayra Calvani. Then there is our favorite authorslatino.com. Encouraging Latino/a writers to excel with book industry knowledge and writing know-how. Authors are highlighted for their successes. Young people are encouraged to post their writings. They post all about the latest Latino/a books. Team OCGente knows Jo Ann is always writing because we post at all hours and she is always there too but way more often.
Her quote about who she writes for is clear “I write for people. People who want to be loved.” We wish you great success and want to help you inspire young people and all people to read more books.
For more the on Jo Ann – The Dark Phantom – Click Here
On Twitter
http://twitter.com/LatinoBookNews
Tags: Add new tag, Award winning latino authors, community, gente, hispanic, Jo Ann Hernandez, latino, progress