Jackie Taylor Zortman
We Are Different Now is the story of my oldest grandchild, Pete, who died alone in the pitch black of night when he fell 100 feet from a mountain ledge to the canyon floor and stream below. It took three seconds and killed him instantly from a skull fracture at the age of 21. He had been celebrating July 4th with a bunch of friends when he dropped a lit firework and, instinctively, jumped backwards in the wee hours of July 5, 2010. He died on his mother’s birthday and was born on my son’s birthday. That is when my long journey with death on the mountain began. I invite my readers to walk along with me and see what has been revealed to us since we lost this young man with the angelic face and who was born possessing an old soul.
You are a former book store owner, so how much reading did you do while in this role?
Bookstore owners in a tourist town in Colorado work long, arduous hours during the season, so my time to read was extremely limited. This town is loaded with ardent readers, so I remained open even in the off season to accommodate them. But I did read as often as it was possible for me to find the spare time. Prior to opening my store, I read endlessly, as I do today.
Who were your favourites?
One of my favourite books is David Baldacci’s “Wish You Well” followed closely by “The Christmas Train”. I love it when he writes books that are not in his traditional theme, as well as his books like “Split Second”. I also love to read the late Robert B. Parker’s books and those of James Patterson, Michael Connelly and Patricia Cornwell. Most recently, I’ve been focused upon reading books written by my fellow authors in Oak Tree Press and PSWA.
You have published numerous articles and short stories and books, so do you have preference between these disciplines?
Actually, I find all of them rewarding in different ways. Two of my short stories won third place awards in my first writing contest entries in July 2013 at the Public Safety Writers Association’s conference in Las Vegas. One is called “Amache” and the other is “The Siege at Cortez” and I’ve always been proud of both. The book is far more work, of course, but I do love gliding from writer to author. I’ve met amazing people and learned a tremendous amount of knowledge from being in the business end of books in a capacity other than as a bookstore owner, not to mention the many wonderful new friendships this has provided.
You joined the Public Society Writers Association in 1994, so please tell us about this role.
When I joined the PSWA, it was still called The Police Writers Club and the president was Roger Fulton. Roger took me under his wing and helped launch my writing career by encouraging me at every opportunity and leading me through those peaks and valleys until I became more experienced. That club evolved into the Public Safety Writers Association in 2005 and I went right along with it and remain a proud member to this day. I originally wrote strictly in the law enforcement genre, being married to a chief of police who had already been a homicide detective for 11 years in a major city during his first 20 year career. He had a 42-year career in total. I accessed his careers and wrote from my perspective as his wife. Many of my fellow PSWA members have become tremendous friends and my book manuscript was first reviewed by member, Keith Bettinger, who is an author, a retired police officer and who has many years and much training as a grief counsellor. Therefore, it appears that PSWA has launched almost every aspect of my life as a published writer/author.
At what point did you realize that there were not a lot of book our there to help grieving grandparents?
After a few months had passed following the death of my beloved grandson, I started looking for books specifically directed towards grieving grandparents and immediately discovered that I could not find one. My daughter, Pete’s mother, pointed out that I am a writer and told me that I should write one – just sit down daily and write whatever I was feeling because whatever I felt was what other grandparents needed to know.
What is the best feedback you have had from the book?
My goal was to help just one other person deal with their grief and when numerous people began writing to tell me how much my book has helped them, my dream had come true. I have had numerous touching e-mails, notes and phone calls from people all over the country, telling me their personal thoughts about my book or about their own experiences following a specific loss. The majority of my readers stated that they could not put it down and that tissues were needed to read it. Another surprising thing that happened is that my book is selling to people of all ages, in all professions and in all walks of life and is not limited just to those in grief or only grieving grandparents. It is even being sold as a text book which I never dreamed would happen.
How therapeutic did you find it to write following your heartache?
It was extremely painful when I began writing my book and there are a lot of tears on that manuscript. When I was finally holding the actual finished book in my hand, it was an indescribable joy for me. And then having my friends and total strangers buying it and reading it, telling me they could not put it down, I felt that I’d found my purpose in life and that Pete is living on within the pages of my book. I will never recover from his loss and I think about and miss him every single day, but so many new people and venues have been drawn into my life that I have a totally new focus today.
What is next for you?
At the moment, I have three potential book manuscripts to format and rewrite or pull together and submit. All three will be in the law enforcement genre, one being a romantic mystery, another a memoir and the third an anthology. I am presently wrestling with which one to choose.