5 Minutes Alone… With Jenny Nelson
Author Jenny Nelson takes the heat in the kitchen and wrestles its romps onto the page through the heart and adventures of Georgia Gray, the chef and heroine of this debut novel, GEORGIA’S KITCHEN. Tapping into our love of love and fine cuisine, it’s likely to find its target wide and eager.
We’d like to thank her for taking the time to be part of our “5 Minutes Alone” interview series.
AuthorScoop: What was your very first publication credit?
Jenny: Way back when, I was editorial assistant for a short-lived Time Inc. start-up magazine called Talk TV Weekly. This was during the heyday of talk shows, when Maury Povich, Montel Williams and Sally Jesse Raphael ruled the airwaves. I wrote a column called “Really!” where I was supposed to reveal wacky factoids about the different hosts. The problem was, nothing was all that wacky, and each week I struggled to turn the mundane into the madcap, with little success. Still, I got a huge kick out of seeing my byline week after week and working at a weekly was a terrific experience.
AuthorScoop: Tell us about your latest release.
Jenny: Georgia’s Kitchen tells the story of thirty-three-year-old Georgia Gray, the soon-to-be married head 
at a trendy New York City restaurant. When Georgia suddenly finds herself unemployed and unengaged, she takes her bruised ego to Tuscany, where she sharpens her skills at a new trattoria, turns up the heat with Gianni, the owner of the winery next door, and embarks on a crash course in self-discovery. Though Gianni tempts her to stay in Italy indefinitely, the desire for something more looms large in Georgia’s heart – the desire to run her own restaurant on her own terms in the city she loves.
If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to be a top chef, or make it in New York, or what really goes on in a professional kitchen, or dreamed of chucking it all and moving to Italy, Georgia’s Kitchen is for you. It’s packed with heart and humor, glamour and guts (not to mention food and cooking galore!) and a heroine you’ll root for to the very end.
AuthorScoop: Aside from your own hard work, who (or what) else do you feel has contributed to your success?
Jenny: I am incredibly lucky to have a terrific family who supports me in every possible way. My husband, my parents and my sister have encouraged me from the get go, urging me on and bucking me up when I needed it most. And my twin daughters, now six, are the most loyal and enthusiastic cheerleaders any mother could ask for. I sometimes think they’re even more excited about Georgia’s Kitchen than I am (despite its glaring omission of any cool pictures). Also, I would be absolutely nowhere without all the incredible authors out there who inspire me to be better, help unlock my creativity when I feel tapped out, and provide hours of pure pleasure and joy through their wonderful books. And finally, the many amazing writers I’ve befriended through classes, online or just by chance. Writing is such a solitary experience and connecting with other writers helps me feel like I’m part of something much larger than myself.
AuthorScoop: At what time of day or night do you do your best writing?
Jenny: It really depends. I like to write in the morning, but it sometimes takes me a while to get going. I check email, make a phone call or two, drink a cup of tea or two, and before I know it, half the morning’s gone and I haven’t written a word. The afternoon is a little better, probably because the pressure’s on to write something, anything, before my kids come home from school. If I’m really wrapped up in a scene, I find it hard to leave, and will write after I put my kids to bed. But usually by the time evening rolls around I’m totally spent and want nothing more than to hang with my kids until they go to sleep, and then zone out with some mindless TV or a flick, or lose myself in a good read.
AuthorScoop: Finally, what advice would you give to new or unpublished writers?
Jenny: Write! Sit down at your computer and get those words out. The biggest impediment to writing is not writing, so turn off your email, along with your inner perfectionist, and just get the words down – you can fix them later. If there’s a writing class nearby, sign up for it. Classes are great for learning craft, imposing deadlines, connecting with other writers and making you feel like a writer. I’ll leave you with some advice Michael Cunningham shared with me when I took his creative writing course as a high school student: Never use the word beauteous (he hated it), and never compare a redhead to a tomato (I did and boy, I’ll never make that mistake again!).
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GEORGIA’S KITCHEN is ready when you are, so swing by the bookstore as soon as you can, or the Nook and Kindle people will beat you to it. And have a look online for more info on what Jenny Nelson’s up to at her website, www.jennynelsonauthor.com.
AuthorScoop
