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When Jackie was almost four, her
mother bought the book “Teach Your Child To Read In 60
Days.” It worked like a charm, but to mom’s dismay, it
wasn’t too long before Jackie outgrew Nancy Drew and Judy
Blume and turned instead to her great-grandmother’s
large-print romance novels for inspiration. When real life
turned out to be far less exciting than antebellum Natchez, she
was crushed, but vowed to devote herself to making things more
interesting along the way. A few rocky teenage years ensued --
during the 80s, that meant lots of black makeup, clothes and
hair -- which in turn led to plenty of angst-ridden journalling
and existential ranting.
After the requisite degree in
English lit (at Montreal’s McGill University), Jackie found a
nice job editing features and writing the occasional article for
a Canadian travel magazine, where she became obsessed with
grammar for five long years. Being in the travel biz had lots of
cool perks, but since Jackie’s afraid to fly, she soon decided
to devote herself to writing full-time. Thankfully, everything
turned out okay in the end, when Red Dress Ink bought her first
book, Slim Chance, in May, 2002. Slim Chance was released in
July, 2003, and went on to be published in six countries and is
in development for a television movie. Jackie's second Red Dress
Ink book, Marrying Up, will be released in August, 2005.
A few years ago, Jackie met her
match and married him before he could get away. She currently
lives in Montreal, where she divides her time between writing,
dealing with toddler temper tantrums and hunting for the perfect
pair of shoes -- the kind that make you seem taller without
trying too hard, and that look great with either jeans or a
skirt.
And although she may have recently
freaked out about turning 30, Jackie now knows that with age
comes wisdom.... there’s something to be said for being young
enough to have only a few grey hairs, but old enough to know
that plucking one out doesn’t really make two grow back in its
place
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