J.M TIBBOTT
Inspiring Novelist and Prize Winning Author
Before I became J. M. Tibbott, I began a number of small businesses. I was a life coach, a style consultant, an organizer, and I helped a number of clients manage their finances. I was not passionate about any of these forays.
I had been writing short stories since early high school, and in my spare time, wrote articles for magazines, newspaper articles, and even produced an online newsletter for a Women’s organization.
However, I was restless and needed to change direction. I had been lucky enough to meet and speak to Isaac Asimov, my favorite author, and realized he was human just like me. So perhaps I could also be a writer. Then, one of my short stories won a prize in the Alice Munroe festival. Those two events were the kick in the butt that helped me decide to finally write a novel.
I took classes in writing, went to seminars, joined critiquing groups, and asked questions by the thousands. I found a premise I liked, but the concept was too big for just one book. It morphed into three and finally to seven.
The Journey Beyond the First Book
My first publisher was small and unfortunately did not survive, so I did what so many are doing now. I self-published. But seven novels in The Pridden Saga were not quite enough. I wrote an eight novel and am just completing the ninth one. With so much writing education behind me, I decided to help new writers.
I taught classes, did seminars at literary festivals, and as a capable substantive editor, have helped a number of new writers publish their own first books. Currently I am planning my next series. It will also be high fantasy. I cannot hint at the premise just yet, but, it will certainly be announced through my monthly newsletter, when I have ironed out the major details. If you are already a reader of my novels, thank you so much. I hope you will continue to enjoy the books I write.
WRITING
As a prize-winning author, J. M. Tibbott not only continues to study writing techniques, but she belongs to a number of writing groups in various locations. Critiquing groups, she feels, are groups of people who gather together to help each other improve their abilities. She believes that a good writer can never stop learning new ways to communicate. That learning is difficult if done in isolation.
READING
J. M. Tibbott is convinced her success as a writer is due to having parents who were both avid readers. As a child, her mother took her to the library weekly, and she devoured the two books she was allowed to check out each week, usually in a couple of days. Until she could finally check out greater numbers of books, she invaded her parents’ own libraries. Reading beyond her age level, often with the help of a large dictionary, most of the classics instilled in her the desire to write her own stories.
tutoring
As J. M. achieves more experience and continues in her own writing education, she often helps new writers gain their own literary bonafides through individual classes, seminars at writing festivals, and one-on-one mentoring. Her past work at a small publisher gave her the opportunity to provide individual counseling to new authors, and also to offer them developmental editing to create works more likely to be published.