You all are in for a real treat today, because our guest is Janine Rosche, one of the most genuine (and genuinely funny) humans I have ever had the privilege to meet. She’s also super-generous and has an AMAZING giveaway planned for one of you lucky ducks. Details at the end of the post!
Welcome, Janine! It’s great to have you as our guest today!
Thanks for having me!
What inspired you to start writing?
Have you ever felt like you needed to say something and if you didn’t, you were either going to explode or lose your mind? Well, I decided to start writing as a way to get the Holy Spirit to simmer down inside me. I’d had a story playing on repeat in my head for eight years. EIGHT YEARS. Finally, I started jotting it down. With every chapter, I felt lighter. I know it sounds cliché, but six weeks later, I had a complete manuscript, all thanks to the Holy Spirit. Too bad the Holy Spirit needed to work on his self-editing skills. Don’t tell him that though.
What does your writing routine look like, if you have one? What obstacles or challenges do you face in making time to write?
Sadly, most of my “writing time” is spent not writing. I’m either editing, surfing Thesaurus.com (yeah, I admit it), or building my website or social media platform. When I am writing a new manuscript, my routine typically starts with me waking up way before my alarm. And though I beg my characters to go back to sleep, they are morning people with the patience of three-year-olds with a bellyful of cotton candy. So I relent. With a mug of flavored creamer with a splash of coffee, I write obsessively for hours, stopping occasionally to make my kids food or brush my teeth.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
I teach Human Development and Family Studies classes for the University of Colorado, Denver in my other career. I’m fairly passionate about research into what helps individuals and families thrive despite terrible circumstances. I incorporate these concepts into my stories, making sure to focus on hope, redemption, and strong relationships.
I also like to eat nachos. I don’t mean to brag but I’m kind of a connoisseur.
What is the funniest thing that’s happened to you in your writing life?
I’m horrible at naming characters. When I finished editing my first novel for the fourth time, I came to a realization. Almost all of characters’ names rhymed. There was Shane Olson and Jonah Tolson. Vann, Ryann, and Tristan. Then, there were the near duplicates Joe, Josie and Jodie, and Rick, Nick, and Nicky. Those made it through FOUR self-edits.
If you could have coffee/tea/gratuitous amounts of carbs with any author(s), living or dead, who would you choose, and what would you talk about?
I’m the creepiest fangirl. Like, heaven help you if I like your book, because my obsession knows no bounds. But when I meet someone face to face, I become someone you’d think has never had a face-to-face conversation in their life. I already embarrassed myself at a lunch with Denise Hunter when I told her how much I liked the pickup truck makeout scene of my favorite hero of hers (Riley from Just a Kiss). Yep.
So, to spare her further torture, I’ll choose Francine Rivers. Sure, I’d probably just sit there catatonic like Ralphie from A Christmas Story when he sits on Santa’s lap, but maybe the nearness of her would somehow elevate my writing. And maybe, just maybe, she’d be willing to endorse my future book, Redeeming Love 2: Soccer and Suburbia.
How has God changed you during your writing journey?
My first heroine was based off the part of me that tends to be very melancholy and victimized. By the end of the book, I was tired of feeling so sorry for her. So in my next book, I focused my next heroine on the independent, faith-filled, and passionate part of me. The Lord taught me a lot about strength in hardship through her story.That girl has courage and a furious love for God, her family, and her friends. I admire her.
What advice would you give to your Younger Writer Self?
I’d say, “Janine, you’re a terrible writer. Like abominably bad. Like if the phrase “fiction novel” and a gerund had a baby, it would look like your manuscript. But that’s okay, because one day you won’t be, as long as you stay teachable and don’t give up. And Denise Hunter is a human, just like you. She puts her pants on one leg at a time, but then she writes fabulous makeouts in pickup trucks. No big whoop. And finally, stop trying to make Redeeming Love 2 happen; it’s notgonna happen.”
How can we pray for you?
I’m currently shopping my manuscript to editors. It’s a lovely story about finding both love and your God-given purpose in life after you’ve royally messed it up the first time around. I pray that it will minister to people, even if they only read enough of it to reject it. I hope that some truth or a measure of hope will stick with them as a result.
And my health. As a writer and online lecturer, I spend a good deal of time sitting and it has wreaked havoc on my health. Plus, the nacho-thing. So pray for nachos to start tasting like carrots, or for carrots to start tasting like nachos. Either would probably work.
Carrot nachos. It’s gonna be a thing.
And now for the giveaway! Janine is offering a $15 Amazon gift card AND a copy of Denise Hunter’s “Just A Kiss,” featuring the aforementioned Truck Makeout Scene, to one lucky commenter to this post! Just leave a comment to enter, and we’ll notify the winner next Wednesday!
Meet Janine:
After living all over the United States, Janine Rosche has settled in Northwestern Ohio with her husband and four children. With a master’s degree in Family and Consumer Sciences, she is a certified family life educator and online lecturer at the University of Colorado-Denver. She has taught courses in human development, love and marriage, psychology, and family relations. She infuses this experience into her contemporary romance novels by creating strong characters and relatable conflict, all within rustic settings.
Janine loves to connect with readers and fellow devotees of Denise Hunter and/or nachos. Stalk her online at her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.