J.Q. Rose was gracious enough to do a blog swap with me today. I’m talking about my inspiration of how I became a writer over at her blog and she’s discussing her book Girls Succeed: Stories Behind the Careers of Successful Women and offering a giveawayWelcome, J.Q.!

Girls Succeed black Kay's 333x500Thank you, Katie, for hosting me today. I love talking about my interactive e-book for girls, Girls Succeed: Stories Behind the Careers of Successful Women, and the remarkable women who are interviewed in it.

Hello Readers. Thank you for stopping by. I’m excited to visit with you today. Please leave a comment to enter a random drawing for my non-fiction e-book, Girls Succeed.

My Inspiration for Penning Girls Succeed by J.Q. Rose

Because my husband and I were very fortunate to sell our floral shop and garden center business, we were able to take off on an adventure living full-time in our RV, a 34’ fifth wheel trailer for about eight years. I’m not sure the exact number of years because we slipped into full-timing gradually. We worked along the way as we traveled, but we always stayed where the sun would shine, so we were up north in the summers and down south in the winters.

One of our summer jobs was working for a girls’ residence camp in Michigan, Camp Newaygo. It was close to our daughters and their families, so we jumped at the chance. We parked our trailer on the camp grounds, so there were no traffic jams getting to work. I just walked across the parking lot to the rustic cabin where the office was located. My DH was in charge of maintenance for the entire campground. Needless to say we were busy.

We were never too busy to help the young women who were counselors or the delightful girls ages 7- 17 who resided in the cabins. We ate meals with them in the lodge and talked with them after hours at our camper. I marveled at these amazing girls with so much potential. They were full of energy, strength, and smarts. Yes, a lot of smart cookies at camp. We had a lot of fun with them.

I probably bonded with the campers and counselors because I am the mother of two daughters who are now grown and have children of their own. (In fact I have a granddaughter now too!)

I wondered what kind of dreams these counselors and campers had for their lives. Would their dreams ever become reality? Faced with so many possibilities for careers, I contemplated what choices they would make. And who would shepherd them so they could fulfill their passion and desire to have a rich, full life?

I decided then to interview strong, successful women who could serve as role models and inspire girls to reach for their dreams. In Girls Succeed fifteen remarkable career women in a variety of occupations share their stories about their work and the path they took to become successful in their dream careers. These diverse careers encompass women in the arts, business, science, medicine, ministry, entertainment, and sports. For example, girls meet contemporary women who have discovered cures to stamp out disease, made people laugh, earned Olympic and Paralympic gold medals, and crossed the country in the cab of an eighteen wheeler.

This e-book includes resources for more information about careers including live links to videos and websites about the woman and her occupation.

Using the skills I had developed as a freelance writer with feature articles in magazines, online magazines, and newspapers, I was privileged to interview these amazing women and honored that they trusted me to tell their stories.

Girls Succeed was a long time in development and a personal mission for me to lead girls into realizing they can live their dreams.

Find the book on Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Sony.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAbout the Author:

After writing feature articles in magazines, newspapers, and online magazines for over fifteen years, J.Q. Rose entered the world of fiction writing with her first published novella, Sunshine Boulevard, released by Muse It Up Publishing in 2011. With Girls Succeed she returns to her first love, writing about real people.  Blogging, photography, Pegs and Jokers board games, and travel are the things that keep her out of trouble. Spending winters in Florida with her husband allows Janet the opportunity to enjoy the life of a snowbird. Summer finds her camping and hunting toads, frogs, and salamanders with her four grandsons and granddaughter.

Connect with J.Q. Rose online at the Girls Succeed blog, her blog, her author website, her Amazon author page, her Goodreads page, or Pinterest.