There is reality woven within the pages ~ by Joanne Jaytanie

Yes, I write fiction. My stories are created in my mind. Some might say that is a scary thought, but routinely an aspect of my story will stem from my life experiences. My newest release, Salvaging Truth is a prime example. And while I have no personal experience regarding salvage diving or the military, many of my family members do. They have served in the Navy, Coast Guard, and Army, and include my husband, stepdaughter, stepson, brother-in-law, and both my father and father-in-law.

Salvaging Truth is purely fiction, but it is supported by many fact-based details. Before I wrote the first word of this story, I extensively questioned both my daughter, Julie, and my husband, Ralph. Their combined military experience provided me with the bases of my story's plot.

Julie has served in the Coast Guard for 28 years...The first 10 years as active duty, and then she went into the reserves, where she still serves today. Julie served as a Radioman and ended her active duty as an Operations Specialist Senior Chief. While on board a Coast Guard cutter in 1994, her ship located and saved a boat full of Haitians. During their stay on the cutter, the crew even provided the Haitians, clothing and other personal items from their own lockers.

As an Operations Specialist, one of Julie’s duty stations was the San Francisco, Bay Area, which included the Golden Gate Bridge. I’ll bet that was interesting! After her active duty, Julie went into the Reserve Officer Candidate School. She was an instructor at the Chief’s Academy. She was stationed in Memphis as a Logistics Officer and recently transferred to Colorado Springs, Colorado to serve at USNORTHCOM; United States Northern Command. USNORTHCOM is a Unified Combatant Command of the U.S. military. Their job is to provide support for all non-military authorities within the United States along with providing protection for the national interests of the U.S., both within and outside of the continental United States.   

My husband, Ralph, is a retired career Naval officer who has spent most of his life on or around boats and ships or under the sea. As a Naval officer, he served as a deep-sea diver, a qualified deck officer, and Chief Engineer on board one of the largest US Navy ocean-going salvage tugs. Ralph was a Navy Salvage Engineer for the Pacific Northwest, where he planned, supervised, and participated in diving and salvage operations. When at sea, he served as Officer-in-Charge of many ocean tows, salvage, rescue, and deep diving operations around the Pacific Ocean, which included deep ocean recoveries, trans-oceanic towing of tandem barge tows, and a USN ex-aircraft carrier. 

I gained experience and knowledge from Ralph during the years we worked together in our forensic engineering firm. I’ve incorporated this insight into my Miss Demeanor, P.I. Series. I was the business administrator of the firm. I also accompanied and assisted Ralph on accident sites. He was involved in more than 400 investigations covering mechanical failures, truck--semi, vehicle, bicycle, pedestrian, boating, SCUBA, and slip and falls.

Love's Always Paws-Able, Forever Christmas in Glenville Collection, and The Winters Sisters Series, are all anchored in real life details. You will find at least one Doberman as a part of the cast of each of these books.

Prior to focusing on my writing full-time, I spent nearly every weekend at dog shows: competing in confirmation, obedience, rally, and agility. I have since left the days of showing dogs behind, but not my love of the breed or sport.

I came up with a way to merge both the dog shows and my beloved breed in my stories. The Doberman is a greatly misunderstood breed. It is my hope that by depicting the breed’s true nature by showing the reader its intelligence, commitment, dedication, tenacity, and unconditional love, they will come away with a better picture and clearer understanding of the breed. The Doberman truly is a unique breed, for it was bred for companionship.

Yes, my books are fictional. But, if you take a good look, you will find a thread of reality woven within the pages of each story.

Until next time...

Joanne

Visit Joanne's page to read her blog posts and learn about her books