Writer Wednesday: Clara Bowman-Jahn

Today I had the chance to interview Clara Bowman-Jahn, a member of the Round Hill Writers and children’s book author of Annie’s Special Day.

Tell us about yourself:  I am an immigrant and that has colored my whole life, who I married, how  I raised my children, who my friends are and every aspect of my life even though it was so long ago at age seven. This question is one that could take a long time and be very boring for your readers so I will leave it at that.

Tell us about your book:  My children’s picture book “Annie’s Special Day” is about a little girl who is celebrating her birthday with a different adventure every hour. It is about time and clocks. It is a basic concept book.

 
Did you always know you wanted to be a writer? No I didn’t but I have always written. I have been compelled to write and have three file cabinets full of journals where I have short stories, diary entries, to-do lists, and basically anything my brain needs to remember in them, all in spiral notebooks.

 
What is your “day job”? I am retired from 32 years of nursing and now write full time. That includes marketing and speaking about my book to elementary schools.

Are any elements of your book autobiographical or inspired by elements of your life? Yes, the whole idea sprung from a desire to record the beautiful sounds of birdsong coming through the open window in May one year. They were so splenderfous I invented Annie to “hear” a different bird every hour. What Annie heard has since been edited out but that is what inspired me to write the book.

 
If you were to be stranded on a desert island, what non-survival item would you bring along that you couldn’t live without?  I would bring an empty spiral notebook and pen or pencil. But then it is a survival item so maybe I can’t bring it along.

Are you working on any other projects at the moment? Yes, two other picture books are in the revision stage and I am working on a memoir.

Here’s my facebook  http://www.facebook.com/ClaraBowmanJahnand my twitter      https://twitter.com/#!/@Cbojahn
blog        http://clarbojahn.wordpress.com/
also and finally the place to buy “Annie’s Special Day” is http://www.etreasurespublishing.com/(although it also available on Amazon and Kindle)