Who is JB Cheaney?
I was born (1950) in Dallas, Texas and grew from a baby to a shy, skinny kid with straight brown hair and big teeth. In school, my favorite subject was history, and my least favorite was math. I read a lot, but wasn't that interested in writing--I started one play and a couple of short stories, but none of them were finished because I could never figure out what would happen next.
In the seventh grade, I became very ill with myocarditis and spent a month in the hospital. Then I spent another year at home and didn't go to school at all for eighth grade--a teacher came to me. I thought it was great, but when the time came for me to go back to school, I started ninth grade with no friends and no idea how to go about making them. The next two years were miserable until I found my niche in high school: acting and singing. In my junior and senior years I performed in the concert choir, the show choir, and two musicals. I was still a shy kid when playing myself, but it was fun to get up and stage and act like somebody else.
After graduating from high school, I attended a Christian junior college in Dallas before transferring to a four-year college in Abilene, Texas. Then I became a college dropout, in order to get married (in 1971). In the 30-odd years since, my husband and I have lived in six different states and moved a total of 23 times, raised two children, and homeschooled them from grades 1 and 3 (that is, we started when our son was in first grade and our daughter in third). But during that period I began a new stage in my life without even realizing it.
Some time after my daughter was born, I thought it might be fun to try writing a novel. I guess it was so much fun I went on over the years to write three more, but couldn't find a publisher for any of them (that's why they're still packed away in boxes). But I did write three creative writing workbooks, called the Wordsmith series, which are still being sold, mostly to homeschoolers. Some time after my son graduated from high school in 1996. I started writing my first book intended for young-adult readers, based on an idea I had been thinking about for at least eight years. It became The Playmaker, published in the fall of 2000. The True Prince followed in 2002.
When not writing, or thinking about it, I like to travel, read, sing, sew, do needlework and sleep--though not necessarily in that order.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- What was your favorite book when you were a kid?
A. I didn't have one favorite book, though I liked reading biographies as well as novels. The first book I really fell in love with was The Once and Future King, which I read when I was 13. It's a version (a long version) of the King Arthur story by T. H. White. - How did you get interested in Shakespeare?
A. I've performed twice in Shakespeare plays, first as Cassius in a backyard version of "Julius Caesar," second as Helena in a college production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." I'd love to do it again, but no directors have offered me parts. - How old are your kids?
A. Glad you asked. Aquila was born in 1975 and Tielman in 1978. Aquila graduated from College of the Ozarks in 1998 with an Aviation Science degree. After several years of working in the aviation industry, she decided to go back to school and get an aerospace engineering degree. But now she's working on her biggest challenge yet: an M.O.M degree. Here she is with our one and only grandbaby, Adriel:
- When do you work?
A. If it doesn't get done in the morning, it won't get done. - Why do you go by your initials?
A. If your real name was "Janie Cheaney," don't you think it would look a little silly on a book jacket? (You don't? Maybe I'm too sensitive, then.) - What's your next book about?
A: Never ask a middle-aged lady author how old she is, or what her next book is about. - Will you write more books about Richard Malory?
A. I hope to. Since I have a pretty good idea what life holds for all those characters, I'd like to see them safely through it. - How do you get your ideas?
A. I don't get ideas--they get me!
Tielman went directly from high school to show business. He's worked as a caricature artist at Knott's Berry Farm and Universal city in L. A.; as a silhouette cutter at Disneyland in Tokyo. Now he draws tourists to the top of the Stratosphere tower in Las Vegas, with the help of his fiancée, Andrea. Check out his website at studiotiel.com
