After
graduating from Central Michigan University with a degree in journalism,
Jackie Braun worked at newspapers for nearly 17 years, 11 of those years
as an award-winning editorial writer for The
Flint Journal in Michigan,
where she was also the first female editorial writer in the newspaper’s
history.
She sold her first book to Silhouette Romance in late 1999. One
Fiancee to Go, Please was an October 2000 release and went on to win the Rising
Star Award for traditional romantic fiction. True
Love, Inc., also a Silhouette
Romance, was released in June 2002, and became a finalist in the traditional
romance category for both the RITA Awards and the National Readers Choice
Awards. Her third and fourth books, Her
Stand-In Groom and The
Game Show Bride, were released from Harlequin Romance in 2004. Both finaled in the
NRCA and The Game Show Bride earned Jackie her second RITA nomination.
Jackie quit her full-time job in January 2004 to freelance and write fiction
full time. She lives in Flushing, Mich., with her husband Mark and their
son Daniel. She loves to hear from readers. Click on the email button at
the bottom of this page to send her a message.
Jackie is a member of the Romance
Writers of America and the Mid-Michigan
RWA. For more information on Harlequin romance authors, visit them online
here. Information on Harlequin books and special offers can be found by
visiting eHarlequin.com.
Interesting
facts about the author
Jackie’s first manuscript took six years to complete
and has never sold. It was more than 600 pages long and she
can admit now that it was also really, really bad. She still
hopes to resurrect the main characters for another book – this
one much less convoluted.
Jackie
is the youngest of eight children. She married a man who also
has seven siblings. Almost all of their brothers and sisters are
married with children, and some of those children are now married
and starting families of their own. Holiday gatherings require crowd
control.
Jackie
lost her oldest brother, Danny, to cancer in 2000. With
the exception of her first book, which was written before Dan’s
death, she has included some form of her late brother’s name
in every story as a tribute to him. She also named her son
after him.
During
college, Jackie worked at Good Housekeeping in New
York City. She spent 10 weeks in the Big Apple as an American Society
of Magazine Editors intern and loved every minute of
it. She planned to return after graduation and even received
job offers from two women’s magazines,
but the low pay and the high cost of living helped change
her mind. She decided to remain in newspapers. Jackie
interned for six months at The Grand Rapids Press in
Grand Rapids, Mich., before taking a job with The
Niagara Gazette in Niagara Falls, N.Y. She joined The Flint
Journal’s
staff less than a year later. She remained at The
Journal for more than 15 years.
While
at The Flint Journal, Jackie earned five Michigan Press
Association Awards, including two first places, for her editorial
writing. She was the newspaper’s first female
editorial writer and only the second woman to
sit on its editorial board.
She sold her first book to Silhouette Romance in late 1999.