INTERVIEW: Jeannie Reed, a Professional Psychic, Gets Lost in Her Writing

Welcome to the Tuesday Author Interview with Christina Boyd for the Who, What, When, Where, and Why.

CHRISTINA: I am new to the social media platform Threads and have been making new author contacts every day. Not long ago, the algorithm gods connected me with author Jeannie Reed. Her latest book, The Afterlife Book, about her real-life experience living with a spirit in her New York City apartment and all the ways it revealed itself to her, absolutely had me enthralled given the paranormal aspects of my manuscript, Woman in the Painting. I was thrilled she agreed to this interview.

When did you first think you had a book to write, and how did you start? 

JEANNIE: I was angry at a man for being, basically, a rat to women. So, I wrote a book about a mob enforcer. LOL.

CHRISTINA: And mafia fiction is very in right now.

How has the publishing industry changed since you started?

Afterlife Book: Because You Never Got a Chance to Say Goodbye by Jeannie Reed – March 1, 2022

JEANNIE: Companies have shrunk. There are fewer smaller, elite places like Scribner's. The profit margin is all now. This is not a good thing. Great writing with no social media promotion probably doesn't see the light of day.

CHRISTINA: What comes first: plot or characters?

JEANNIE: Character. Once you know who it is, you can know what she/he would never do. All the rest is up for grabs.

CHRISTINA: Do you listen to music while writing? Do you make up Playlists for your books?

JEANNIE: No. Silence or chaos around me, doesn't matter. I get lost in the writing, and I can focus through pretty much anything.

CHRISTINA: Is there one of your characters you most identify with and why? 

JEANNIE: Helen Geddes, the heroine of my newest (unpublished) book. She is a medium in a time when psychic ability is seen as a mental disorder, or the work of the devil... even in America in the 1950s. So, she just doesn't fit in her world. To survive, she has to leave her town and those she loves and reinvent herself far away.

The Language of Tarot: A Proven System for Reading the Cards by Jeannie Reed

CHRISTINA: Sounds fascinating. Especially given your expertise and personal experience as a psychic.

If you could tell your 21-year-old-self anything, what would you share?

JEANNIE: Never regret anything. It's ALL lessons.

CHRISTINA: Indeed.

What is your current project or latest release?

JEANNIE: My current project is trying Kindle Publishing for a middle-grade girls' book. Just to see what happens.

CHRISTINA: I like that you aren’t afraid to experiment.

If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?

JEANNIE: I have been an executive, a reporter, a private detective, as well as a professional psychic for forty years... I once wanted to walk tightrope in a circus, though I never made it...

CHRISTINA: Well, I suppose, there is still time.

Favorite contemporary author.

JEANNIE: Thomas Perry, genius crime writer.

CHRISTINA: Ooh, I’ll have to check him out. Thanks for the recommendation and for taking the time to answer these questions. Best wishes on your current writing project.

Jeannie Reed, author, medium

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeannie Reed is a former journalist/reporter/editor currently embarked on a fiction writing career. (Her two books in print to date are nonfiction.) She lives in New York City. You can connect with Jeannie via her website and social media.