Meet Jackie Boeheim | Children’s Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jackie Boeheim and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jackie, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I graduated with a degree in Journalism from Valdosta State University. That took me on a journey through Advertising and Marketing for 10 years. The hustle and grind of advertising was incredibly enjoyable but exhausting. I was searching for a change and had always wanted to publish a children’s book. Educating and inspiring young minds is what drives my career. Being a children’s author allows me to not only exercise my writing but enables me to teach students about writing, editing, publishing and following your dreams.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

I am a 4-time published children’s author. My books include:

Time For Bed With Ford and Red
The Spill
Skedaddle
The Georgia Guide To Quirky Questions

My 4th book was picked up by Pelican Publishing, an imprint of Arcadia Publishing. Being published by a traditional publisher is a dream that many authors have. I began to think I would never be picked up by a traditional publisher. My first 3 books were published through a Hybrid Publisher. This is a combination of self publishing and traditional publishing. I was ready to continue with my hybrid publisher, I wasn’t going to let the constant rejections from traditional publishers stop me!

It was to my surprise that Pelican Publishing loved my manuscript, The Georgia Guide To Quirky Questions, just enough to give me a call and send that long sought after contract.

I never gave up and I never allowed rejection to steal my dreams. Being an author is a very vulnerable job. You hand someone a piece of your heart and hope that they like it. Everyone has an opinion and not all of those opinions are positive, learning how to weed through the negative feedback is a very hard learned trait. Instead of letting the rejection and negative feedback get me down, I would use it to better my next books. I guess that was the right outlook because with book 4, it paid off!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

I live in Peachtree City, GA and I don’t see a reason to leave this beautiful area. This is a destination in and of itself! We are lucky enough to live in a golf cart community where we take the golf cart to school, the grocery store, hardware store, restaurants and more. You can take your golf cart anywhere!

We would jump on the golf cart, hit the stunning golf cart paths and head to Line Creek Brewing Company. While there, checkout their First Crush IPA. Next to Line Creek Brewing Company is Curious Pig. Their southern menu and incredible drinks are the best in Peachtree City.

Cruising along Lake Peachtree and catching the sunset by golf cart is the perfect way to end the day! Should we ever need a break from the golf carts, we’d travel to my hometown of Cumming, GA and spend a few days camping alongside Lake Lanier.

Featured in my book is Dahlonega, GA! It’s a quaint location to go antiquing, enjoy the southern charm and even hit the gold mines.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

Oliver Jeffers, Author & Illustrator of many famous children’s books.

He creates beautiful content all over the world. He was my number one inspiration when starting my career.

Website: https://authorjacquelineleigh.com/

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