Jennifer Hulshof: I was born and raised in Ottawa, and never left having my whole family here. I come from a once large Irish Catholic family, my grandparents having five kids and growing up with all of my cousins like they were brothers and sisters are some of my fondest memories. BBQs and Sunday dinners at their place. Football in the living room with the men all shouting at the tiny box television. The smell of turkey throughout the house at Christmas with a loaded tree.
I graduated from high school in 1996 and had my first daughter shortly after, with my second daughter arriving not quite two years later. I attended Algonquin College and took media communications thinking I would become a freelance journalist, but quickly realized I preferred writing fiction more than reality. I’ve been writing stories since I was six years old and able to put pen to paper. Papers I’ve left scattered wherever I went much to my mother’s chagrin.
I have always had a fascination with the paranormal, especially vampires (also to my mother’s chagrin), drawing my inspirations from authors like Anne Rice and L.J Smith, as well as, in recent years, J.R. Ward and Laurell K. Hamilton.
I wrote my first book The Council in 2014, and my second, Cloak and Dagger, in the trilogy a year. It took me two more years to write my third The Coven, with many ups and downs occurring in the publishing world. In 2019, my first book was featured at BookExpo and BookCon in New York City, and I’m currently working on number four in the series which will be titled, Heart of Darkness.
I like dogs and cats and horses, reading and of course writing. I have finally found the love of my life whose support has been outstanding through my whole process of writing and publishing and getting noticed. My hope is one day for my books to be adapted to film, and possibly made into graphic novels as well.
Q: How long have you been in Ottawa, and what first brought you here?
A: I was born and raised in Ottawa and never moved away as my family is all here.
Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community here?
A: I've been writing ever since I have been able to put pen to paper, and didn't really get involved in the writing community here in Ottawa so much as in the States when I got picked up by a very small publishing company called Authorhouse who helped me publish my first book.
Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all?
A: It's been a Rollercoaster ride of ups and downs in the writing community, a lot of struggles and being scammed once too many times has changed how I feel towards my writing. I've experienced a lot of writers block as a result trying to get my fourth book written. But at the same time my passion for it is still there and I've even toyed with the idea of an offshoot series from my second book which I love and wrote very easily.
Q: What do you see happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What does Ottawa provide, or allow?
A: I’ve had the opportunity here to display some copies of my books in independent bookstores in and around the area, I had a book signing that definitely boosted sales. There is definitely a lot of opportunity to market here, however I find not a lot of publishing companies willing to take me on.
Q: Have any of your projects responded directly to your engagements here? How have the city and its community, if at all, changed the way you approached your work?
A: I was given the opportunity to be featured (for a fee) at BookExpo and BookCon in New York City via a small publishing company called URLinkandmedia, which was an incredible experience and slightly boosted sales. Definitely gave me a different perspective of the writing industry and the struggles and challenges as an author to gain notoriety. It's also challenged me to look at the trending demands of my target audience and rethink a lot of my delivery when telling the story I want to convey.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I'm currently working on book four of my series The Council. Book four is called Heart of Darkness.
I’ve always found there weren’t a lot of strong female main characters portrayed as vampires in any series I read or watched and wanted to create one of my own: Ashton Gament is a vampire born as a human slave in ancient Egypt, saved from a death sentence by a vampire who gave her the gift of eternal life….but there are rules to follow being a vampire, and they are strictly governed by the ancient original vampires known as the Council. Ashton faces off against them in the biggest battle of her very long life.
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