My Followers List Just Got Way Cooler

Jennifer Hillier, Author of the new thriller novel "CREEP"

During the April A-Z blogfest, I ended up following the blog of Jennifer Hillier over at The Serial Killer Files.  To be honest, I'm not really sure how I ended up at her blog.  She didn't do the A-Z, but we share followers/blogs we follow, so it's likely I was just chasing links by other A-Z bloggers and found her corner of the web.  However it happened, she is brilliant!  She's a writer and had just finished her first thriller novel called "Creep".  (I'll come back to this in just a second, so please stay with me here.)

Now, I'm pretty careful about what I read, and I try to steer clear of anything with much sex or violence in it because I want the few hours of "reading for entertainment" time that I get to leave me with something enriching and encouraging.  But on occasion I do like to read a murder thriller for the mystery of it.  There is a human draw to things macabre.  Some people watch horror movies.  I read thriller novels.  (I know. I'm so fearless.)

Every great once in a while, I like reading about something that is more complex, twisted and sinister than hopefully anything I will experience in my real life. (Ever.)  I like to see the resolution that comes at the end.  The acknowledged fact that character X is majorly screwed up, mentally, but when they go on a killing spree to assuage their sick, psychological tortured self, there is always someone is there to draw the line.  I love a suspenseful chase that ends with the killer being caught and their heinous crimes stopped.  It makes me feel... safer.  Like maybe since I got to "know" the character by reading about them, that the author stopped them at the end before they could make me or mine their next target.

Oh, I know it's all fiction, and I don't live in any kind of paranoia.  But a really good author will leave me with that chilly, tingling "Thank heavens no one I know is like this and goes barking mad and starts killing everyone!" feeling down my spine.  I don't indulge in it often, like I said, because I have such limited reading time.

Back to Jennifer Hillier: I love her blog.  I loved reading the process of how she got "Creep" published, including getting the cover art done for it, etc., plus a lot of her other posts that were about adjusting to life changes, staying calm when the computer goes nuts, and basically other "life" stuff in general.  She wrote a great post on Mother's Day, about how her mom is the reason she writes thrillers.  It was instantly one of my favorites. So funny!

Her candor in the posts about having "Creep" reviewed was really endearing.  And her writing style in her posts is so articulate, I really found myself just pulled in and interested in pretty much everything she posted about.  There was a whole series about her research on women's correctional facilities and how she got to visit one to learn more about it.  Since I have been raised to live my life in a manner that would not ever take me into, through, past or remotely near a prison, it was really neat to read about her interviewing the warden(s) and what a typical day is like at one.  I think people should, every now and then, expand their minds by learning about something that is on the opposite end of the spectrum of what they know of daily life.  Well done with that series, Jennifer.  I learned a lot.

Just a couple of weeks ago when I was posting about how crazy things have been here and how I was mad at Blogger for shutting down and all, I glanced at my followers list and saw Jennifer's profile photo.  Really?  A published novelist is following The Modest Peacock??  Suddenly I felt like one of the cool kids.  It seriously made my week!  So thanks for the return follow, Jennifer.  I hope you get a kick out of some of what I post.  I feel like the bar has been raised.  I hope to become a better blogger over time, and having a "for real" author (or two or three eventually!) following makes me more aware of my own writing style.

Please go check out her blog, if you've made it down to here without clicking on the above links.  She's fantastic and I can't wait to read "Creep" when it hits the bookshelves next month!