Talking With Author Jill Sorenson
Soon after I moved to San Diego, I joined my local RWA chapter. One of the first people I met was Jill Sorenson. She’s a sweetheart. And, she’s super talented. Oh, don’t take my word for it. Ask the editors at Silhouette and Bantam Dell who recently snapped up her books.
Jill’s first debut is out this month. It’s called DANGEROUS TO TOUCH. The back cover copy goes like this:
All her life Sidney Morrow had tried to repress her disturbing psychic visions. Until a vision of murder shattered her fragile serenity. She had to go to the authorities—make them listen. But Lt. Marc Cruz didn’t trust her one bit. In fact, the sensual homicide cop treated her like a suspect. And sent her senses haywire.…
The dark-haired beauty knew something about the serial killer Marc was after. But he was certain “visions” had nothing to do with it. Determined to be her constant shadow, Marc wasn’t prepared when desire blindsided him—and put them both in the path of a relentless killer.
Yeah, baby. How cool does that sound?
Jill agreed to stop by today and chat about a subject to which we can all relate - being the new kid. There’s even a nice surprise at the end, so keep reading…
______________________________
New Kid on the Block
When I was twelve, my family moved from a small town in Kansas to Oceanside, California. My childhood had been idyllic, if uneventful, up to that point, and I was excited about the move. It was my first grand adventure.
My mother had grown up on a nearby farm and was reluctant to leave the only life she’d ever known. My father’s feelings were the opposite. Winters in Kansas are as cold as meat lockers and he’d worked in the cattle yards at a company called Iowa Beef for more than twenty years. He couldn’t wait to get out of the state, and the industry.
I chose our new home in California on a whim. Dad handed me a map and said, “Pick somewhere between San Diego and Los Angeles.” My finger landed on Oceanside, and that was it. This part of the story seems so odd in retelling, because my parents were rarely impulsive.
The move was their one reckless act.
As it turned out, Oceanside wasn’t all palm trees and sandy beaches. We rented a place in a dubious neighborhood about ten miles inland, in a concrete jungle of tract housing known as Guajome Homes. It wasn’t South Central LA, but it wasn’t rural Kansas, either. It was 1989, at the height of the Gang Wars.
For the first time in my short, sheltered life, I encountered rough characters and dangerous situations. I also suddenly knew what it felt like to be a member of an ethnic minority. There was little or no white privilege at Lincoln Jr. High. I learned to keep my head down and my mouth shut, two things that don’t come naturally to me.
Despite being intimidated by my surroundings, I made friends easily that year and excelled in my classes. No one tried to beat me up. The only trouble I remember having was with a boy who got too fresh at the bus stop.
“Pantsing” was popular at the time, a stealthy attack in which the perpetrator runs by and pulls down his friend’s pants to embarrass him. Today this would be called sexual harassment. Back then, it was supposedly good clean fun.
Well, I was wearing a skirt, not pants, so the garment was yanked up rather than down. No one laughed, least of all me, but no one objected on my behalf, either. Shaken, I pulled my skirt back into place and said nothing. The incident didn’t gain me any sympathy from the other girls in my neighborhood, one of whom commented that I got what I deserved for wearing a short skirt.
At twelve, I had almost no concept of sexuality, and although I understood the power of boobs (I didn’t have any), it hadn’t occurred to me that the length of my skirt could be considered provocative. I was impossibly naïve, but this was the late 80s. Debbie Gibson was no Britney Spears.
The boy had no right to put his hands on me, regardless of my attire, but I never complained about the drive-by skirting to anyone. I’m neither proud nor ashamed of that fact; I only share this anecdote because it illustrates my vulnerability as a new kid in a scary place. It’s difficult to navigate unfamiliar territory as a confident adult, let alone an uncertain adolescent. At the time, I was just beginning to develop into the person I would someday become. Keeping my head down and my mouth shut are no longer a part of my repertoire, I’m happy to say, and any man who touches me inappropriately will be in danger of drawing back a stump.
My memories of Oceanside aren’t all positive, but the experience was. I think everyone should know how if feels to be an outsider at least once in their life. Without new challenges, we become stagnant. And there is beauty in diversity.
Do you have a similar experience growing up? Did your family move often or not at all? Were you ever a stranger in a strange land? Leave a comment here and you’ll be entered to win a copy of DANGEROUS TO TOUCH. Good luck!!
June 16th, 2008 at 6:17 am
I can completely relate about being a stranger in a strange land. My parents divorced when I was 11 and going into the 6th grade. My mother moved us from Conneticut to Massachusetts where I started my last year of elementary school without anything familiar. We had lived on a military base where no one locked their doors and if you were out playing you could stop at anyone’s house and use their bathroom and now we lived in the middle of a huge city, where you not only locked your house but you locked your car. During the day and at night. The lunchroom at my school was seperated into blacks and whites. I hadn’t grown up with that seperateness. I can still remember being rebuffed when I tried to start a conversation with a young woman of color. Two years later my mother again moved us from one side of the city to the other where I finished my last year of junior high without all the same classmates. While you learn to make friends quickly I don’t think you develop the same type of relationships you would have if you had stayed in the same place/school.
June 16th, 2008 at 8:14 am
I moved to a new city when I was ready to start junior high school. It was a very tramatic time for me as I was a quiet and rather shy type of person. It was a slow process to make new friends for me, but, fortunately, the friends I did make became close long-time friends. Also, while I was kind of shy, once I gathered my nerve to talk to someone new I had no problem keeping a conversation going and being friendly; it was just making that first contact that was always hard for me.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:22 am
I lived in the same town until I went to college. I’m pretty shy in person until I get to know someone, so it’s good that I knew the same people all through school. College really helped me be able to approach others to start a conversation(I should say sorority rush anyway). My best friends to this day are a group of girls I met in college. We actually all ended up moving to the same area, so we get to see each other at least once a month.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:54 am
I was 22 and newly married when I moved from the East Coast (near Philly) to West Lafayette, IN so my DH could go to graduate school. We were going to live in a college town. How different could it be? It didn’t take me long to find out. I’d never seen terrain so flat. Or sunsets so beautiful. I learned to appreciate agricultural news on the radio and TV, and to pay attention to tornado warnings, too. I got a job in the university library and made fabulous friends even though many times we didn’t speak the same brand of English. 5 years later we left town with a shiny new PhD and I cried like a baby. Amazing how adaptable we can be if we let ourselves try.
June 16th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Hi Jill, thanks for visiting with us today, and congratulations on the new books! As for feeling like an “outsider” - I didn’t have an experience quite like yours. I grew up in a relatively nice small town (of course, my perception might be a little skewed.) I never moved in school. Actually, my parents moved the summer I turned 18… to a new [and larger] house a few blocks away from our old one. But I was an ethnic minority. There were over 2,000 kids at my high school, and the school was probably 99.5% white. There were like 5 Asian kids, and 1 Black kid. All the Asian kids pretty much knew each other - and I did get harassed by some ignorant kids. I remember pantsing, and in sixth grade, the “new thing” was for guys to sneak up on a girl, and smack her butt really hard. That and snapping bra straps… thinking about that makes me wonder what on earth is wrong with people.
June 16th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Congratulations, Jill! My parents still live in the same house I grew up in. And I live fifteen minutes from there with my family. I live outside of LA and did venture away for college - to UCSD. Loved it there! Thought about staying in the San Diego area after graduating but didn’t. The hubby and I often talk about moving out of California (he’s a native too) to experience living somewhere else. So far it hasn’t happened. Maybe when the kids are grown. (We are very fortunate to live where we do.) Thanks for sharing your story.
June 16th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Hi everyone! HelenKay, thanks so much for the nice introduction. I was new to RWA as well when we met and you made me feel very welcome.
Barbara-Jo, I’m still in contact with a couple of friends from Oceanside (found them on My Space!) as well as my old BFF from Kansas. Did Stephen King say we never have the same kinds of friends later as we do when we’re 12? So true. It’s a pivotal time.
Shari C.-I agree, making that first contact is still hard for me. But it’s always worth it.
Liza-Good to hear you’re still in touch with those college friends! I think going away to college is something I really missed out on. (I went to a local school)
Phyl-Flat terrain is so peaceful, isn’t it? Kansas is just like that.
Great to see you again, limecello! You get around. Bra snapping, argh! I hope boys are taught that this is NOT a good way to show a girl you like her these days.
Hi Robin! My hubby and I dream about getting away sometimes but we both love California, and San Diego, so much. I think we’re here to stay!
June 16th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Hi Jill,
Congratulations on the new book. My parents moved to the house I grew up in right before I started kindergarten so you would think that I started out the same as everyone else but since my parents signed me up after the official kindergarten sign up I couldn’t go to school on the first day but had to come in on the second day of school as the new kid.
June 16th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
College was my first change of towns. I lived in the same town and in the same 50-foot radius until then. College wasn’t that much of a shock for me (although, I do have one roommate incident that I will always be a little shocked about). I had worked my entire life to get into this one college. So, I was excited to go and be apart of that environment. Now, I live back in the same town I grow up in for completely different reasons than before college.
June 16th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Well, unfortunately, I can relate to this story all too well as I had been to 14 schools (yes, that’s 14!) by the time I was a senior in high school. Not because I was an army brat or because I was a rebel and kept getting kicked out. No, nothing as glamorous as that. I just had a set of parents who couldn’t seem to settle down in one place. It wasn’t until I moved to Los Angeles after college that I finally found myself living consistiently in the same spot. But, all that moving and all those new schools made me who I am today, so I have no regrets. But I sure will do things differently when I have kids. I’m just sayin’.
June 16th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Maureen-I guess you always remember being the new kid, even if it happened when you were five. It’s that kind of experience.
Stephanie S.-Ooh, I want to hear about the shocking roommate incident! The only roommate I’ve ever had is my hubby.
Lucie Simone-14 schools! I can’t imagine being uprooted so many times. We moved twice when I was a kid, and the second time was actually more difficult for me as far as making friends. I just didn’t want to start over again.
June 16th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Yes… moved around a lot. I have to think of where we lived to think of which school I went. I was the new kid on the block many times. A few times it was a new school within the same school district so I did know some kids but then it was a group of us new to the school.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
The only move I ever made was the one my parents made in 1983 just before I turned 2. I still live at home with my parents since we get along very well and it’s convenient for me while I’m still in grad school. The closest I’ve ever come to being the new kid was going to college and not knowing anybody. Of course, it was something I was very greatful for since my pre-college school experiences were not good when it came to the social aspect of things. Not being an outgoing persion, it took me a while to meet the people at my college, but the fact that it was (and still is) small (only 1200 traditional undergraduates) made it somewhat easier. Not only that, but my college has a great program for incoming freshman so they can get to know other incoming freshman.
June 17th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
When I was growing up we moved 14 times till I hit the 5th grade. I hated it, would just start to make friends and we would move again. I also hated being the new girl in a class. After that we never moved again and I stayed in the same school and graduated from it!
June 18th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Ann M. and Teresa W.-All that moving around must have been hard. But I guess it builds character? I was pretty rebellious as a teen so I would have been an absolute terror if we’d moved around more.
Karin-I consider myself outgoing but I made very few friends in college. Not sure why that is. Commuter colleges have a different dynamic.
Thanks so much for the detailed comments! I’m glad we could all take a trip down memory lane together.
I went ahead and picked a winner out of a hat (hope that’s OK, HelenKay) and the signed copy of DANGEROUS TO TOUCH goes to…
Phyl!
Contact me at: jillsoren1@aol.com with your mailing information.
Thanks again!
June 18th, 2008 at 11:28 am
That is perfect, Jill! Thanks for stopping by, for sharing and for giving away a book.
Everyone go by DANGEROUS TO TOUCH and check out Jill’s website. She’s been posting some great photos.
June 18th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Oh how exciting! Jill & HelenKay, Thank you so much!
Jill, an email is on it’s way. Can’t wait to read it.