I’m happy to welcome multi-published author Jodi Rath. Today, Jodi shares her writing journey and the books in The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series.
Here’s Jodi!
In 1978, I was a five-year-old child who took my mom’s old magazines into my playroom and played magazine. I know it’s a very creative title for the company! I’m an only child, so my stuffed animals and my dolls served as my employees. You have to understand that I had no clue what it meant to run a magazine. My mom watched the re-runs of Mary Tyler Moore Show, and although I know now it was about the news—I used to watch the show with my mom while she would flip through magazines. I liked to tear up her magazines and then put them back together in different forms and use red markers through things.
My mom read to me all the time as a kid. As I grew older, I was always reading. In fifth grade, we went to a local fair, and I signed up to win a set of encyclopedias! I won the full set of World Book Encyclopedias. We bought a bookshelf just for those. I used to close my eyes and pick one—then do the same to pick a topic in the book. I’d read about the topic, take notes, and write a story about the topic. This was for fun.
In ninth grade, I used to go to the library at my school, and I found a poetry book by Langston Hughes. I sat and read some his work. From there, I began exploring more poetry. It got to the point where I was checking out as many books as the librarian would allow me to check out. In high school, during the summer months when other kids were hanging by the pool or at the mall I could be found in the basement of my house or in my room reading Sweet Valley High or poetry or any books you can imagine.
I played sports and had friends, but I was one of those kids who had one or two good friends. I never cared about being in a group or having a lot of friends. I played volleyball and basketball from fifth grade through my senior year, but for me, it was showing up and doing it and being a team on the court. I felt no need to know anyone beyond the court.
As a college student, I was the same way. I’d go to class—I was an English Literature major—do the work and go home and devour the books and write the papers. It was fun for me. As a professional adult, I’ve bounced from insurance jobs to advertising/marketing jobs, to VP of a credit union, to education for the last twenty years. I never changed. I was the person who showed up at work—did the work, and during lunches and breaks, I found a place to be alone and read and write.
Working in education drained me because I cared about my students so much. One of the reasons I read and wrote so much as a kid is to escape. There were some abusive issues with my biological father that continued well into my adulthood with my first husband. My step-dad was a blessing in disguise, but I lost him to prostate cancer. So, it was important for me to work with teens to help them understand that even though things can be bad, life can get better. If there are people in your life that don’t treat you well, it doesn’t mean that good people don’t exist.
This entire period of my life, I always wanted to be a full-time writer. Once I became an educator—I really wanted to combine education and writing. So, in February 2018, I started a business MYS ED LLC (Mystery and Education). I teach online working with teachers; I write for educational affiliations, blogs, and publishers on deadline and work with teachers to help them write about their experiences, AND I write The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series—a cozy culinary series. So, at age forty-five, I’ve finally got to make my dream come true.
What’s even BETTER is that recently, I’ve partnered with The National MS Society and True Colors United with the cozy mystery series. A percentage of my profits for the mystery series will go to both organizations to help those that navigate MS and to help LGBTQ homeless youth.
Since the business began, I’ve written numerous educational information and wrote three books in The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series: Pineapple Upside Down Murder is book one; Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread Murder is book two; Turkey Basted to Death is book 2.5 A Holiday Book, and in 2020 there are four more books coming in the series.
So, if you’d like to get something for yourself to entertain you WHILE giving to two great organizations, then buy some of the books and enjoy it! Pass on the news—the more I sell, the more I give!
Blurb for Pineapple Upside Down Murder Blurb
Welcome to Leavensport, Ohio where DEATH takes a delicious turn!
Introducing Jolie Tucker, the introverted yet passionate restaurant co-owner of Cast Iron Creations. When her grandma Opal becomes the prime suspect in the murder of Leavensport’s local chocolatier, Jolie goes on a search for answers—only to find out that her family’s secret recipes may not belong to the Tucker family at all. Jolie’s job, family, and livelihood are all on the line.
Blurb for Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread Murder
Welcome to Leavensport, Ohio where DEATH takes a delicious turn!
Financial fraud of elderly villagers in Leavensport, an urban sprawl threat to the community, disastrous dates, cross-sell marketing gone wrong, and another murder? Jolie Tucker is ready to try dating again. Well, she has no choice—since her family auctioned her off to the highest bidder. Her best friend, Ava, has agreed to a double date, but both friends find out hidden secrets about their partners as well as deception by one of the village’s own, who will soon be found dead. This plot is sure to be spicy!
Amazon | All other e-platforms
Blurb for Turkey Basted to Death
Welcome to Leavensport, Ohio where DEATH takes a delicious turn!
Thanksgiving is here, and Jolie Tucker has had quite the year! She is ready to sit back and relax with family and friends. But this is Leavensport, OH—so get ready for intense therapy sessions, dysfunctional family holiday gatherings, uninvited guests, and an inner-city teen advocate found DEAD—stabbed in the ear with the turkey baster!
Amazon | All other e-platforms
Blurb for Blueberry Cobbler Blackmail
Welcome to Leaven—oh wait—Santo Domingo, where DEATH takes a DELICIOUS turn!
Family bombshells, sibling rivalries, blackmail, and a trip that could be deadly…and the new year has only just begun! After a disastrous Thanksgiving, Jolie Tucker is beside herself and feeling the walls closing in around her. She feels like she needs to escape Leavensport before she loses her mind. She unexpectedly gets her wish when her best friend and co-owner of Cast Iron Creations, Ava Martinez, gets a terrifying email revealing that her papa, Thiago, is in danger in Santo Domingo. The girls are off on a dangerous adventure in new territory. Will they be able to save the day before danger finds them?
Bio
Moving into her second decade working in education, Jodi Rath has decided to begin a life of crime in her The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series. Her passion for both mysteries and education led her to combine the two to create her business MYS ED, where she splits her time between working as an adjunct for Ohio teachers, educational writing, marketing consultant work with authors, and creating mischief in her fictional writing. She currently resides in a small, cozy village in Ohio with her husband and her eight cats.
Newsletter link to A Mystery A Month—Sign up for my monthly newsletter to receive a free Mystery a Month and a chance to win prizes for those who guess the right answers! http://eepurl.com/dIfXdb
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I have often been caught with my nose in a book. My love for the written word inspired me to begin writing (seriously writing) after I decided to be a stay-at-home mom. I needed something, something of my own that allowed me to dive into a creative work. I started with a flourish, delving in and researching. I picked a location and time period in which I was curious. That curiosity turned into a love of a genre and location that still inspires after all of these years.
Graveyard Shift, the name of my new Hope Sze thriller, is slang for the night shift.
Krysten Lindsay Hager writes about friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, frenemies, crushes, fame, first loves, and values. She is the author of True Colors, Best Friends…Forever?, Next Door to a Star, Landry in Like, Competing with the Star, Dating the It Guy, and Can Dreams Come True. True Colors, won the Readers Favorite award for best preteen book and the Dayton Book Expo Bestseller Award for childen/teens. Competing with the Star is a Readers’ Favorite Book Award Finalist. Landry in Like is a Literary Classics Gold Medal recipient.
I love beginnings—in life and on the page. Anything and everything is possible whenever a blank slate appears before me. That momentum can last for days, weeks, months, and sometimes even longer.
In 2012, my writer friends and I faced a new and challenging publishing world. What to do about social media? Some of us were comfortable with computers and software, others were pretty expert at digital marketing. Many of us though knew nothing at all.
Shari Ramming writes on a broad range of subjects. She feels there is a great intelligence that is not of the mind. Loving her three grown children fiercely she uses verve and wanderlust to make her home in Austin, Texas. She is still learning.
From the start, I loved the sound of the Mayan word “chia” and its meaning: strength. Originally grown in Mexico, these seeds were valued for their nutritional and medicinal properties. Runners and warriors used chia seeds as fuel while running long distances or during battles. Aztec warriors claimed that one spoonful of chia seeds could sustain them for 24 hours.
Rebecca Brewster Stevenson is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has a master’s degree from Duke University and has lived in Durham, North Carolina for over 20 years with her husband and three children.
Joanne Guidoccio 