Guest Author - Cathy Brownfield
Janet Elaine Smith isn’t “just” an author. She’s on a mission, literally.
Janet and her husband Ivan, spent nine years in Venezuela as missionaries. In 1972, when they returned to the United States, she wrote about their experiences, to record them so they wouldn’t forget them, ever.
“By the time I was finished with that,” she said, “I was hooked. That was back in the days when you did it all on an old typewriter. Now, the computer makes it so much easier, although I fought making that transition for several years.”
Janet wrote her first novel in 1973. “It took me nine months to do the research and nine months to do the actual writing. I joke about the fact that I could have had two babies in the same amount of time! I already had three kids, so the book was the better deal!”
That first book was Dunnottar, published in June 2000. Janet was 57 years old. It is still her best selling book, though her non-fiction book about surviving a flood becomes popular again when major flooding events occur.
“In many ways,” she said of Dunnottar’s publication, “I feel like that was the beginning of my life. I got to do what I had dreamed of doing for years. For years I told my husband and my kids that what I wanted for every holiday was ‘one of my books published and a sexy nightie.’ I have 17 books out …and I’m still waiting for the sexy nightie.’
Mission work didn’t end when the Smiths returned from South America. The couple started a charitable organization in 1972, Mission Socorro, which she still works full time.
“It isn’t easy” she said about juggling family, writing and mission work. “I have had to set up a schedule. Our kids are grown up and don’t live at home, but when they have a problem, they still come running to Mom and Dad.
“I have a certain time set aside daily for my writing, some for emails, some for promotion, but it all revolves around the Mission work. I have learned to be flexible.”
Is she a risk-taker?
“I think I always have been. I was the youngest missionary our mission, WEC International in Ft. Washington, Pa., ever sent overseas. I did things on the mission field that other missionaries were shocked at, but they seemed to work in reaching our ultimate goal of evangelization.”
On the publishing side of things, Janet dived into POD (print on demand) just when it was coming into existence. She didn’t know what it meant, but she was willing to take the risk if it meant her books would be “out there.”
“That publisher eventually went bankrupt and I lost money in the end by not getting royalties that were due me, but I still owe them a lot. They did some pretty good promotion on behalf of my books, like full-page ads in magazines like Writer’s Digest and The Writer. They also taught me that an author has to promote their own books or they’ll never succeed. I have discovered that this is true whether you are with a POD publisher, are self-published, or with the biggest New York traditional publishers.”
If everyone has a book that is his or her life, what does Janet’s book of life say about her?
“Well, I hope it says, ‘She gave her heart to the people around her, and she made them laugh a little, cry a little, but they will all remember her for adding some joy to our lives.’ That would make me very happy.
“My mother was a staunch supporter of my writing from the beginning. One of my biggest regrets is that she wasn’t alive when my first book was published. My husband has been very supportive,” she said, but “I think Mary Higgins Clark has been my biggest hero. She encouraged me way back when I started writing. I have never met her in person, but we started corresponding back in 1991 when she had a book (Anastasia Syndrome) that featured a Hallett, which was my maiden name.
“I am so thrilled that now we have ‘sister books’ that are out.” Clark’s first children’s book, Ghost Ship, and Smith’s time travel, Housecall to the Past, both go back to 1700s Cape Cod and the very same Hallett family, Smith’s Hallett family. Both are available to readers now.
To Janet’s way of thinking, “senior” was her last year in high school and her last year in Bible college.
“I firmly believe that you are as old as you allow yourself to feel. I often tell people that I’m someplace in my 30s—except that my knees refuse to listen to the rest of me. I also feel that the best way to keep from getting ‘old’ is by keeping busy—physically, mentally and emotionally. I have two rules I live by:
1. Make it a point to learn at least one new thing every day.
2. Make somebody laugh at least once a day.
She applies those two rules to the seniors she visits related to Mission Socorro. She doesn’t just challenge herself on a daily basis. She challenges everyone around her to reach for the stars.
