Prolific author J.A. Jance is the perfect example of howsometimes you have to believe in yourself and ignore the negativevoices of others if you want to make your dreams come true.

A New York Times best-selling author with more than 40 titles toher name, Jance might never had been a published author at all ifshe had let the naysayers in her life hold her down.

First there was the college professor who refused to admit herto the University of Arizona’s creative writing program because hethought girls should be teachers or nurses. Next there was herfirst husband, also a writer, who discouraged her from writing too,even more so in 1968 after she received a letter from a New Yorkeditor interested in publishing a children’s story she hadwritten.

Jance acquiesced, but she didn’t let either of them silence hercompletely. She kept writing, mainly poetry, in secret.

She was divorced when she began writing fiction, a crimethriller based on murders that had occurred in Tucson in 1970. Thatbook was never published, but her next work was, and ever sinceJance’s books have rolled off the press year after year.

“Not bad for a girl who wasn’t supposed to be a writer,” Jancesaid with a chuckle.

She’s currently touring the country promoting her newest title,“Left for Dead,” and will make a stop at Scenic Regional LibrarySunday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m. for a presentation and book signing.

Her visit is part of Scenic’s focus to offer more creativeprogramming for patrons. That includes bringing in national authorslike Jance and Ridley Pearson, who held a book signing at Sceniclast year.

Library Director Vivienne Beckett said the timing for bookingJance was perfect with “Left for Dead” having been released earlierthis month.

“She’s a very popular writer of mysteries and thrillers withseveral different series,” said Beckett, noting last month Scenic’sbook club read one of Jance’s titles, “Dead Wrong,” from her JoannaBrady series.

The book club members were “excited and impressed” that thelibrary was bringing in a national author, said Beckett, addingthat many patrons are fans of her work.

“Her writing is captivating and entertaining,” Beckettremarked.

“She’s a fun and talented writer . . . adept at creatingstories.”

Beckett said the library is expecting a good crowd for theevent. There will be refreshments and Barnes & Noble will beselling copies of “Left for Dead,” along with several other Jancetitles.

Anyone who purchases copies of her book or brings their ownalong for her to sign will not leave disappointed, said Jance.

“My policy is not to leave any book unsigned,” said Jance. “Ifpeople show up with all of my books, I’ll sign them all.”

‘We’ve Come a Long Way’

Jance, who splits her time between homes in Tucson, Ariz., andSeattle, Wash., doesn’t shy away from sharing her background and,in fact, sees it as an important cultural benchmark of how timeshave changed.

“We need to know we’ve come a long way,” she told TheMissourian.

From the time she was a child in the second grade, Jance hadwanted to be a writer. It was reading Frank Baum’s “Wizard of Oz”series that hooked her.

When she was denied entrance to the writing program at theUniversity of Arizona, Jance opted to earn a degree in English andsecondary education. She went on to finish a master’s in educationin library science.

Jance taught high school English at Tucson’s Pueblo High Schooland then was a librarian at Indian Oasis School District in Sells,Ariz.

Writing was something she did on her own time, in private.

“Not being allowed in the writing program (at the University ofArizona) didn’t stop me from writing,” she stressed.

She wrote poetry as a way to work through some tough issues inher life, namely being married to an alcoholic. After the divorceshe began writing a book on those 1970 murders.

“It was on-the-job training program,” Jance commented. “In theprocess, I taught myself how to write.”

The book had its flaws, she admits. For starters, it was 1,200pages.

“Since I was never allowed in the creative writing classes, noone ever told me there were some things I needed to leave out,”Jance notes on her website, jajance.com.

But that first book showed Jance had a knack for writingmystery-thriller-suspense stories, and her editors encouraged herto write more crime fiction.

“Until Proven Guilty” was published in 1985, introducing thecharacter of Detective J.P. Beaumont. Jance has since written 20more “Beau” books, along with three other series — two followingdetectives Ali Reynolds and Joanna Brady and one more following theWalker family.

Jance, who is happily married to her second husband, no longerwrites poetry, not because she doesn’t like it, but mainly becauseshe just isn’t inspired to.

“It’s difficult to write poetry when you’re happy,” she said.“Who writes poems about being happy?”

Her fiction keeps her busy, too. Jance has been averaging abouttwo books a year for the last 10 years.

Ideas, Writing Process

Jance said she only ever works on writing one book at a time,but she is often promoting or doing editorial work on another bookat the same time.

She “has no idea” where her story lines come from, except thatshe looks for some interesting detail and expand on it.

“In one of my Joanna Brady books, I read in my alumni magazinethat the material used to inflate airbags was dangerous andunregulated . . . so I ended up writing about that.

“It has to be something that will hold my interest for sixmonths,” Jance said, noting that’s about how long it will take herto complete a book.

On her website, Jance said she also draws on her own experienceto add details to her stories.

“One of the wonderful things about being a writer is thateverything — even the bad stuff — is usable,” Jance writes on herwebsite. “The 18 years I spent while married to an alcoholic havehelped shape the experience and character of Detective J.P.Beaumont. My experiences as a single parent have gone into thebackground for Joanna Brady — including her first tentative stepstoward a new life after the devastation of losing her husband in‘Desert Heat.’

“And then there’s the evil creative writing professor in ‘Hourof the Hunter’ and ‘Kiss of the Bees,’ but that’s anotherstory.”

Jance writes her stories on a laptop computer, preferring towork where the mood strikes her rather than at a desk in atraditional office. One of her favorite places is the easy chair inher family room.

She has used a computer for writing her stories since 1983 whenshe purchased her first — an Eagle with a dual floppy-disk driveand 128 K of memory.

When it comes time to write, Jance said she starts with the factthat someone is dead and begins writing to figure out who did itand why.

“I never outline,” she stressed. “I hated it in sixth grade, andI never do it now.”

Even with more than 40 books to her name, Jance isn’t planningto wind down her writing career any time soon.

“My idol is P.D. James,” said Jance, who also pointed out,“We’re neighbors on the book shelves.”

Jance can still remember when she found out that her books hadearned the status of “New York Times Best Seller.”

It was with her fifth Joanna Brady book, and she and her husbandwere on a Rick Steves’ tour of France. At their hotel, she wasgiven a message to call home.

“I assumed something was wrong with the kids,” she said. “Butinstead it was my editor saying we had made the best-sellerlist.

“I had the hotel people buy champagne for everyone on thetour.”

Jance said that kind of achievement brings with it both a senseof confidence and pressure to maintain that level of work. Still,it’s wonderful, she exclaimed.

“It’s a measurement of how you’re doing at your job,” she said.“It’s a label everybody understands . . . it means you’re gettingthe job done.”

Jance said she takes pride in the support she receives fromfans, “going out to vote with their hard-earned money” to put heron the best-seller list.

And when they write to her, she writes back — not an assistantor her publisher.

“I don’t take my fans for granted,” said Jance. “When they writeto me, they hear from me. They deserve an answer from me, not somefaceless entity.”

One thing Jance likes to incorporate into her book signings, ifpossible, is having a percentage of the proceeds donated to acharity.

She has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars this way forcharities like the AAUW (American Association of University Women),Behind the Badge (a foundation to help police officers in Tucson,Ariz.), the Humane Society, American Cancer Society and GirlScouts, to name a few.

“It’s part of being a good citizen,” Jance said.