Jody Wallace is published in romance fiction under the names Jody Wallace and Ellie Marvel. She has always lived with cats, and they have always been mean. To learn more about Ms. Wallace, please visit www.jodywallace.com or the cat’s website, www.meankitty.com. You can also send an email to jwallace@meankitty.com.
Three Things People Don’t Know About Jody Wallace
1) My cat is world famous. I’m not kidding! Long before there were LOLCats and KittenWars, my cat, Meankitty, had a website that, in its heyday, was featured on the Art Bell Show and as a Yahoo Pick of the Day. As people’s attention spans have grown shorter (and you didn’t think it was possible!), Meankitty’s site has become less popular with the terminally hip but no less snarky and full of catty goodness. Or badness, as the case may be. We’ve had meankitty submissions from almost every continent and visitors from further away than that. Or so we suspect, because some of the email we get are weeeeeeeird. You can check the site out at www.meankitty.com
2) Once when I was 11 my parents nearly had to call the local Rescue Squad to save me from mortal peril. I 
grew up in rural Tennessee and my best friend and I liked to go hiking. We’d clamber up and down the mountain like monkeys, following various creeks until they reached the valley. One time my family’s big Collie dog, who had a bum leg, decided to go with us, and it wasn’t until we started trying to climb back UP the mountain we realized old Arlo was going to be a bit of an albatross. Took us and the gimp dog until almost midnight to reach the top, navigating bluffs, waterfalls, boulders, sinkholes and the like.
I was so grounded.
3) I have not always been a fiction writer. In fact, I have an MFA degree in poetry. Turns out it’s even harder to support yourself writing verse than it is writing romance, so that profession never really took off for me. I had this obsession with eating at least one meal a day, you see, and living under a roof that boasted electricity and indoor plumbing. Call me picky, call me high maintenance, call me a sell-out, just don’t call me a poet. (When I was actively writing poetry, nobody called me a poet then, either, which was probably more influential in my eventual change of career than the income issue.)
Thanks to Romance Novel TV and Samhain for this fun day!
Jody Wallace
Answer this question about A Spell for Susannah and you will be eligible to win the book! Why are there no noble men for the poor princesses in A Spell for Susannah to meet, much less marry?
Loading ...
Cathy in AK
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 4:02 pm:
Great post. It’s nice to learn a little more about you, Jody.
I’d answer the question about A Spell for Susannah, but I already have the book and think some other lucky person should read it.
Karen
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 4:05 pm:
Answer: the nobility have been fairy-cursed to bear no more male children
I’ve never met someone with a degree in poetry. That’s pretty interesting. I’m happy that you decided to go with romance writing, though. Poetry does seem to me like it would be a pretty tough gig to get into, or to be that one breakthrough poet that will indeed bring verse to us sorry, ill-informed masses.
Jody W.
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 4:17 pm:
Hey Cathy, fancy meeting you here!
Karen…poetry for the masses = song lyrics, maybe? But you can get some GREAT rejection letters from literary magazines. I got one once that was the size of an index card and had checkboxes — my box was “Not bad but not for us.” WHEW! Other boxes included “Too Hallmark”, “Unintentionally Funny”, “Devoid of Meaning”, etc.
Esri Rose
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 4:25 pm:
It’s true…you and Mean Kitty have been around a while!
OMG that’s a tremendous cover! The gals have no princes to marry because the nobility have been fairy cursed not to have male children. But I don’t see how it would put the country in chaos. Seems like it would be all polite and tidy under a reign of princesses. Oh, I see… You warn us about the “patriarchal hardheadedness.” Got it.
Buffie
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 4:37 pm:
Hey Judy! Welcome to RNTV!
Love the story about you climbing the mountain. It so reminded me of one my “wonderful” decisions as a teen — my best friend and I were in middle school and though for sure that we could be the bus to our neighborhood by walking the 8 miles home. After arriving way late and scaring our parents half to death, we too were grounded for some time. But we had a blast until we got to our neighborhood!
Buffie
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 4:37 pm:
Oops forgot to say that I love that cover!
K. Nelson
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 4:42 pm:
I once had a cat that butted a hole through a sheet rock wall with his head. No kidding! He was extremely determined to get back into the main house from the garage after we locked him in the garage to flea fog the house. What a knuckle head (pun intended).
Trivia answer: the nobilty has been cursed to bear no more male children….
Also, the Warning for this book is absolutely hilarious. Love the “hot to trot women”…LOL The cover is amazingly beautiful!!
Jody W.
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 4:47 pm:
Christine Clavel gets all the credit for that awesome cover. I said, “Something pretty with a chick on it…and she likes to wear red.” I was a HUGE help to poor Christine! She also did the cover for my second Samhain novel, Survival of the Fairest.
Sandie
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 4:57 pm:
That was a great interview Jody, and I’m not touching the part about you and poetry. LOL However, I would bet a huge percentage of people start in one field and end up in another.
Answer to your queation: Because she lives in a world where the nobility have been fairy-cursed to bear no more male children.
Sandie
Marisa
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 5:03 pm:
Hey Jody – so glad you could be here. I’m laughing so hard about the Local Rescue Squad having to save you from mortal peril.
It reminds me so much of me and my sister Maria, who much of the time went through life getting into all sorts of trouble, much to the dismay of our parents. I’m surprised they survived our formative years.
And yes, having been a modern dancer for 20 odd years, I totally get the whole, I’m high maintenance because I need a roof over my head and a working toilet.
I’m wondering, do you get the same creative satisfaction writing fiction as you did poetry?
Jody W.
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 5:13 pm:
Sandie–you probably CAN’T touch my poetry even if you wanted to because it is stuck so far under the upstairs guest bed…
Marisa–I get creative satisfaction, yes, but it takes a LOT longer to achieve! Poetry was harder to treat as a “business” than fiction, too. If you had nothing poetic to say, it was next to impossible to sit down and meet your wordcount goals for the day. “Today I must write…a STANZA! No, no, today I’ll really crank it out and produce…TWO stanzas!” And you sure as heck couldn’t sell a poem on proposal.
Heidi F
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 5:31 pm:
Answer – The princess Susannah and her sisters were cursed by fairies to bear no male children.
Your book sounds very interesting, and the cover is very cool. I always like to hear about the authors.
Rachel
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 6:23 pm:
Hi Jody, having a roof over your head sure beats being a starving poet. Glad you made the switch, because your book A Spell for Susannah sounds very interesting and the cover is very poetic. I also just checked out your mean kitty site and its too funny. I can’t believe the stories people have sent in and that they still have these cats as pets. Personally, cats scare me. I like to look at them from afar.
answer to your question is that the nobility has been cursed to bear no more male children – nice twist.
Karin
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 6:24 pm:
Jody, that check-box rejection card sounds interesting. I’ve had some former professors who have similar rejection stories. The only time I submitted any poetry was an absolutely horrid poem I wrote in high school and sent to the Library of Poetry, which seems to take anything.
That is a fabulous cover and I’m intrigued by the story, or what I’ve heard about it and the excerpt I read. The answer to the question is that there are no men for the princesses to meet, much less marry, because the nobility have been fairy-cursed to bear no more male children.
Kaisquared
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 6:54 pm:
Jody, I love your books and Mean Kitty.
Answer: The nobility in the land the princesses live in have been fairy-cursed to bear no more male children, so no local lads to dance with!
cyclops8
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 7:06 pm:
Hi Jody,
I love your gnomes. How long does it take you to knit one?
Answer: There are no noblemen because the nobility have been fairy-cursed to bear no more male children.
dd03
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 8:22 pm:
Hi! Love that cover!
answer: the nobility have been fairy-cursed to bear no more male children.
Fedora
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 8:45 pm:
Hi, Jody! I’m giggling over your mean kitties. It’s probably a good thing that we don’t have any ourselves
The reason for the lack of noblemen is that the fairies cursed the nobility so that they could bear no more male children. Oops.
Jody W.
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 9:00 pm:
Hey, Meankitty appreciates all the attention! But she always gets more attention than anyone else in the family…
Gnomes — takes me a couple hours to crochet one, then I have to let the paint dry for 24 hours when I paint on the mean eyebrows.
Erin
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 9:27 pm:
I love all your crazy cats, especially the really mean one on your business card. I’m happy to learn about your adventures as a child. So why are there no nobles? Who won?
Rae Ann
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 10:51 pm:
Hey, have you ever thought about putting poems in the fiction? Maybe just one at the beginning of each fairy tale. And maybe MeanKitty could help.
C.J. Redwine
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 10:58 pm:
Very entertaining post! (Because Mean Kitty scares me just a little, we’ll say he was my favorite part.) I don’t know the answer to your question but I’m going to guess that Mean Kitty got hungry and prefers to dine on noble men. =D
Lynda
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 11:12 pm:
Answer: There are no noblemen because the nobility have been fairy-cursed to bear no more male children.
Sounds like a neat book!
Judy B
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 11:34 pm:
Hey Jody, I found your meankitty website long before I join the chapter. What a hoot. I love cats-have two, but they’re both are so loving that they can be a nuisance at times. I only have one problem, my 80 pound dog hates cats. So, as you can imagine, there’s always a chasing game going on. Didn’t know you were a poet! great blog.
Jody W.
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 11:53 pm:
Thanks everyone for stopping by! The poster who has won the download is Kaisquared! Kai, if you will send your preferred email address to alphamail@romancenovel.tv they will get all the information to Angela on Friday.
DarleneW
on Feb 4th, 2009
@ 11:57 pm:
The men have been fairy cursed to be sterile…. no little nobilies boys being born
hope its not to late just got home from work
Kaisquared
on Feb 5th, 2009
@ 1:14 am:
Thank you so much for the book!
Marie-Nicole Ryan
on Feb 5th, 2009
@ 8:53 am:
I have had the honor of being interviewed by Meankitty. As a dog lover, let’s just say he didn’t appreciate my answers very much. Very funny post, Jody, but then you are a funny lady.
Monica M
on Feb 5th, 2009
@ 9:26 am:
I love your MeanKitty website! And I also love your book – A Spell for Susannah. I want your autograph. And Meankitty’s too. :~) I’ve been out to Samhain’s website and it makes me seriously want to buy an ebook reader. I’m missing out on some great stuff.
Angela Britnell
on Feb 5th, 2009
@ 10:25 am:
Didn’t know you were a closet poet! Love the book cover. And I’d better say I love your cat too or goodness knows what will happen to me!
pambook
on Feb 5th, 2009
@ 12:48 pm:
Congrats Kaisquared, enjoy it, I did.
Carolyn
on Feb 5th, 2009
@ 2:28 pm:
Had to laugh about your collie-up-the-mountain story. Aren’t collies (like Lassie) supposed to SAVE people when they’re trapped on the mountain? You know, run back into the Valley and bark until the sheriff says, “What’s that, girl? Jody and her friend are stuck on the mountain?!? Let’s go!”
No offense, but I guess your collie was lame in more ways than one!
Karin
on Feb 5th, 2009
@ 2:33 pm:
Congratulations, Kaisquared!
Missy Lyons
on Feb 5th, 2009
@ 5:35 pm:
Just wanted to share some love and stop by to say hi, but it looks like you have plenty of friends today.
I have talked a few family members into visiting your meankitty website, and I love to go back and visit often too.
Phyllis W.
on Feb 5th, 2009
@ 9:44 pm:
I didn’t know you were a poet!?!? Cool! Just wanted to pop over to say hi! So, hi!
Annie Solomon
on Feb 6th, 2009
@ 11:30 am:
As always, you entertain and make me laugh. What more could you want? I bet your poetry is as terrific as everything else you write. And despite the bad rap, I’ll bet you could still shop your poetry around AND keep writing it…in between books, that is. Poetry is having a resurgance, you know. No, not as a living wage thing, but as an art form. There’s even a poetry festival in New Jersey every year. And it’s a great creative spur… So I’m going against the grain and giving thumbs up to poetry. (Disclosure: my daughter is currently finishing up an MFA in poetry… She’s planning on becoming a teacher.)