Growing Up In Detroit

I want to introduce myself, I’m Janae Marie. A woman born in Michigan…grew up in Detroit. The city of Hitsville, Motown, GM, Better Made, The Tigers, The Pistons and so much more! I grew up in a single parent household. Before you write me off. I believe that I did pretty well for myself. But more about that later.

I didn’t come from money. In fact, we often struggled while I was growing up. Sadly, I remember walking a mile to the grocery store. Yes, that actually happened. While it sucked at the time, it certainly made me a much stronger person. Man, adversity truly does build character.

School Years

Let’s fast forward to school. So, from elementary to high school I often was on the tail end of bullying. This made me…I’d say kind of insecure and a bit worrisome of my looks. You know how school children can be. Everything was such a huge issue…your hair, your clothes, your shoes. Given the fact that I didn’t come from a financially stable household. I didn’t have the latest name brand fashions. This made my time at school kind of gruesome. There is always a silver lining though. I spent a lot of time indoors. Where my mother lacked in finances she made up with my education.

Learning Myself

I read LOTS of books!! I mean like Goosebumps, The Baby-Sitters Club, and many others. Then I transitioned into writing poetry. I didn’t have a lot of friends because the area where I grew up wasn’t the best. You may hear a gun shot or two. See a dirty drug needle on the ground. A few homes that became victims of arson. Yeah, it was a rough neighborhood. So, to counteract that I spent a lot of time writing stories. As a teen I spent a lot of time at the library. Lame I know. Sound the nerd alert, right! Ha-ha!

A Turning Point

This is when I found a love for urban fiction. I spent time reading books from, Sister Souljah, Teri Woods, Omar Tyree, Shannon Holmes, and many others. It became my escape. My escape to get away from the world around me. I fell in love with reading stories. I knew that I wanted an opportunity to see my stories published. Reading those stories from African-American authors inspired me to create my own titles.

Once I got to Wayne State University, I’d often walk to Barnes & Noble in between classes while living on campus. I became enamored with imagining my name being on the shelves.

My Accomplishments

I did just that…I published my first, Flirting with Temptations in the year 2012 at age 25. Two other titles came after. Daddy’s Home and Double Take. I told myself that I wanted to just publish one book before the age of 30. I did three. Completely proud of myself. I had my Bachelor’s Degree in Media Arts and gave birth to a new little girl (who is now 10 years of age now!).

Now, living in California, here came two more books! Besties, and Sleeping with the Enemy. I wrote my last book during a difficult time in my life. Well, not to difficult but was dealing with a pretty crappy relationship that had me down in the dumps for a while. It took me almost five years to publish Sleeping with The Enemy. Hard to believe I had writer’s block for approximately two years. But it wasn’t until I pulled myself away from that toxic on-again-off-again relationship that I grounded the emotions of my heart and mind enough to flesh out characters in a story.

Lessons On Life

I think that’s what makes the best writers. The ones who can take a tragedy and turn it into something positive. Such as, abuse, mental illness, addictions…things that become taboo in our society. You know the things that no one wants to discuss or talk about. We can’t always sweep things under the rug. We must speak about the dark things that plague us. If that is the only way to ever release them.

Find out more about me and my journey at janaemariebooks.com