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A Passion for
Writing...
Jonna
has been a writer since her teenage years at Westside Junior
High and Frayser High
School in Memphis, Tennessee. She began her first novel, The
Other Side of Time, while attending the University of
Memphis. She finished the manuscript after moving to Denver,
where
it ranked in the top ten percent in a National Writer's
Association Novel Contest, as a
semi-finalist in the Amazon
Breakthrough Novel Awards contest that was held in conjunction
with Penguin Books, and as a
Finalist in the Romance Junkies Writing Contest.
The Other Side of Time will be available in
December 2008 or January 2009 from Amazon.com.
While living in Memphis, Jonna wrote motivational articles for Positive
Living Magazine and motivational radio scripts for Art
Linkletter’s The ART
of Positive Thinking. |
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In 1992, Jonna and her husband, Bill Rathbun, a FedEx pilot, moved to
Denver and made it their home.
They now live in a small town on the northern edge of the
Palmer Divide with their golden retriever, Shiloh.
In 1995, Jonna won first place in the Highlands Ranch
Register/Littleton Independent newspapers short story
competition for "Sabrina." She
wrote her second novel, The
Desk, (AuthorHouse, 2002) while completing her English degree at Regis University in
Denver where she graduated summa cum laude.
In 2002, she wrote a book of
short stories, Stories from the Heart, and feature articles for Buy
Colorado newspaper.
In 2003, Jonna
completed her third novel, New Pictures of an Old Murder,
a Highlands Ranch Mystery,
which won the Adult Fiction Manuscript Award at the DreamMaker
Workshop in August 2003. The novel was released in September 2005 by
Publish America.
One of Jonna's
essays, "The Clean Smell of Dirt," appeared in the
May 2004 issue of Southern Scribe e-magazine in the
Porch Tales section (southernscribe.com).
Her short story, "Alice and Sarah, Parts One and Two," set in 1958 and present day
Memphis, appeared in the spring 2005 and summer issues of Miss
Kitty's Journal:
http://www.misskittysjournal.com/.
Copies of the magazine are available from the publisher at:
Misskittyjournal@aol.com.
In September 2005, YourHub.com (Denver Post) interviewed Jonna
for their online and print issues.
In November 2005, Jonna began
writing a bi-weekly column on writing for YourHub.com online and
Thursday editions of The Denver Post and Rocky
Mountain News. She also interviews authors and other
interesting people in the Denver area for YourHub.com.
In February 2006, Jonna was
interviewed on Denver's NBC-affiliate KUSA-TV's Colorado &
Company. She was introduced as a 'Hot New Author.' In
April 2006, Jonna was also interviewed on Memphis's
CBS-affiliate WREG-TV's Live at 9 and introduced as 'a
southern girl who has done well returning to her roots.'
In June 2008, Jonna began a column
in YourHub.com entitled 'Angel Encounters.' She offered one of
her 'angel encounters' as the first post. She encourages readers
to e-mail their encounters to her to post and share with other
readers. All of her columns can be read at: http://denver.yourhub.com/Administrative/Search.aspx
then enter Jonna Turner.
In November 2008, Jonna is
finalizing edits to The Other Side of Time, which will be
published by Amazon.com within the next couple of months. Check
back for updates or click on e-list
to be notified when the book is available.
Next, Jonna
will finalize edits to a pre-teen mystery/fantasy novel,
Shiloh and the Cave, set in
Franktown, Colorado. She recently visited the Pacific Northwest
for material for the sequel to The Desk,
tentatively titled The Search for Alan. Then she will
working on the
second book in the Highlands
Ranch Mystery Series that will be set in Silverton, Colorado
and a spiritual novel entitled Be Still and Know God.
Contact
Jonna for more information about her books. She is available to speak to your group or book club.
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Jonna, introduced as "A Hot New
Author,"
interviewed by Laura Thornquist
on Colorado & Company, NBC-TV Denver
February 15, 2006
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Jonna with Dreux "Bobcat" DeMack,
Executive Producer of
Colorado & Company
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