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Shirley Jump
By Teri Brown
Each month, iParenting.com spotlights a mother who inspires and moves us, who embodies the qualities that we all admire in a person, a woman and a mother. Above all, the Mom of the Month is dedicated to her children. Rich or poor, famous or not, she shines as an example of what mothering is all about.
Shirley Jump, mother of two from Fort Wayne, Ind., is well known for her touching, humorous romantic comedies. A successful novelist with more than 20 romances under her belt since 2003, Jump's career was set – or so she thought. Then she rocked the romance world by selling a young adult horror series, written with her daughter, under the name AJ Whitten.
"I had had this idea for a long time," Jump says. "I love reading horror and had started writing it in between my romantic comedies, but I couldn't get the teen voice right. My daughter will tell you that I clearly don't speak teen. Nor can I rap or dance, or dress with any clue. So one day, I asked her to come along on a long ride for a book signing and I tossed out the idea of her working on the book with me, both helping me 'teen' it up and plot it. In those four hours in the car together we crafted a really cool tale and she had gotten super excited about the story. By the time we got home, she was writing down ideas left and right and working on the story every spare moment she had."
At one point in her career Jump was the breadwinner for the family and wrote almost 12 hours a day on both fiction and nonfiction to make ends meet. But her passion for motherhood and her children helped get the family through that time.
"Motherhood has enriched my writing," Jump says. "It's given me emotional depth, and allowed me to open my heart and soul to new areas that I never explored before. Motherhood makes you vulnerable. You are aware suddenly that the world is both a dark, awful place full of people who could hurt your children – and rip your heart to shreds in the process – and also wonderful, amazing moments that just touch you to the bottom of your soul. I know those moments have made it into my writing."
Many writing mothers shudder to think of writing with their offspring, but Jump and her daughter, Amanda, have yet to encounter any difficulties.
"So far, it's been really fun, overall," Jump says. "Working with my daughter isn't near as frustrating as I thought it might be. Getting her to do laundry – a whole other story! Getting her to work with me on this project has been fun."
Finding time around school and sports has been difficult, but their editor has been understanding and worked their deadline into summer break. The mother/daughter duo are figuring out a system that seems to be working for them.
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"Amanda gives me the bare bones ideas, and will write some scenes in rough draft," Jump says. "She does a lot of the plotting, and we do all the brainstorming together. I do the main writing, then she goes in and retools it to sound like 'teen' and reads and re-reads it to make sure it sounds young adult, is scary enough and works for her plot-wise. She knows that demographic way better than I do, so she's the final judge in that area."
Amanda has found a whole new outlet for her creativity. "Honestly, I never thought about writing as a career for me," says Amanda Jump. "It just kind of popped up. My mom was like, 'Hey, do you want to write a book with me?' and I was like 'Yeah, why not?' It has turned out to be a great experience for me, though. It really teaches me a lot about how writing works. It is pretty fun because we're both really creative and we come up with really wild stuff."
Often, when a parent works with her child, she comes to understand the child in a whole new way. For Jump, this has only deepened her love and appreciation for her daughter.
"She has always had a tender heart," Jump says. "She's the first to root for the underdog, to include the kid who is being left out, to reach out to the child who is disabled or different. She is an empathetic child, who embraces all kids and has tons of friends, of all backgrounds. She is highly creative and brings that creative, loving soul to everything she does. And I love that she and I can joke and kid around like best friends, and at the end of the day, always end even the worst disagreements with a hug. She's my heart – and I couldn't imagine life without her."
The biggest challenge for 14-year-old Amanda has been doing the work, but like her mom she has a newfound appreciation for their relationship.
"What I appreciate most about my mom is how forgiving she is," she says. "No matter how mad she gets at me, we're always joking about stuff later. I'm really lucky that she doesn't hold grudges with me or she wouldn't be talking to me ever!"
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