#WhatsYourStory Featuring Jennifer Goble

Jennifer Goble is a story writer. Note—not a storyteller, but, story writer. People tell their stories, and she writes them.

Data for her dissertation came from women stories about their family systems including a dad, mom, sisters, and no brothers.

Jennifer has a Ph.D. in Counseling Education from Colorado State University. Her career included teaching, school counseling, and twenty years as a therapist in private practice. Her primary dissertation research pertains to women raised with only sisters, no brothers. Married and the mother of three brag-worthy adults, and seven sweet grandchildren, Jennifer is happiest when life has order and kindness.

She has many stories about thirty years as a farm wife. and memories of renovating an Andrew Carnegie Library and restoring it to include her home, a three-room bed and breakfast, and counseling center.

Jennifer is grateful to be alive, healthy, and contributing.

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My Clients…My Teachers: The Noble Process of Psychotherapy

My Clients…My Teachers: The Noble Process of Psychotherapy, is her first book. It includes stories of her counseling client’s (permission given in writing, of course). Every story closes with what Jennifer, the counselor, learned.

Currently, she is writing stories as told by rural women. Each woman tells her personal non-guided story, and Jennifer writes their words and posts them on www.jennifergoble.com. It is a delightful project, and the best part is hearing what falls between love and loss while growing up in small towns or on farms.

It took retirement for Jennifer to exchange clinical terms for creative prose. She began a weekly newspaper column titled Mental Matters. It was one way to offer solutions without the calming ambiance of a counseling room.

Down to nuts and bolts, “Dr. Goble” is a skilled co-dependent. Get paid for writing? What? She writes for others benefit, not herself. Also, she is not a saleswoman. She accepted her lack of salesmanship when, as a young farm wife, couldn’t sell industrial hand-cleaner to her kind farmer uncle who had black grease from fingertips to elbow.

The good news, after six years of pro bono she does now get a penance for the column, and in January, with fearful apprehension, asked for a pay increase. Anxiety and doubt clouded her mind as she sent the email. She stared at the inbox and feared she would need to choose between status-quo or quitting. The response popped-up within five minutes and the editor asked if Jennifer could wait until the new budget year in July.  OMGoodness—she did it, she asked, and the ceiling didn’t collapse.  Now, she can fear July.

Ridiculous? YES.

She self-published, primarily because she lacked patience, thick skin, and time (she’s old) to jump-through-the-hoops of finding an agent. When an agent wrote, “Who would want to read stories like these?” she conceded; she didn’t have the tenacity to play the query/wait/deflate game.

When asked, “When is book two?” Her answer is, “Never. I didn’t think the first one was much fun.” She is proud of her book and especially enjoyed connecting with clients for their written permission. Once the yellow and orange book with an adorable stick figure on a green sticky note was in her hands, marketing gave her anxiety. Signings were fun but not profitable. Speaking gigs and bookclub invites reaped more sales, but Web and Amazon results were meager. The ledger ink is still red.

Jennifer has tried her hand at fiction, but real-life characters and plots seemed more enticing than those imagined. With the help of her critique group and listening to many fiction authors at book festivals, she finally got it: Parts and pieces of real people create fictional characters. J. A. Jance said, “With my characters, I get even.” Now, Jennifer feels a glimmer of excitement when flirting with some ‘novel’ thoughts.

Imagine a sixty or seventy something protagonist with decades of lessons learned and unlearned, financial fears, deceased parents and siblings, dreams of college, sexy husband or new lover, flaming hot bookclub, hormones for libido, and grandkids who tell her how to dress. Don’t women of all ages deserve relatable books giving credence to their earned wisdom? Wouldn’t they enjoy stories to remind them they aren’t dead yet?

Can you see a series?

They say, “Write what you know.”

You can follow Jennifer via her website, Facebook or Twitter.

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Where to Buy My Clients…My Teachers: The Noble Process of Psychotherapy

Amazon