Jerri Corgiat Gallagher

If you’re reading this as a fan of my books, thank you!

If you’re reading this because you’re thinking of using my editing services, please head to the Editing Services page where you’ll find a more factual recitation of my qualifications…

In either case, I’m happy you’re here!

It’s hard to know what you might want to know about me – if anything at all! I’m an ordinary sort, without prestigious degrees from Ivy League schools, or a life filled with living in exotic places, or a career anyone but the uninitiated could remotely call glamorous.

Contrary to some people’s beliefs, women writers don’t run around in tiaras and diaphanous gowns attended by a fawning staff while they dodge paparazzi. Except in our fantasies. Although I could dispense with the gown and tiara if I only had one fawning staff.

Nope, you’re more likely to see me sans make-up in blue jeans, either ensconsed behind my computer after a breakfast of oatmeal with walnuts and raisins (I'm a raisin addict. There's no such thing as too many raisins.) attempting to drive out thoughts that range from how many loads of dirty laundry are waiting in the next room to how many weeds have popped up in the garden. There's a downside to working at home.

I also wrestle with the certainty that if I don’t think of something to write pretty soon, my career will be over way before I can afford retirement.

I grew up only a few miles from where I currently live - a pleasant Midwestern suburb of a pleasant Midwestern city. I did get more than ten blocks away several times in my life. First, when I went off to the University of Kansas where I majored in journalism, then again when I couldn’t get a job in said journalism (not that I was so rotten at it, but it was recession time) and took the first job offered at a major tour and travel company (as a clerk typist – my parents were thrilled). This “temporary” step led to a twenty-year career in the travel industry. (Where I did ultimately use my degree in copious quantities of copywriting and document preparation.)

Working in travel is yet another totally unglamorous job – but it did provide me with opportunities to travel (cheap) to all parts of the U.S. and Europe, the Caribbean, and one foray into Egypt, a trip truly exotic when the sand flies weren’t nipping at my nose (arms, feet, and legs).

Along the way, I married and had a son, who is now, gulp, twenty (and in college and working and one of the best souls around!), and I divorced. I still believe in love, though. Good thing, since I've found a new one! I was married again in September to a wonderful man with a good heart and a whole lot of patience (I'm afraid I require it).

The last position I had in travel was managing a travel bookstore, and I’d likely still be there if it hadn’t met its demise with the upswing of the “big box” bookstores. But everything happens for a reason…

While I was floundering around (I was quite good at floundering) with that age-old question – What do I want to be when I grow up? – my then-husband urged me to write a book. I took his advice, and I did.

Not that the very first effort was any good, mind you, but I was hooked.

There’s nothing better than discovering your passion in life – unless it’s discovering there’s somebody out there who wants to pay you to do it!

That’s it in a nutshell. I’m asked a number of questions about my books, and writing. I’ve put some FAQs on my newsletter page. If you think of anything you’d like to know about me, or any aspect of writing - feel free to email me with your question(s) and I’ll answer as many as I can on my website in the future.

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FAQs

The three most frequent questions I get – or that people want to ask are:

Who is your agent?

Marcy Posner at Sterling Lord Literistic. See www.sll.com.

Who was your editor?

For the HOME series, it was the equally incomparable Claire Zion, Editorial Director, New American Library.

How much do you make?

Oh, c’mon.

Other questions...

How do you pronounce your name?

It's my ex-husband's surname - and his family pretty much went with: However you want!

Cor-zhay (what I use). But Cor-jee-ought... Cor-gate... Whatever you want!

(My last name is now Gallagher. Far, far easier.)

Will you continue to use Corgiat on your books?

For romances like my HOME series, yes. When I sell something outside that genre, I'll use Jerri Gallagher. But don't worry about getting confused - when that happens, I'll make sure it's all clarified on this site!


If you have a question, please email me, and I’ll do my best to answer either personally or here on my web site.