Hello! My name is Dawn Trowell Jones, and I’m an author of dark speculative fiction. My style leans toward literary. Atlanta is my home, where I live with my husband and two very talkative cats.
Right now I’m writing my third novel, which is shaping up to be more fantasy than sci-fi, not that that tells you much. At the time of this writing, I’m querying and pitching my second novel, I’m Your Goat, an adult literary sci-fi and paranormal blend, and I have a few shorter works out on submission as well.
Inspired by Dylan Thomas, T.S. Elliot, Arthur Rimbaud, Dorothy Parker, and many others, I began with poetry and was even fortunate enough to have been mentored by the late James Dickey towards the end of my undergraduate studies as an English major in the University of South Carolina’s Honors College. (I was originally a physics major; it seems so long ago!) I started to take more of an interest in short stories in my early twenties as a gateway to novels and in my late twenties flirted with the idea of developing a writing career. In the meantime, there were some adventures in France (Mulhouse), Belgium (Leuven), and California, and — should I mention this? — I had a brief dalliance with parapsychology. At U.S.C. my professors had encouraged me to keep writing both fiction and non-fiction, and it still moves me how much their support has meant to me over the years. Never underestimate the power of an educator! When I finally graduated, I’d completed a creative writing thesis titled “Laslo: Part I of A Relativist Work.” In addition to my English studies, I studied French as a minor, East Asian Studies as a potential minor (no formal program at the time, it would have eaten up all my electives), and went back to school for psychology with possibly enough credits for a cognate. I hope all that interests you.
Nevertheless, by the end of my twenties, what I needed most was financial security.
Computer programming seemed to be the thing to do — it felt daring and exciting, was interesting, something new, and to be honest, satisfyingly impersonal after so many years of waiting tables. But just as I was prepared to launch my new career as a computer programmer, Columbia’s largest tech employer laid off over three hundred experienced programmers, who were all then looking for jobs. There was no room for me. In 2000, I packed my cat and moved to Atlanta, hoping my employment prospects would improve. They didn’t much, but I met and fell in love with my husband, a software developer, and his three beautiful children. By the time I landed a job working with legacy systems at Georgia D.O.T. (not terribly exciting), I’d become pretty fed up with the whole idea, decided it was time to let go, and sought some other reasonable profession….
I became a lawyer, at 35. I snapped my fingers and just like that… No, I’m kidding. It took a minute. But like so many lawyers lured by the promise of earning a decent living through writing, I’d failed to ask, “Write what, exactly?” By the time the reality sank in, I was fully invested and had a nice job lined up. Stability, indeed! My husband and I moved to North Carolina and began living in and renovating a hundred-year-old cabin on the side of a mountain….
There may be a point where having an imagination doesn’t necessarily serve one well.
The Great Recession happened. It hit us hard. Last we saw of our cabin, wild goats had moved in.
It took a while to recover, but we did. No regrets. I’ve built my life into something I’m proud of, which is not always easy in this line of work. It takes a lot of patience and emotional stamina. I like where I am. I like these challenges. In fact, I’m a fairly optimistic person when push comes to shove.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my little bio. It was originally written about 9 years ago, when I first launched this website. Please forgive any awkwardness.
Thank you for coming by.
