Hello! My name is Dawn Trowell Jones, and I’m an author of literary speculative fiction. Atlanta is my home, where I live with my husband and two very talkative cats.
I’m currently working on my third novel-length manuscript while querying and pitching my second, Fertility: I’m Your Goat, an adult literary sci-fi and surrealist blend. I have shorter works out on submission as well.
I began writing poetry at a young age, and essays, winning some prizes. In college, I had poems published in the university literary magazine, The Portfolio, and was nominated for and won the Senior Essay Contest hosted by the English Department. I was fortunate enough to be mentored by James Dickey while writing my creative writing thesis, at the end of my undergraduate studies as an English major in the University of South Carolina’s Honors College. (I entered as a physics major, which amuses me to this day.) I began writing short stories as a gateway to novels, and in my late twenties, after Dickey’s encouragement, flirted with developing a writing career. In the meantime, I’d exchanged to France, lived in Belgium (Flanders) for a few months, moved to California, and — should I even mention this? — had a dalliance with the study of parapsychology. At U.S.C. my professors encouraged me to keep writing both fiction and non-fiction. When I graduated, I’d completed a creative writing thesis, a work of fiction titled “Laslo: Part I of A Relativist Work.” In addition to English Lit and French, there were courses focusing on East Asian culture (including Mandarin Chinese) and German Literature (only one language course in German), and I went back to school for psychology finishing, I believe, with enough credits for a cognate. I hope all that interests you.
By the end of my twenties, computer programming seemed to be the thing to do — it felt daring and exciting, was something new, and to be honest, working with logic was pretty satisfying after so many years in the service industry (and as an administrative assistant in a psychologists’ office). In 2000, I packed my cat and moved to Atlanta, hoping my employment prospects would improve. They didn’t much, but I met my future husband, a software developer, and his three beautiful children. By the time I landed a coding job working with legacy systems (not terribly exciting), I’d become pretty fed up with the whole idea, and decided it was time to seek some other reasonable profession.
I decided to become a lawyer. I snapped my fingers and just like that… Just kidding. The process took a minute. But like so many lawyers lured by the promise of earning a living through writing, I failed to ask, “Write what, exactly?” How silly of me. I was fully invested, though, and had a good job lined up. Stability, indeed. My husband and I moved to Western North Carolina, where I practiced law, and began renovating a hundred-year-old cabin on the side of a mountain on the border of gorgeous Pisgah National Forest.
There may be a point where having an imagination doesn’t serve one well.
The Great Recession happened. The last we saw of our cabin, wild goats had moved in.
It took a while to recover, but we have. No regrets. I now spend most of my time on my writing and work as a professional tax preparer during tax season. Preparing tax returns is like solving moving puzzles, a perfect “day job” for a writer.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my little bio. Please forgive any awkwardness.
