I'm a writer of suspense, travel, romance, erotica, poetry, paranormal, and creative nonfiction. I'm also an award-winning painter, jeweler, and photographer.

As an adventure-seeking traveler, I've lived all over the United States and Mexico. Where I've lived, I've often been published and had my paintings and artwork shown there.

My debut novel Under the Umbrella of Paradise is being completed now. It's a fact-based-fiction suspense travel thriller set in Mexico during the first decade of the 2000s, and it tells the story of Roxanne McClane and her husband, Mac, two ex-pat RVers looking for paradise on their travels south of the border. When they find it, paradise quickly turns into something they never expected.

I was born in Central Utah and reared in the Mormon faith, but I left Mormonism behind after reading Gary Jenning’s book Aztec, having had the self-realization that “religions could be hypocritical and self-serving”.

Alongside my creative work, I made ends meet and helped raise my three children, by working in advertising; driving hay trucks; working for a printing company; working at a sugar factory; was a painter for a construction company; and was a clerk at the DMV for four years. I also owned and operated my own art gallery, and was a manager and salesperson for high-end clothing stores.

After a divorce, I returned to school as a later life student and got a degree in Fashion Merchandising from Iowa Central Community College (ICCC), where I was also the Secretary to the Director of Nursing Education. During my time as a returning student, I was nominated for the 'Who's Who in American Colleges', one of the top students out of 2,300 colleges. I also received honor society awards that same year.

My essays have won Wyoming Federation of Women’s Clubs (WFWC) and ICCC awards. I've written for newspapers in Iowa and Wyoming, and I wrote articles, created artwork and developed layouts for Lovell, Wyoming’s art festival. I was also the State Conservation Chairwoman for the WFWC.

My artwork has been shown and exhibited at art festivals in Wyoming, Texas, Iowa, Utah, and Mexico’s Mayan Riviera region, and it has received awards for paintings exhibited at art festivals and competitions in Escalante, Utah; Fort Dodge, Iowa; and Lovell, Wyoming.

I have two other novel manuscripts nearly finished: the paranormal psychological suspense novel Shadows of the Ripples, and a second suspense travel novel with an element of horror titled The RV Park. My husband, Jim, and I live halftime in both PaaMul, Mexico, and near Eugene, Oregon.

Learn more about me on my website www.jsharlandday.com. You can also find me on Twitter.

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