{"id":10611,"date":"2022-10-27T15:38:11","date_gmt":"2022-10-27T19:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/?page_id=10611"},"modified":"2025-11-07T15:28:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T20:28:44","slug":"carolyn-jack","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/carolyn-jack\/","title":{"rendered":"Carolyn Jack"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I grew up knowing two languages: English and music. Speaking was architecture, complex and logical, a building-up of words that let me describe what I thought. Singing was a sluice gate that simply fell open to release what I felt. At some point during those early years in northern New Jersey, amid the crosscurrents churning through our split-level house \u2013 classical music and art, TV westerns, family arguments, show tunes, rock-and-roll and books, endless books, endless talk of books \u2013 those two tongues merged into a lingua franca for me, one that gave me a way of dealing with myself and the world. Writing became my key to everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So from age six, I wrote everything: Arbor Day speeches, puppet-show scripts, song parodies and talent-show sketches, making up tunes or singing them for anything that needed a score. I joined school choruses and theater groups, memorizing lyrics and lines. I wrote lots of poetry when I was nine and read it out loud to my family when they were captive on car trips. I penned my first book when I was 11, a collection of sardonic, grade-school observations modeled on the shtick of Alan King. And, yes, damn it, I still think it\u2019s funny. By high school, it was clear where I was headed with this, especially to anyone who saw my math grades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was going to be an author. Possibly a singing author. But first, I became a journalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recruited by an alternative newspaper at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where I was majoring in English, I began reviewing all those kinds of shows I used to like to create and be in. After a first professional job with a desktop publishing firm in Chicago that produced the program books for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the city\u2019s pro sports teams, I went back to Carolina to get a masters in journalism. I spent summers as a press intern for the American Dance Festival and as a fellow at the Eugene O\u2019Neill Theater Center\u2019s National Critic Institute before, degree and clips in hand, becoming the theater critic of The Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, Fla. There, and later at the Fort Lauderdale (now South Florida) Sun Sentinel and The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio, I covered arts events and issues as critic, columnist, reporter and editor, ending up with first-place awards for writing or editing from the Florida Press Club, the statewide Cleveland Press Club and the Ohio Society for Professional Journalists. A seven-part series I wrote for The Plain Dealer on creativity won the Mensa Foundation\u2019s 2006 Press Award for writing on human intelligence.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the middle of all the deadlines and the demands of raising two children with my husband, I kept trying to find creative outlets. I sang with the Evanston Classic Chorale, the Masterworks Chorus of the Palm Beaches and spent a decade in the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, taking part in the Grammy-winning recording of Berlioz\u2019s Tristia, Op. 18, under the baton of Pierre Boulez, touring Britain twice and performing such pieces as the Mahler Eighth Symphony and Beethoven\u2019s Ninth at Carnegie Hall . I also had three plays workshopped, The Moon Plays<\/em> at Florida Repertory Theatre\u2019s Second Stage and Critical Moments<\/em> and Kronos<\/em> in Cleveland Public Theatre\u2019s play-development programs. I started a novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the print journalism industry disintegrating, I decided to take a buyout and became an entrepreneur; with exquisite timing, I started my own online media business, Geniocity.com, just as the mortgage crisis was torpedoing the economy. I wrote a sardonic little film called Wall of Fame<\/em> that opened the 2009 Ohio Independent Film Festival. I briefly joined an Akron-based rock band called Karmic Dogma, writing and lead-singing all the lyrics for the album, Insomniacs in the Bed of Faith<\/em>. Here and there, I kept working on the novel. After years of writing about artists, I wanted to be one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this mishmash of experiments didn\u2019t seem to be taking me anywhere. By 2014, my husband and I knew we had to make a change. Our children were grown, our professional lives were sputtering and we wanted something new. Seriously new. And through some near-Dickensian coincidence, we found it: On one remarkable weekend that April, my husband was offered a new job in the New York area and I was admitted to Columbia University\u2019s MFA fiction program. So after 22 years in one place, we skipped out \u2013 almost literally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since earning the MFA, I\u2019ve had some luck with short fiction, winning The Westchester Review\u2019s flash-fiction contest while publishing stories in such reviews as New York\u2019s Pen + Brush in Print, Blue Mountain Review and Literary Matters. But my novel, The Changing of Keys,<\/em> turned out to be the experiment that worked: The first chapter won the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics and Writers\u2019 2016 Meringoff Prize for Fiction, and Regal House brought the book out in fall 2024. And now Regal is publishing my madcap second novel, Orgy at the Big House<\/em>, in fall 2027. For me, that\u2019s a happy change of tune, indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I grew up knowing two languages: English and music. Speaking was architecture, complex and logical, a building-up of words that let me describe what I thought. Singing was a sluice gate that simply fell open to release what I felt. At some point during those early years in northern New Jersey, amid the crosscurrents churning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-10611","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9DpGh-2L9","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9482,"url":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/al-sirois\/","url_meta":{"origin":10611,"position":0},"title":"Al Sirois","author":"Jaynie","date":"May 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I was born and raised in Connecticut, on the shore of Long Island Sound, in the 1950s. As a child I spent a lot of time at the beach, even in cold weather. Both my parents were readers, so I picked up the habit early. Because there was an old\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/al2bw.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/al2bw.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/al2bw.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/al2bw.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11928,"url":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/jen-doktorski\/","url_meta":{"origin":10611,"position":1},"title":"Jen Doktorski","author":"Jaynie","date":"November 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Winner of the 2022 Acheven Book Award Jen grew up in New Jersey (save the jokes, 9 million people can\u2019t be wrong!), where Sundays were all about reading the comics aloud to anyone who would listen, much to the chagrin of her parents and younger sister, and gathering for early\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0058bw-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0058bw-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0058bw-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0058bw-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0058bw-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0058bw-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4008,"url":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/jerry-mikoranda\/","url_meta":{"origin":10611,"position":2},"title":"Jerry Mikorenda","author":"Jaynie","date":"September 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve always had an affinity for the sea. Maybe it\u2019s because I was born in Brooklyn\u2019s Norwegian Hospital that started out caring for indigent immigrants and old sailors. This area, once known as Yellow Hook, is now Bay Ridge. Old timers said it was a short walk to the old\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Jerry Mikorenda","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/JM-BIO-e1570020465756.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/JM-BIO-e1570020465756.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/JM-BIO-e1570020465756.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/JM-BIO-e1570020465756.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":592,"url":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/marcia-strykowski\/","url_meta":{"origin":10611,"position":3},"title":"Marcia Strykowski","author":"Jaynie","date":"August 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Marcia was born and raised in New England and still lives there today. Although she loves to travel, she finds it hard to imagine living anywhere else but within a short distance to the ocean. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Northeastern University and then worked for\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Marcia Strykowski, Fitzroy Books author","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Marcia-Strykowski-Regal-Website-229x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2015,"url":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/eric-rawson\/","url_meta":{"origin":10611,"position":4},"title":"Eric Rawson","author":"Jaynie","date":"September 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was a sophomore in college I read two books that made me want to live better:\u00a0 Derek Walcott\u2019s The Star-Apple Kingdom and The Complete Stories of Flannery O\u2019Connor. \u00a0These authors knocked me out. \u00a0The writing, idiosyncratic and rooted in the local, pushed to the edge of excess but\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Regal House Publishing author Eric Sean Rawson","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Slim-1-276x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7370,"url":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/stephanie-cowell\/","url_meta":{"origin":10611,"position":5},"title":"Stephanie Cowell","author":"Jaynie","date":"April 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Born in New York City to a painter and a well-known fashion artist, Stephanie began scribbling stories as soon as she could write and later, on adolescent sleepover weekends with her friends, shared them. By age twenty she had twice won the national Seventeen award for short stories. But she\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/photo-of-Stephanie-by-Jessebw.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/photo-of-Stephanie-by-Jessebw.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/photo-of-Stephanie-by-Jessebw.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/photo-of-Stephanie-by-Jessebw.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/photo-of-Stephanie-by-Jessebw.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10611"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14461,"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10611\/revisions\/14461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}