Local author releases romance novel set in Green Bay

Local author Jenna Laurie is set to launch her sixth book this weekend, a romance novel set right here in Green Bay with a football theme.

8-3-1 in the Tundra will officially be released this Saturday, April 26, at a book launch and signing event hosted at Soul Purpose from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Although this is Laurie’s sixth release, it is her first novel to be set locally.

“The first five are not set in Wisconsin…” Laurie said. “I wrote books set in New York City to begin with, I think because I always wanted to go there. It was a big city and a good, fun place to put my main character. I always wanted to write about places that I didn’t live.”

For Laurie, writing has served as an escape in times of stress.

“I started writing as an outlet because I was very stressed out at work and I needed some kind of creative outlet. I’ve always done creative writing in the past — I did it in high school and I’ve done poetry on the side as well — so I just started writing one story at a time. I was at a difficult point in my relationship, too, and I almost created the world that I wanted to live in instead, with things that I could control.”

When she first began writing ten years ago, Laurie said she never expected people to actually read her work, although now she looks forward to hearing feedback from her readers and learning how they’ve been able to connect with her work.

“I never really anticipated anybody reading it,” Laurie said. “I was talking to a friend about how I started writing a story and then it turned into, ‘Well I want to read it,’ and then the next person was like, ‘I want to read it, too.’ So I decided to self-publish it through Amazon and what was intended to be one book became a very long story that turned into three books and I had a handful of people who absolutely loved my writing and wanted to know when I was going to write my next one and it just kept going from there… I always try to make my characters a little more relatable to the general public. And the feedback I’ve always received and that I’ve absolutely loved is people saying, ‘Oh my god, that took me back to my college years or my first heartbreak or the feeling I felt when I met this person.’ I really love when people can relate to the stories.”

And local readers should be especially able to relate to 8-3-1 in the Tundra.
“With this book being set in Green Bay, I actually walk my characters through the city,” Laurie said. “I thought it would be fun for people to live here to be like, ‘Oh, I know where that is’ or ‘I’ve been there.’ It creates a new personal connection for them.”

With 8-3-1 in the Tundra ready to hit the shelves this weekend, Laurie said she has no intention of slowing down when it comes to writing with another book already set to release in July and several others in the works.

“I have lots of stories in progress,” Laurie said. “I have this release in April, the next one in July and I have probably four more interconnected stories in progress that are going to go with it — I have no intention of stopping… Other than that, I’m just trying to find new readers and to share my love of writing and storytelling with them. This was never something where I wanted to be a New York bestseller… I just want to connect with people and give them a story that they can relate to and love.”

Learn more about 8-3-1 in the Tundra and Laurie’s other works at authorjennalaurie.weebly.com.