Author To Watch: Jeanine Kitchel, Author of Wheels Up: A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival

Jeanine Kitchel, a former journalist, escaped her hectic nine-to-five life in San Francisco, bought land, and built a house in a fishing village on the Mexican Caribbean coast. Shortly after settling in she opened a bookstore. By this time she had become a serious Mayaphile and her love of the Maya culture led her and her husband to nearby pyramid sites throughout southern Mexico and farther away to sites in Central America. In the bookstore she entertained a steady stream of customers with their own Maya tales to tell—from archeologists and explorers to tour guides and local experts. At the request of  a publisher friend, she began writing travel articles about her adopted homeland for websites and newspapers. Her travel memoir, Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya, and Maya 2012 Revealed: Demystifying the Prophecy, are available on Amazon. She has since branched into writing fiction and her debut novel, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival, launched May 2018.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK (Personal) | FACEBOOK (Page)

Layla always wanted to run the family business. But is she willing to kill for it?

When her notorious drug lord uncle is recaptured, Layla Navarro catapults to the top of Mexico’s most powerful cartel. Groomed as his successor, Layla knows where the bodies are buried. But not all the enemies. She strikes her first deal to prove her mettle by accepting an offer to move two tons of cocaine from Colombia to Cancun by jet. Things go sideways during a stopover in Guatemala whe Layla unexpectedly uncovers a human trafficking ring. Plagued by self-doubt, she must fight off gangsters, outsmart corrupt officials, and navigate the minefield of Mexican machismo. Even worse, she realizes she’s become a target for every rival cartel seeking to undermine her new standing. From her lush base in the tropics, she’s determined to retain her dominant position in Mexico’s criminal world. If she can stay alive.

ORDER YOUR COPY:

Amazon

We welcome you to My Bookish Pleasures! Can you tell us how you got started writing fiction?

Hello, and thank you for this interview. After I moved to Mexico in the late 90s, I started writing travel articles about Mexico when a website publisher walked into my bookstore in Puerto Morelos (south of Cancun) and asked if I would do so. As a former journalist, non-fiction was not a chore and the area I was in—the Yucatan Peninsula with its pyramids, beaches, jungles—was so beautiful it was easy to write about. I wrote two non-fiction books, and since then I began thinking I could reach a wider audience by writing fiction and still take on some big ticket issues. That was the beginning of my fiction writing, with my debut novel, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival.

Describe your writing process. Do you plot or write by the seat of your pants? When and where do you write?

On Wheels Up, I was a “pantser” as writing instructors say. I had an incredible story to tell about the Mexico cartels and how their creeping dominance has overtaken a country, and knowing little else about writing fiction, I just started typing. Now, with the second book in the trilogy, Layla’s Law which comes out late 2019, I am a plotter. The new idea came to me, and it made more sense to plot the story out. I write a bit in the early morning at my desk now, but my favorite time to write is between 2 and 6 pm. For some reason afternoons are my best time.

Can you tell us about your most recent release?

Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival, tells the tale of my Latina protagonist Layla Navarro, who catapults to the top of Mexico’s most powerful cartel when her notorious drug lord uncle is recaptured. Groomed as his successor, she knows where the bodies are buried, but not all the enemies. Since she’s light on “on the job” experience, she steps into a cocaine deal that’s moving two tons of cocaine from Colombia to Cancun. Things go sideways in Guatemala when Layla unexpectedly uncovers a human trafficking ring. Plagued by self-doubt, she must fight off gangsters, outsmart corrupt officials, and navigate the minefield of Mexican machismo. She’s also become a target for every rival cartel seeking to undermine her new standing. Her struggle is to survive.

Of all your characters, which one is your favorite? Why?

Layla Navarro, my Latina protagonist, is a strong-willed, competitive young woman thrown into an impossible situation when her drug lord uncle places her in the driver’s seat of Mexico’s most powerful cartel. As former cartel accountant, Layla sat behind a desk for years and calculated profits until her uncle was put behind bars. A far cry from running a cartel. When her older brother, the true successor to her uncle’s dynasty, dies in an ambush, the job falls to her. Since she’s next in line, she rises to the occasion. In Mexico, women have no power, so I thought it would be interesting to give this woman all the power, to see how she handles it. She has doubts of course, and her own personal demons, but she also has steely nerve and she’s hell bent on finishing what she starts. She’s a nuanced, complicated person, even sympathetic at times, in spite of her profession.

What was the most challenging aspect of writing your book?

Figuring out the first four chapters and how to keep up the thriller pace. Because I’m writing about several characters and cartel operations, at first I found it daunting to not explain how every character got to where they currently are in the book. I put the question to my writers group and my BETA readers. Finally I had my ‘aha’ moment when I hired an editor. She knew just what I should do, and I followed her lead. I promptly cut thousands of words, even two chapters, and the book reads fast I’m told. I’ve saved all those take-aways and a prequel, Before Wheels Up, comes out this fall, with all the back story I so much wanted to tell my readers.

What projects are you currently working on?

Wheels Up is a trilogy, and the second book, Layla’s Law, will be out in 2019.

What advice would you offer to new or aspiring fiction authors?

Press on! Writing is a full time job, even if you’re already working a full time job! Carve out a daily schedule, even if it’s just 30 minutes, and put words on paper. Writing begets writing. The muse only shows up if you do!