EP 203: Interview with Authors and Educators Elizabeth and Nancy Jorgensen

Imelda Wei Ding Lo (a.k.a. Fortunus Games), the host of The Nuts and Bolts of Writing podcast, interviews two very special guests: authors and educators Elizabeth and Nancy Jorgensen, a writing and publishing mother-and-daughter duo.

Noting a lack of middle-grade and young adult books featuring female sports heroes, they collaborated with their Olympian sister and daughter to inspire the next generation. As a result, they co-authored Gwen Jorgensen: USA’s First Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete and Go, Gwen, Go: A Family's Journey to Olympic Gold.

As a brief introduction, Elizabeth Jorgensen is an award-winning high school language arts teacher and the author of Hacking Student Learning Habits (Times 10 Publications). Nancy Jorgensen is a retired choral music teacher and the author of two music education books.

Today, we’ll be talking about how Elizabeth and Nancy publish as a team. Imelda asked them the following questions:

1. Why do you think there is a lack of books on female athletes, and how did you feel about this as the family of a triathlon champion? 

2. Why do you think it is important to tell Gwen's story? How will her story impact the younger generations?

3. How did the collaboration between you work? What was the writing process like and how did you divide the workload?

4. How did you publish your book? How did you find your publisher? Did you find them online or in-person? How was the editing process like once you signed a contract with the publisher? How much freedom did you get to edit the book?

5. You’ve also written a book about Korean poetry, Sijo: Korea’s Poetry Form. 

1. What inspired you to write about sijo?

2. How was the writing and publishing process compared to the writing process for Gwen Jorgensen: USA’s First Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete? 

Get the Jorgensens’ books on Amazon:

• Go: Gwen, Go: A Family's Journey to Olympic Gold

• Gwen Jorgensen: USA's First Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete

• Sijo: Korea's Poetry Form (Parkyoung)

• Nancy’s choral education book: Things They Never Taught You in Choral Methods

Purchased signed copies of Gwen Jorgensen: USA’s First Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete: https://www.booksco.com/signed-copy-gwen-jorgensen

Free educator guide for Gwen Jorgensen: USA’s First Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete: https://download.m-m-sports.com/extras/GwenJorgensen/Teacher_Guide.pdf 

 The Jorgensens’ websites:

• Elizabeth’s website: https://lizjorgensen.weebly.com/

• Nancy’s website: https://nancyjorgensen.weebly.com/ 

• Gwen’s website: https://www.gwenjorgensen.com/ 

For author visits, email nancy.l.jorgensen@gmail.com or elizabeth.jorgensen@gmail.com  

Websites: lizjorgensen.weebly.com and nancyjorgensen.weebly.com

On Twitter: @LyzaJo and @NancyJorgensen

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