Meet Justine Allen Cowan

Please tell us about your current line of work and how you got started in it.

I am currently employed as a Technical Writer and Editor on a government contractor for the Department of Defense. It's great because I work remotely from home. I do my creative writing at night, especially when I attend my writer's group meetings on Thursday nights. It's called "Shut Up and Write", and we sit in silence as the title says and work intently on our own projects. I received an award for my script entitled A Grunt's Tale from Writer's Digest (#80 out of 100 in the script writing category with over 7,000 entries in all categories).

Do you have any mentors or sources of inspiration?

My writing teacher in college, Mrs.Barbara Mallonee, was a big inspiration to me. I am still in touch with her and have sent her copies of my last two books.

What parts of your work do you enjoy most? Why?

I enjoy writing and researching my first draft (although you won't hear too many writers say that!). It is interesting to create characters and worlds and see where everything takes you. It's not always where you think you are going to go when you start writing a project.

What are your favorite things to do when you have free time?

I sing with the Rockville Chorus, take yoga, and love to sing karaoke at open mikes in the area. I also support many great local bands.

Are there any dream projects you'd like to pursue?

My dream projects would be to create a musical based on my "Bongo the Boonie Dog" children's books and also to create an audiobook of my novel The Bee Catchers. I would need at least four actors to do this, though.

How can we learn more about you?

I am on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/justine.cowan.7)and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/justine-cowan-86a830205/).

You can learn more about my novel The Bee Catchers at https://www.thebeecatchers.com/