Debut Local Author Jacqueline Reinig brings her dream to life

This article (1 of 2) appeared in the Harlan Newspaperaper last month, which I thought I would share as it gives some background behind me and the book. The picture at the bottom was taken in my Enchanted Forest the day I opened the box of books that finally arrived. I am off to QuillSnap this icey morning to see what trouble is brewing there!

Debut Local Author Jacqueline Reinig brings her dream to life

By Erin Goddard, Freelance Writer

Art can transport us to amazing destinations, near and far, both real and magical. For Jacqueline

Reinig, magic begins right in her own backyard. Nestled amongst the trees of her home in

Portsmouth, IA, Reinig has created an enchanted space filled with firefly lights, tinkling chimes,

faery doors, colorful toadstools, and whimsical decorations. With her artful storytelling, Reinig

brought her literary aspirations to life with the release of her debut book, Faery Academy of

QuillSnap: Night of the Purple Moon, a young adult (9- adult) fantasy fiction novel. Her

local book launch will be held Friday, November 15 at the Harlan Golf and Country Club from 5:30-

6:30pm.

From a young age, Reinig’s passion for reading and writing began with fond memories of a

bookmobile.

“Back in the day when I was kid, there was a bookmobile- a huge van with books in it that came

every Thursday to Portsmouth. People could get two books. You would bring your books back the next week

and get new ones. It was through that bookmobile that I did a lot of reading,” Reinig recalled.

Reinig now lives just east of the town where she grew up with her husband, Allan Reinig, who

runs a fourth-generation family farm. They have three children: Byron Borkowski, Dr. Erica

Reinig, and Jocelyn Squatrito. Alongside raising a family, Reinig enjoyed a career as a nurse,

working 40 years in the medical field, including 35 years at Myrtue Medical Clinic in Harlan.

Though the whirlwind of raising a family and her nursing career pushed writing off to the side,

her passion for stories overflowed into tales she would spin for her children, and later on,

grandchildren. Reinig tried her best to attend the Creative Writing Group at the Harlan

Community where for an hour a month, she would sit down to write.

In 1981, Allan and her late father-in-law, Tony Reinig, planted evergreen trees as a windbreak

on the homestead line. Reinig and her husband maintained the two rows of

trees over the years in a labor of love.

“Allan and I cut down the dead branches, creating a walkway down the center to walk from one end to

the other, and the Enchanted Forest was born,” she shared.

One day on a walk through the Enchanted Forest, her then four-year-old granddaughter,

Seraphina, asked if the forest had faeries.

“Of course, I said ‘yes,’ and an impromptu story was told,” Reinig recounted. “That moment

sparked a bedtime tradition filled with tales of faeries.”

Reinig’s grandchildren would jump out of the car upon their visits and race to the Enchanted

Forest to find messages or new creations left by the faeries. In the same space where her

grandchildren discovered the wonder, Reinig began capturing that magic on paper, writing down the

early chapters of a beloved story that blossomed alongside the Enchanted Forest. Here, Tansy

WaterSprite came to be—an adventurous “little” in a “Faery” Realm, who had to take risks and

overcome challenges in a world filled with magic and hidden secrets. Intentionally spelt “Faery,”

the distinguished difference is a crafted secret to be revealed in the book.

On Reinig’s 59th birthday, she retired from her nursing career, two years later her

husband gave her the gift of time and support to write the story that he believed she could do.

“The whole month of February 2023, he took over cleaning, cooking, laundry, the kitties. Everything

for thirty days, so I could finish the manuscript. And I did,” Reinig stated.

Reinig kept her writing to herself

choosing to share with only a few close friends. One of them, Christine Jones, encouraged her when Reinig talked about her search for an illustrator and suggested her granddaughter Haley Tech from Logan as a fitting artist for Reinig’s story.

After seeing Tech’s work——Reinig knew

she had found the perfect illustrator. Tech’s talent captured the essence of important scenes

throughout the novel as well as the whimsical world in the map she created of QuillSnap.

While some aspects of the writing journey fell into place, Reinig encountered numerous

obstacles, rewrites, and moments that demanded pure perseverance. Working with editors,

Reinig was required to switch in writing programs which forced her to retype the 90,000-word

manuscript to overcome formatting issues in the seemingly simple task of importing. She would

rewrite the story again after struggling with an editing company to even give her manuscript

back.

Despite the many challenges, on October 17, Reinig posted an author’s dream of the “unboxing”

of her first printed novel. Sitting in her Enchanted Forest where it all began, she held onto her

book- cover, magic, and all, in her hands. Reinig’s next life chapter has started with interviews

by local media, her first book signing at Market Street Gifts in Harlan where her book is on hand

for sale, a book launch coming at the Harlan Country Club, her book online on Barnes & Noble

and Amazon, an invite to the LA Times Book Festival in April, a Simon and Shuster event in

New York City, and more to come.

If not in magic, believe in the arts that can turn words into worlds of endless possibility. Reinig

and her gift of writing is a local inspiration for all of those under the grip of storytelling and the

happy ending of dreams made to come true.