J. Hulse White is the only apprentice (past or present) who is native to Ohio. Some of our other apprentices came from exotic locales like Las Vegas and Florida, but Jenna is only a few hours from her old stomping grounds.

She left a solid job as a data analyst to pursue writing after she felt God nudge her to apply for the 2-year apprenticeship.

Introduce yourself:

Hi there! I’m J. Hulse White, a twenty-something Christian writer with a soft spot for over-the-top protagonists and sibling vibes. I love playing board games and taking long road trips (as long as I’m not driving). On any given day you will find me crafting, playing volleyball, baking, or lying on a dock somewhere because I’m spontaneous and probably have too much time on my hands.

Where are you originally from?

Cleveland, OH

What genres do you write?

Low Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Young Adult

Is there a core theme/message that inspires your writing?

Humility seems to be a core theme that creeps up again and again. Probably because God keeps teaching me more about it, like peeling back the layers on an onion.

Tell us about one of your favorite stories that you’ve written.

One of my favorite stories I’ve written was an Emma-ish romance of all things. I kinda wrote it as a commentary on the romance genre following two different girls.

The first is a prideful teenager who thinks her only skill is being socially adept (and is pretty touchy about it). So when her brother ignores her advice and has an arranged marriage with this “savage” foreign princess, and it seems to actually work for him, she pretty much has an identity crisis and makes it her goal in life to prove to him that his wife is crazy.

The second girl is the princess, who is trying to save her country by convincing her new husband to pull some strings. Only it’s a lot harder than she thought and she realizes that the gatekeeper to his decisions is the sister, who I remind you hates her.

The whole theme surrounding the story is that love is not self-serving. So the sister learns that her actions impact others and the wife learns that gaining someone’s love doesn’t mean that they give you everything you want.

What year of the program are you in?

First year.

What can you do now that you couldn’t when you started?

I have learned that descriptions matter. *cries* I’m a minimalist when it comes to description, but I’ve learned a lot about building the space in scenes. I see it everywhere now when I’m reading.

How do you think your new skills will impact your career?

I think learning what all goes into a writing career and how to market in this industry has helped set me up for success. There was a time in my life when I thought that I’d just sit on the couch and write and the right readers would find me eventually. Which is so incorrect. Learning how much being a writer takes and getting the chance to prove that I can make it work has been an invaluable experience.

One win I’ve had since starting the program was publishing my first story through The Pearl. That was really exciting. And then just setting up all of my social media and blog content was a real win because I’d been terrified of that for so long.

I think the biggest win though has been bolstered confidence in the Spirit. I’ve learned a lot about discerning His voice in this last year and it’s been fun to flip back through notebooks and see all the ways He’s worked.

Do you think you would make a good sea monster?

I want to say no, but unfortunately I think I’d be a very, very good sea monster. I can fly under the radar pretty well when I want to. So lurking in the background, waiting for the right moment to come out and scare somebody? Gaslighting that person into thinking that he’s crazy? Yeah…I’d have way too much fun with that.

What led you to apply?

I had a couple jobs before this. I started off in fast food at Panera and began refereeing volleyball on the side. I also coached off and on. At one point I had college during the day and coached volleyball every evening (and coaching doesn’t really pay) so I took a third shift job at a UPS warehouse loading the trucks. Great place to meet interesting people. Then when I graduated college, I took a job as a data analyst for a small company out in Mentor. I worked there for three years.

The Company had been on my radar for a while and I think God wanted me to apply long before I did. I knew I wanted to publish books, but I really wasn’t sure how. I figured I could polish up my structure and prose through online resources, trial and error, and eventually developmental edits, but I had no clue where to go from there.

I ultimately applied because I knew that I needed guidance to learn the business side of writing and because I really connected with the Company’s mission to produce good kingdom literature.

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Want to connect with J. Hulse?

J. Hulse writes weekly articles about laughing at life. Join her email list at JHulseWhite.com to be part of the fun! You can also read one of her short stories for free on The Pearl: https://pearlmag.co/the-ace/