Jeannie Zokan: A Writer's Cup: March 2026

Monday, March 2, 2026

Staying Encouraged

I'm thrilled to announce that just this morning, Red Adept Publishing offered me a contract for my third book! It's working title is Stay Encouraged, and I'm very excited to share it with the world!

It may take a minute - book publishing usually does. RAP offered me a contract for The Existence of Pity in November of 2015 and it was published in November of 2016. I started writing it in 2010. I started writing Courage Without Grace in 2012 and the contract came in March of 2020. It was published in March of 2021. I started working on this one in 2017, and I'm staying encouraged it'll be published around March of 2027!

This contemporary women's fiction, with the usual new age twist, follows Josie, now the mother of adult daughters, on a trip with her Aunt Rosie to meet the daughter she gave up many years before. It will go through two rounds of edits, one for content and one for line edits, and as you can see by the photo, I've already jumped back in to edit the manuscript myself! It's never perfect, only better.

Thanks so much to Lynn McNamee and the staff at Red Adept, and to editor and reader Diane Skelton, who reminded me often to stay encouraged! And Diane Ferguson too! Thank you all!

Courage Without Grace

Josie Wales doesn't need her palm reading skills to know her lover is seeing someone else. It's time to end it, but she's been with Tom for seven years. And there's something--someone--she needs to tell him about. That secret keeps pulling her back, but this time she's determined to break it off.

To find the courage to end the relationship, Josie seeks advice from new acquaintances. But she somehow manages to make an even bigger mess of her life. When Jack, Tom's twin and her childhood friend, comes to DC to reconnect, he helps Josie get her feet back on the ground.

Just as Josie is beginning to resolve the chaos in her life, a tragic secret from her past comes back to haunt her. Before she can move forward and have a second chance at love, she must face her grief and loss.

With characters that leap off the page, Courage Without Grace is a poignant novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading.

The Existence of Pity

Growing up in a lush valley in the Andes mountains, sixteen-year-old Josie Wales is mostly isolated from the turbulence brewing in 1976 Colombia. As the daughter of missionaries, Josie feels torn between their beliefs and the need to choose for herself. She soon begins to hide things from her parents, like her new boyfriend, her dangerous trips into the city, and her explorations into different religions.
Josie eventually discovers her parents secrets are far more insidious. When she attempts to unravel the web of lies surrounding her family, each thread stretches to its breaking point. Josie tries to save her family, but what happens if they don't want to be saved?
The Existence of Pity is a story of flawed characters told with heart and depth against the beautiful backdrop of Colombia.