About

Who is J. Akridge?

Hello,

I’m Author J. Akridge.

I’m an open book, literally. I’ve lived my entire life in a small town of roughly 10,000 people.

I married my high school sweetheart in 2010, less than 30 days after I graduated high school. We have three beautiful, but rotten children. One girl and two boys. We have two Great Danes, who do nothing but eat and sleep. Occasionally they provide a good pony for the boys.

I’m going to be completely honest, reading wasn’t always my favorite thing. I hated it at one point. In school, reading was boring and I was more focused on playing sports than anything else. After I was married, my mother in law purchased me my first kindle as a Christmas present.

I remember it like it was yesterday, I was sitting in my living room and had just broke the seal on that orange box. One of the ads was running and it was Rachel Van Dyken. The title was The Bet. It looked good, and it was a free download so I thought “What the heck.”

That was it. I was hooked. I downloaded book after book after book from her. Reading them all in a days setting. Then I moved on to other authors, connected with friends that also loved to read. I made friends, and I mean life-long friends. The type of friends that you know aren’t going anywhere. We decided to attend a book signing in Kansas City, Kinky In Kansas City. It was my first signing and I didn’t know what to expect.

But, I loved it.

And we went to another signing, and another, and another. At some point, stories started formulating in my head. I would wake up in the middle of the night and have to write down the dream I had just had. My husband thought I was crazy, but he pushed me to do whatever I thought was right.

Now, I should also tell you, I’m obsessed with basketball. Which is why Full Court Press was so easy to write. I live just under two hours away from Memphis, TN. Now, if you don’t know this is the home of the Grizzlies. When I attended my first live NBA game, we took our nephew for his birthday. He was so excited, and I remember sitting in our seats and hearing the announcer should “Chandler Parson”. I thought, man his parents know how to name a kid. That just flows so well. So, I did what any natural person would do. I googled him.

His face popped up and oh, lord. He is sexy. And my character was formed, Landon Prince. I wrote half of the story in the back of a car on my way home from Texas. Full Court Press was finally published in April, 2020.

Accomplishing this pushed me even further. I kept going back to my other stories, writing as the characters spoke to me.

That has all lead me here. I’m currently writing as a full time author, although I’m slow to publish because I want the details perfect.

I try to prioritize writing, but with kids you never know what the day will bring.

But, I promise I am writing. Here or there.

Even if it’s for five minutes, hidden in the bathroom. I’m writing.

Thank you for coming to my website. Have a look around. Reach out, I’d love to talk to you. About anything. Kids, cooking, writing, books, cows.

Especially cows.