Build it and they will come? Well, they sure did.

Jeneva Rose’s unusual childhood turned her into a bestselling novelist.

Bestselling thriller author Jeneva Rose is the first to tell you she had a unique childhood and she learned important lessons from that experience. Those lessons helped turn her into a prolific and extremely successful writer in less than four years.

She recently wrote three novels in six months and swears she’ll never do that again. But prior to that, her first published novel, The Perfect Marriage, sold more than a million copies—largely on the back of her own marketing prowess. She’s sold more than two million copies of her novels in just over three years and much of the credit goes to what she learned as a child. In all, she’s published nine novels during that time—an average of almost three a year.

When she was a kid, Rose and her three siblings helped their parents build their dream house. Rose can wield a hammer and saw with the best of them. Her mother was a custodian and her father worked in a warehouse so there wasn’t enough money to buy a house big enough for their large family. But there was enough determination.

“We were very poor and spent years building that house,” Rose says.

They built it on seven acres overlooking a valley. Long before it was completed but under roof, the entire family moved into the unfinished basement to save money. For a year they huddled there with only boxes as walls until they could complete the bedrooms upstairs. They spent eight years there, not only building a house, but a home.

“They owned the home free and clear, sold it, and bought a new house debt-free,” Rose says. “That’s what got them out of debt.”

No more mortgage, no more loan payments, and no more wondering where Rose’s work ethic comes from. Her drive to succeed on her own follows her parents’ extraordinary example.

“They instilled that determination in me to keep working.” And the evidence is all over the bestseller lists.

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Former investigative reporter Rick Pullen is the author of the best selling thriller Naked Ambition, its sequel Naked Truth, and a stand-alone thriller The Apprentice. He’s also a magazine columnist and feature writer.

Thanks for reading Idol Talk! Subscribe for free or support my work with a paid subscription. —Rick Pullen