Today we’d like to introduce you to John Jensvold.
Hi John, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m from Faribault, Minnesota. We lived on a Lake south of Faribault and that experience shaped my life in ways that are still emerging. My Dad was a WWII pilot and flew a B26 Martin Marauder. He had a mechanical mind and was an expert with tools. Growing up was an extended construction apprenticeship for me; building garages, re-roofing houses, making plumbing repairs – looking back it was probably logical that I eventually gravitated toward a construction career. I graduated from St. Olaf College in 1985 and went to work in the planning department for the City of Faribault. In the mid-1980s jobs were scarce and I was lucky to find an interesting assignment.
I was always attached in some way to the construction of buildings, and have spent the last 28 years in leadership roles for a handful of well-known Twin Cities general contractors. Today I serve as a Vice President for Shaw-Lundquist Construction in Eagan, Minnesota. In parallel with my business side, I began writing fiction professionally in 2008 with the publication of my first short story in Alligator Juniper, a literary journal put out by Prescott College in Arizona. That led to several other successful short stories. In 2023, my debut novel, Until the Big Water Takes Them, was published.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth? Earlier in my life, without the perspective I have now, it seemed choppy in places. Now, however, looking back it all appears to have had a predictable flow. I need to emphasize here that I have never been without loyal friends and family to support me during life’s challenges. I can’t imagine where I would have ended up without my wife Madeline. We married in 1990. She is the wisest person I know and I don’t make any major decisions without her.
I’ve been blessed to work for remarkable companies through the years who cared about my family, including my special daughters Brielle, Mallory, and Liza, who are now adults and laughing at my anemic technology skills. On the publishing side, I had been warned of the travails of the writer’s path and those people were truthful. In the beginning, there was a troubling wall of rejection.
But many kind publishers along the way saw enough to freely share advice and guidance. Gradually, my stuff began to hit the mark and now I have a very solid feel for the extremely high standards that exist.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
In 2021, I had the itch to begin writing long-form fiction. I felt like I had fairly mastered short stories and there was something about stringing together 75,000 words instead of 5,000 words that gnawed at me. Could I do it? The real question, I think, was whether I could be honest enough to get that deep into the psychology of my characters. Could be damn uncomfortable – and it most certainly was.
I gave myself a 12-month schedule to write Until the Big Water Takes Them, and that was exactly the timeframe it followed. It’s set in a place that I know well and have returned to many, many times over the course of 50 years. I know the people there, the names, the pains, the fears. Readers have told me that the book prompted them to visit the North Shore of Lake Superior, to seek out the locations in the story. I hold that as the ultimate compliment.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Back to construction, my other passion. The Twin Cities have always benefited from commercial diversity that has prevented economic spikes that have the capacity to really hurt people. That’s why there are so many large general contractors in this market, per capita, as compared to, say, Phoenix or Las Vegas. On top of that, many of the builders here are also founded here – some over a century old.
So, to offer a general observation, healthy and steady growth is ahead. Construction companies are a leading economic indicator. If they’re hiring, the future is generally bright and I think that describes the Twin Cities region. We have some clear urban challenges, to be sure, but in my experience, Minnesota usually gets it right eventually. I look forward to a time soon when people feel more comfortable talking together.
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