We recently connected with Jason Gilbert and have shared our conversation below.
Jason , appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
A lot of my knowledge came from talking with authors who are way ahead of me in their career as well as editors and publishers who carry the kind of experience you won’t find in a classroom. I also read ravenously, and I have a hard time writing if I’m not reading. I can spin a yarn with the best of them, but I wanted to make sure that I knew how to tell the story effectively on the page as well. One of the essentials I learned was to write down my ideas so I don’t forget them, and to never delete my words because they could be useful later. My biggest obstacle is balancing work/life and writing. I’ve been recovering from back surgery, and some meds can make it impossible to be creative. I’ve had to learn to be okay with the fact that I’m not able to be creative during that time. It’s gotten easier to create again now that I’m getting to the other side of things, but learning to be patient with yourself can be difficult.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I was that kid in class who would just sit there and fill notebooks with stories if I wasn’t reading a book or two. I wrote my very first book at 16 (yes, it is terrible. No, it will never be published), and I published my first book at 37 years old after going to conventions and meeting up with different writers who were already doing it professionally (some of them full time). I self-published at first, but I now go through a publisher. Not that there’s anything wrong with self-pubbing, but it can be a lot more difficult to be successful that way for a host of reasons. Honestly, mileage varies for different folks. I’ve written in a few different genres, but I particularly enjoy Urban Fantasy with my current series (The Coldstone Case Files) being a werewolf buddy cop series set in real world places with real crimes being committed by things that go bump in the night. I’ve written quite a bit of horror, mostly in the form of short fiction, and I’ve finished another series of books (Clockworks of War) that I now publish as an omnibus. When I’m not writing, I’m on a streaming show on Twitch called “Terrible Movies with Wonderful People” where we review bad movies and “bad” movies, and I am a commercial electrician by trade.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I once got a rejection letter from a publisher that had the word “unreadable” in the text. I put that story away for a while because I realized that MAYBE trying to put the “Book of My Heart” out there this early was not the best idea in the world. I wrote the Clockworks of War and published Gaslit Insurrection (Book 1) in 2017. After book 2 came out, I was ready to try something new. I pulled the old book back out and looked it over. Took me only a few pages to have my great epiphany: “Man, this is terrible.” By that point, I’d grown and developed as a writer because I was still taking advice and learning despite my now three novel completed series and my multiple short stories I’d published in anthologies. I ended up tossing the book aside but keeping a lot of elements and ideas from it, and that was the birth of the Coldstone Case Files. I pitched the series to Falstaff Books, and now it is an ongoing series. Sometimes it takes a good ol’ fashioned ego bruising to motivate someone to step up their process and get the creative juices flowing in the right direction!
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Support. Independent. Artists.
Writers, filmmakers, artists, content creators, musicians, all of them! Yes, there are multi-million dollar franchises out there that are amazing, but sometimes they overshadow some really great work that you’re missing out on, and supporting the independents can help them get to the point where they’re able to sustain themselves off their art. Tell your friends and family about how great you think the indie you supported is and how they should also support that artist. Buy gifts from the indie artist for said friends and family. Post a review online about how great you think their work is, and share their posts on social media when you see something new coming that you’re excited about. Donate to art schools and creative programs, and attend your local comicons and events where local creatives will be.
We’re also not commonly known to turn down food!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jasonhgilbert.com
- Instagram: @jasongilbertauthor
- Facebook: jasongilbertauthor
Image Credits
All images are owned by me.