We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jessica Jackson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jessica, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?
For as long as I can remember, I’ve battled feelings of loneliness. As the youngest of three sisters, raised by a single mother, I was plagued with abandonment issues after my father left when I was two years old. So my self-worth was shot and still sometimes is. Growing up, I’ve had therapists, school counselors, etc but everything emotional for me needed a creative outlet to soothe me. If it wasn’t painting, it was photography. If it wasn’t music, it was writing. Writing is the one thing that stuck with me over the years. I’ve had friends complain to me about the walls of texts I would send them whenever I was feeling emotional, in love, or any other extreme emotion. However, the only person in my little prepubescent world that appreciated my writing was my 7th grade english teacher. I believe I wrote a poem, about horses, and she submitted it to the newspaper to be published.
Fast forward to today, and I’m a Full Sail Graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing, leading my very own hybrid writing community, called The Itty-Bitty Literary Committee. A year before our doors opened, I asked a business cohort who creates virtual co-working spaces, “Just make me a padded room with a desk in the center; then I can get my books done, and leave the world behind.” Now I’m creating my own co-working rooms for multiple writing events and workshops, so that my members have a place where they can focus on their craft, brainstorm together, and create co-op style or solo if they choose. I knew this, alongside writing my Sci-fi dystopian trilogy, was what not only I needed, but so many others out there who are sick of the stereotypical hermit lifestyle (no offense to those who can rock it) that leaves us to bare the unfairly heavy assumption that creatives ought to create alone, without feedback, without collaboration, and without validation and encouragement.
The creative lifestyle isn’t one for the faint of heart, but there are better ways to put more art, stories, and imagination into the world. The same world that continuously forgets that creators can change the world with the stroke of a pen. The courage to hit publish, to submit queries to agents, to buckle down and get that last 20,000 words of a 150,000 manuscript onto paper and into the hands of an editor, a reader, anyone else around them who can give truly useful feedback requires a lot of heavy lifting, ego purging, and emotional labor. Writers simply don’t get enough credit for what they do. IBLC exists because writers need to have a place where they belong, where they can have everything they need, with others who are walking similar paths. Without each other, without the industry involved, we’re floating to the top like fish gasping for air in an already saturated industry in a sea of mediocrity. Without community and collaboration, writers are floating corpses of bellies bloated with ideas, with eyes wide to the idea of success, without any real tools to get them there. It has to change, and I’m here with my community in the front lines to change it.
Jessica, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
At The Itty-Bitty Literary, we provide each member the opportunity to participate in writing challenges, community events, and contests. We work together to provide resources, whether it’s for writing grants, or basic strategies to tackle their writing projects. With our Background Character, Supporting Character, and Main Character subscriptions, our members not only have opportunities to access our Discord community server, but they also have workshop opportunities, and their very own author showcase channel. As we expand, we hope to become the first platform for writers and industry professionals to network, collaborate, and engage with their readers. I’m so proud of my members for taking advantage of what the community offers in a space to be creative but to also be welcomed regardless of what stage they’re on in the writing journey. Writers need writers, and I want to continue nurturing the spirit of imagination and ideation without excluding folks who are still discovering their process and implementation.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
My biggest challenge that I’m learning from and unlearning is the fear of asking for help. I encounter this fear fairly often, and it is the easiest fix but it’s a habit that dies hard. It stems from childhood trauma of not being accepted for having wrong answers when it came to matters like, homework help, classroom culture, and existing where some of my quirks weren’t acceptable. I’ve experienced emotional abuse from family members for not being able to fix my own problems and often was left to my own devices to tackle crippling depression and suicidal thoughts. Asking for help has its own kind of pain, but I’m learning that asking for help leads to beautiful results. It allows acceptance to happen via collaboration and there are folks out there who need to see your brilliance through the ideas you have, and the change you want to make in the world. It’s a work in progress, but I’m getting better.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My goal is to create a space for writers to be accepted, encouraged, and supported at various stages of their writing journey. It takes an investment of time, dedication, and preparation, but more than all of that, it takes heart. I want writers who know that their destiny to write isn’t cringey, or embarrassing. I want them to know that with work ethic and grace they can accomplish anything. I created a space when I belong, and I want others to feel that they belong there too. We ensure this sense of belonging by standing by our mission to be inclusive to however and whomever creativity manifests, regardless of the tools they use to enhance their craft that teaches them to be better writers, with the hope of collaborating with industry professionals to help us gather resources to support each other.
Contact Info:
- Website: ittybittyliterarycommittee.com
- Instagram: @ittybittylitco
- Facebook: The Itty-Bitty Literary Committee
- Other: JessicaJaxx.com