Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jessica Thompson . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jessica, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

We, as a group, are putting out an anthology of family friendly spooky stories called “Beyond the Woods: A Supernatural Anthology” and it has been wonderful. I was already a published author with a small publishing house, so I wanted to give my friends and critique partners the same opportunity to get their dazzling stories published and learn about the business, but I also ended up learning so much.
We also picked spooky but not horrific stories because it seems like everything for Halloween is either one or the other. Cutsie or gorey. Not many things are deliciously spooky and Halloween-y, but without the horror. So we wrote the kind of stories that we wished there were more of. Spooky, but still family friendly.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I found cozy mysteries with recipes in my local library, and I knew I had found my niche. I became a writer right then and there. So usually I write cozy mystery novels. Even when I try to write something else, it turns into a mystery! Like the short stories that I wrote as my contributions to the anthology that my writing group has coming out on October 13th, “Beyond the Woods: A Supernatural Anthology.” My stories are “Frankenstein’s Snowman” and “The Chupacabra of the Baskervilles.” I’m pretty proud of them. But I’m proud of our whole group! We saw a lack of the kind of Halloween and campfire stories that we liked the most, so we went out and made our own. We made a collection of stories that weren’t horror or overly dull or cute, but delightfully spooky. You don’t see many stories like that.
Now we’ve had so much fun that we’re going to put out more family friendly short story anthologies. Our next one is going to be Southwestern fairytale retellings. It’s going to be so fun!
Our writing group is called the Messy Manuscript Society because we are a group of writers and editors that are open to helping each other and anyone else connect with whatever help they need to turn their story from a mess into a manuscript.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Two things that I don’t think non-creatives understand is that it’s hard to create and that creating takes a lot of time. I think a lot of people think the way I used to, but creating is not just making your hobby into your job. It is hard to make it your job, to produce consistently, and even harder to keep improving your craft and to make it better by digging deep. It makes you crazy to go through all the emotions that your character does, to believe they’re real, and to keep your emotions that close to the surface. I actually think I have developed anxiety since I started writing.
The other common misconception is that when you pay for a book you are not just paying for paper, printing, and the time to write it. Yes, you’re paying for those things, but it’s not just the hours in front of the keyboard. You’re also paying for the years it takes to learn the craft, the sleepless nights spent thinking about the story, the trauma of believing that those characters are real, eventhough you know they’re not. And that anxiety too.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

The resources that I wish I had known about earlier are writing groups! I do love a good book about writing books, but I didn’t find the motivation to reach out and tell people that I was writing a book or to finish the book until I found my writing group. At first we called ourselves “Write Club” because we were closet writers and our rule was that you “don’t talk about Write Club,” but being together and sharing our passion was so motivating and stretching that I credit my writing group as the main key to my success. That was one reason that I wanted to publish a collection of short stories together.

Contact Info:

• Website: jessicathompsonauthor.com
• Instagram: @messymanuscript
• Facebook: Messy Manuscript Society
• Other: Society webpage: https://messymanuscriptsociety.godaddysites.com/

Image Credits
Heidi O’Barr, Gretchen Smith, Brooklynne Noe,