- Black author, receptionist, and lover of casual games and cooking shows
Readers, let’s give a good, hearty welcome to this week’s guest!
Jessica Lewis is a Black author and receptionist from Alabama. She lives with her hilarious grandmother.
When she’s not writing, she’s watching HGTV/cooking shows, or playing casual games.
Jessica, thanks for agreeing to be here today. Most interviews start off with the boring stuff, but I know what readers REALLY want to know.
If you could have any pet (real/fantasy/no-allergies/no worries about feeding it) what would it be?
If I could have any pet at all, I’d pick growlithe from Pokémon. A dog, but one that breathes fire! Perfect!!
I thought those were puppy-tigers? Either way, totally cute and on FIRE!
What do you write? And how did you get started?
I write SF, fantasy, and horror, but usually a mix-mash of those three. I’m really into genre-blending and trying new things (with mixed results sometimes lol). I started writing fanfiction for my friends in middle school but transitioned into original work in high school. I haven’t stopped since!
You know I’m a huge fan of all of those! Fanfiction is a great place to explore one’s writing, whether one stays in that realm or branches out to try new worlds.
What do you like to read?
I read what I write mostly, but I also love a good contemporary! Especially if it’s sapphic!
Sounds like a good mix of books to me.
Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that doesn’t work for you
Write every day!
I do not do that, lol. For me, that’s a sure-fire way to get burned out, or just produce a bunch of really bad words I can’t use. Instead, I do a lot of reading/active studying/thinking about writing, and that helps me much more than trying to force words to come every single day. Plus, some days you just don’t feel like doing it! Writing is already hard enough without making it seem like a punishment on the days you feel bad.
So true. As my readers know, I can make it work for NaNoWriMo at the expense of everything else.
Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that works for you
Plot out your novels before writing
I am a hardcore plotter and I promise it’s made me a much better writer!! Also much more efficient; I hate rewriting/redoing stuff I already did, so if I can have a pretty good first draft that only needs edits and not rewrites, I’ll take it.
It’s always great when that works for you!
Shameless Self-Promotion time!
Bad Witch Burning
For fans of Lovecraft Country and Candyman comes a witchy story full of Black girl magic as one girl’s dark ability to summon the dead offers her a chance at a new life, while revealing to her an even darker future.
Katrell can talk to the dead. And she wishes it made more money. She’s been able to support her unemployed mother—and Mom’s deadbeat-boyfriend-of-the-week—so far, but it isn’t enough. Money’s still tight, and to complicate things, Katrell has started to draw attention. Not from this world—from beyond. And it comes with a warning: STOP or there will be consequences.
Katrell is willing to call the ghosts on their bluff; she has no choice. What do ghosts know of having sleep for dinner? But when her next summoning accidentally raises someone from the dead, Katrell realizes that a live body is worth a lot more than a dead apparition. And, warning or not, she has no intention of letting this lucrative new business go.
Only magic isn’t free, and dark forces are coming to collect. Now Katrell faces a choice: resign herself to poverty, or confront the darkness before it’s too late.
Meow or Never: A Wish Novel (by Jazz Taylor)
Avery Williams can sing, but that doesn’t mean she can sing in front of people. She likes to stay backstage at her new school, which is where, to her surprise, she finds a cat tucked away into a nook. Avery names the stray Phantom and visits any time she’s feeling stressed (which is a lot these days).
As she sings to Phantom one day, her crush, Nic, overhears her and ropes Avery into auditioning for the school’s musical. Despite her nerves, Avery lands the lead role!
She knows she should be excited, but mostly Avery is terrified. Can Phantom help her through her stage fright? And what will happen if anyone finds out about her secret pet?
WRITING TIPS & WRITERLY MUSINGS 
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