Jessica Shook's Blog, page 7

Write List. Check Off. Repeat. (Or Not)

Hi. My name is Jessica. I’m a procrastinator. Phew. Now that that’s out of the way…

This month, I’ve been in a challenge against procrastination…which happens to be one of my mountains. In fact, when the challenge to write down and complete 10 procrastinated items was presented to me in a women’s group that I’m a part of, I groaned. Audibly groaned.

I like the idea of getting a lot done, and wouldn’t you know that I finished four of the ten items within the first week. But let’s be honest, I...

#coffeeismylovelanguage

Coffee. She is my long time friend who comes to visit me each morning and delivers a smile with every visit. She is the friend that I welcome when I’m without makeup and she is without creamer. And if you, like my husband, don’t know and love her as I do, it’s okay. It’s okay if you don’t get our inside jokes. Or don’t appreciate the trill of her percolating laughter. It’s okay that you don’t warm at the very smell of her and rush to be embraced by her hug every chance you get. It’s okay. Ju...

Be You

I am not a food blogger. In fact, those who know me well would laugh in the face at that statement. Maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh. I am the antithesis of that title. I cook what I must to feed my ravenous family and myself. I wouldn’t even consider myself a blogger. I’m a novel writer who purges my thoughts on the page every once and again when I think someone else might nod along with them.

There are friends of mine who are food bloggers and foodies and all around amazing chefs who could h...

Who were you in 2016?

About this time every year, there are a slew of social media posts and advertisements for making goals and New Year’s resolutions. Right? I’m sure you’ve seen them, maybe even clicked on them. But as much as I like to look forward to the new year and all the possibilities in it, I also like to look back over the year that’s passed. Every year gives us little gifts that we can learn from. Sometimes it’s a hard thing to look at. But here are a few things I learned about myself this year.

I can...

Pep Talk

When something scary happens in your family, youare suddenly grateful for all of the people around you to support and pray. That’s where myhusband and I found ourselves several years ago at the sonogram of ourthird child. But God came through for us. Not only didHe give us grace for the situation and the months that followed, not only did He give uscreative miracle after miracle, He also brought us through with a testimony for our son.

So when I was asked by afriend and mentor I’ve known my e...

My October Book Pick

I have sat with this book, Small Great Things, in my lap closed and finished, trying to put into words my feelings about this book. And I find how hard it is to describe. Painful. Gut-wrenching. So, so difficult. But so worth all the pain because it is nothing to the pain happening around our country and the world. This book sheds such a beautiful light on such an ugly topic. It opens eyes. It forms a bridge. It teaches and shocks and cuts and attempts to stitch the gaping wound.

As a caucasi...

Now in Paperback!

I am thrilled to announce that Jade Can’t Be Blue is now available in Paperback! Purchase your copy here.

 

Of course the ebook is still available for the Kindle as well. Thank you to all of my readers. You guys make this possible!

 

 

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Beyond the “About Me” Page

Am I the only one who wants to know everything about the author of a book that I fall in love with? I scour through the Acknowledgements page of every book I read. I follow my favorite authors on Twitter, Facebook and read their quotes in People magazine. I devour their memoirs. (I’m still waiting on the edge of my seat for Kristin Hannah to write one!) And I speculate how my favorite of their characters resemble them. Because I want to know who they are, why they write, how they think.

Please tell me I’m not alone!

Considering my weird fascination, I took the challenge presented to me by fellow author and friend-of-a-friend, Katherine L. Evans to answer some questions that take you a bit further than the About Me page!

Here we go!

1. Where can you always find inspiration as a writer? 

I am most inspired when I am enjoying other’s creative works, be it music, poetry, or a beautifully put together film. There is something about being immersed in creativity that breaths life into my own.

2. You’re only allowed to read one book again for the rest of your life; which is it and why? 

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. It is an instant classic with some of the most beautifully flawed, genuine characters who are swept through a heart-wrenching story that when I hit the last page made me instantly turned back to page one and begin to reread. Yep. I could read that one over and over.

3. If you could live anywhere in the world for a year, where would it be and why? 

My favorite city. New York City. This is actually one of those fantasy lives that passes across my mind often. I would live in a small place by a hotel I once stayed at around the corner from Broadway by Times Square. I wouldn’t own a car. I would walk everywhere I could and would carry a big bag with my high-heels so I could put them on at my destination. I would shop at the corner market that is actually underground. I would sip coffee at the little cafe down the way where I would people-watch. And I would chat with locals. And I would come out of it all with a handful of grand stories. Maybe even one I could write a book about someday.

4. Who is your favorite entertainer (singer, actor, etc.) and why?

Kate Winslet. Because she is a mother first, because she has aged gracefully and beautifully. Because she is an Oscar winner who was willing to go on Bear Grylls show Running Wild, be seen with no makeup, doing crazy stunts and eating horrendous foods without caring what anyone thought. Because she is a real woman who just so happens to be an immensely talented celebrity.

5. Best childhood memory?

Lying in the grass with my mom finding pictures in clouds.

6. Who do you most admire and why?

I admire those who have been handed a terrible lot in life but chose a perspective of joy regardless. Those who have lost someone or something, those born with deformities or in a societal class that could have put them at a disadvantage, but because of their outlook (or perhaps the outlook taught to them by someone in their life) they grew to do greater things than anyone could have imagined.

7. What is something that is popular now and annoys you?

Girls wearing too much makeup. Its just one way that as females, we mask ourselves and only show people a version of ourselves we think they would like. Instead, let us own our bodies, our faces, our hearts, our smiles, even our wrinkles as badges of who we were created to be.

8. What would be the perfect weekend for you and why?

Well this is tricky! I could easily say something about reading on a quiet beach. But that would be a picture drawn without my four kids, and there is nothing ideal in missing my four kids. So I’ll say something like moments of quiet reading and reflection dabbled with moments of raucous laughter until my daughter has laugh-tears which just makes us all laugh even more. Ideally on a beach…where no one gets sunburned…and someone else has provided all of the food. (Oh I’m sorry, does ideal not actually mean fictitious? My mistake!)

9. If you had intro music what would it be?

Something romantically haunting with high octave piano notes played by my husband who is my favorite piano player!

10. What do you feel is the most controversial opinion you have?

Probably how I choose to raise my children. Mostly because I think all parents believe they are raising their children correctly (or else they wouldn’t be doing it that way, right?), and it is often very different from my own parental choices. I don’t feel like I’m a controversial person though, because I generally like to keep my opinion to myself.

12. Tell us about your current writing project(s).

I am currently in my second draft/editing phase of a novel entitled, Shrapnel, about two women who have never met but help each other through the most trying months of their lives. Another project that has been put on hold momentarily is a novel I’m co-authoring with my dear friend and writing partner, Sally Hall. And I am working on a minibook called Teach Your Child to Love Reading…Even When You Don’t. To find out more about these books and have exclusive info on when they are released, sign up for my VIP News email list here.

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Define Your Success

This week I have been so frustrated with myself for not being able to be summertime fun mom between refereeing arguments, being a flailing family chef, home entertainer, taxi driver, loving wife and more-than-one-paragraph-a-day writer.

Please tell me this sounds overwhelming to you too! (If it doesn’t, teach me your ways!)

That would be why I was banging my head against my laptop screen while being interrupted every 3-5 words I typed.

Then this morning I heard a resounding theme that’s come...

This week I have been so frustrated with myself for not ...

This week I have been so frustrated with myself for not being able to be summertime fun mom between refereeing arguments, being a flailing family chef, home entertainer, taxi driver, loving wife and more-than-one-paragraph-a-day writer.

Please tell me this sounds overwhelming to you too! (If it doesn’t, teach me your ways!)

That would be why I was banging my head against my laptop screen while being interrupted every 3-5 words I typed.

Then this morning I heard a resounding theme that’s come...