A supportive writing community can make a world of difference in an author’s journey, and that’s precisely where I met Jenn, who publishes under J.M. Guilfoyle. Our local writing group hosts more than just educational monthly meetings; the group features a number of “paths,” based around interests. From a critiquing group to a tech path (which Jenn leads), there are an incredible amount of ways to participate.
In this Oops, Daisies, and Dreams interview, Jenn shares about her creative life, and how her writing became an outlet for her after she became a mom—something I 100% identify with. But, importantly, she talks about the creative life more broadly, and her words of wisdom about what it means to “be creative” are a reminder that I think a lot of us need to hear more often.
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Please introduce yourself and share a bit of background about you and your writing life.
I’m a multi-genre author, dabbling in romance, science fiction, high fantasy, and contemporary fantasy. When I started writing, it wasn’t to get published. In fact, it all started because I’d been a stay-at-home mom for several months after having my third kiddo and was looking to find myself again, something that was not just part of my ‘mom’ identity, having put my career on hold to be with my kids. Writing became a free thing I could do, sitting on the couch with my laptop and headphones on while the three under five watched Paw Patrol. At that point, I started writing fanfiction, which I also had no intention of ever publishing on fanfiction websites (times, they have a-changed for me). Writing was my way of taking ‘me time’, almost like self-care. About a year after I started writing, I joined a local writer’s group, which has really helped me flourish, feel more confident in my writing, and all the technical sides of being an author. For our writing group and for my own novels, I’ve been a writer, artist, and editor, helping to self-publish four anthologies with The Writing Journey and self-publish my personal novels, novellas, and a few solo RPGs.
Who are your favorite authors? What are your favorite genres to read?
Like my writing, my reading has always been eclectic. I adore authors like Eoin Colfer, whose Artemis Fowl series I still reread nearly 20 years after discovering it. His YA books, most of which I’ve read, are primarily fantasy. Another YA fantasy series I love is Tricia Levenseller’s series Daughter of the Pirate King. I also love reading science fiction (which as a genre, has fallen out of popularity based on the size of the section at local bookstores) like the MurderBot series by Martha Wells.
But beyond these authors, I love reading English translations of Japanese Light Novels, often either the source material for many anime and manga I love, or additional stories within an anime I love. For example, Natsu Hyuuga’s The Apothecary Diaries, Keigo Higashino’s The Miracles of the Namiya General Store, and light novels in the Tokyo Ghoul and My Hero Academia series, to name a few. I’m also an avid, multi-genre manga reader, and recently, due to my love of manga, I have read a couple of Kyoto Ko’s books about Japan’s folktales. From that alone, you can see I read in many genres, but I also read romance, some romantasy, and lately even some spy thrillers and heist stories. I tend to be a mood reader (and writer), often consuming movies, TV, and books, based on something I’ve recently watched. It leads me to have many books partially read when I pick up a new one.
How long have you been writing/creating? What compels you to write?
This is a tough question. When it comes to writing, I had a long stretch without creative drive. When I was in college, I tried taking a creative writing course because I dabbled in fanfiction. But after a terrible critique experience, I dropped the class and didn’t write for about 20 years! As I said earlier, I started writing again as a low-cost way to be creative while being a mom, especially with younger children. It is, in fact, so much harder to get time to write now that the kiddos are older and insist on fighting when unsupervised for all of five seconds. I have been back to writing for 6 years and have published some of my favorite stories (which I go back and reread!).
But I also create in other ways. I never started writing with the intention of making it a career. I did it to fill my creative well and enjoy the worlds I created. But I also crochet, paint, 3D print, and much more. I have done those types of creative endeavors all throughout my life. I learned to crochet in 4-H during the 5th grade. Today I enjoy crocheting quick projects that are fun and cute, like amigurumi, plushies, hair accessories, hats, and gloves. But being creative has also given me a way to connect with my kids.
This school year, I have been attending a before-school club with my youngest two, teaching a group of kids how to crochet. Watercolor painting is something I took up more recently, and I dabble again, following YouTube tutorials to relax. Often, my kids join me in that as well.
What sorts of ‘oops’ (or hiccups) have you had on your writing journey, and how did you overcome them?
Besides the 20-year writing hiatus, the bigger hiccups now are more centered around either imposter syndrome (feeling like not a real author for whatever reason my brain comes up with that day) and sliding in and out of having the drive to keep pursuing. I recently had to reevaluate life after a family member’s hospitalization and caring for them. There is a lot of stress involved in publishing, self-promotion, and (sadly) comparing yourself to others in your creative field.
Being a multi-genre author makes it much harder to promote my work, so I opted not to create a new pen name for each genre in which I publish. So, for me, it is often rather complicated to figure out how best to promote my work since I write a little bit of everything. I realized how much stress I was putting on myself and numbers, and how much that hurt my creativity, to the point where I decided I had to pull back from looking at numbers and let my creative well refill so I can at least finish these stories for me, but also hopefully get them out for others to enjoy as well.
What is the #1 piece of advice you’d give to someone who is just starting to write or publish?
I would say, write for you and write the story you want. There is all kinds of advice out there, and it can be so confusing. There are people who will tell you what you “have to have” in a story to make it a story, like conflict. But a couple years ago I did some research, because it felt like many times the anime I was watching didn’t have “conflict” in the way we think of it here, and I was right. There are so many other story structures and philosophies around the world. Your story is yours, write what you think the story is you want to tell, and the story that makes you happy. Readers can tell when an author is passionate about their story!
What projects are you working on now?
I’m writing several things. Currently, I’m publishing my Shutdown Syntax serial novel on Substack, which is a science fiction mystery thriller following Detective Angeles as she is pulled from her undercover assignment in the tech-gang, the Syndicate, only to be framed for the murder of her commanding officer while we also Tim Griffin, who has come to Vanguard City to close out his father’s estate, only to find his father still alive–though someone is trying to silence PI Griffin.
I’m also working on a rewrite of a former serial I had partially published on Kindle Vella (before its demise), and it is now retitled Wings of Destiny, which follows Runa, a secret fae-like creature called an Alva, on the run from a King who uses her as an assassin. Runa stumbles upon dragons (who are thought to be extinct) and their riders. Unfortunately, Runa’s past does not escape her for long, as the King’s men come after her, endangering the Outcasts, descendants of political prisoners from the King’s great-grandfather.
Anything else you’d like to share about you and/or your creative life.
I always think it’s funny when people say they are not creative. There are a million ways to be creative. I don’t think creativity is about creating art from nothing. It can be following a YouTube tutorial or coloring in a coloring book. Art, in any of its forms, is fantastic for the soul. And creating art doesn’t need to cost tons of money. Coloring with normal Crayola crayons or colored pencils is just fine. Fancy pencils do not make you a better artist. Social media can make it seem like you need these specific things to be good or do things “right” when it comes to art. But it’s not true. Even writing. You don’t need fancy software. I started writing in OpenOffice, an open-source version of Word, because I couldn’t afford Microsoft Office (and even less so now!).
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