One of My BFFs Wrote a Novel (!!!): Q&A with Jessica Shuck

As the title of this blog post suggests, one of my best friends in the whole wide world, Jessica Shuck, has recently written her first novel. Jessica has been one of my dearest/soulmate friends for over 13 years now, and I could not be more proud of her or love her book more. 

There are four things you should know about Jessica before you read her book and meet her through today's Q&A:

1. She's one of the smartest people I've ever known (and I really and truly mean this). 
2. She's an incredible writer--I've known this about her since we first became friends + fellow English double majors--and I've been waiting for her to write a book for about 13 years now. 
3. She's one of the funniest, quirkiest, and wittiest people I've ever met (great combo). 
4. She's a *total* romantic and always has been, and we share a deep love for romantic comedies, romantic books, romantic stories, romantic TV shows, grand romantic gestures, etc. 

Thus, you won't be surprised to learn that Jessica's first book is a combination of these four things--it's smart, well-written, funny, and romantic--and it's wonderful.

I read the first draft voraciously while breastfeeding Charlie Mae back in her first few weeks of life. I think I read it in about 2-3 days because I couldn't put it down (and also because I was feeding Charlie Mae basically all day every day so I had a lot of time for reading); I've been waiting to share it with all of you ever since.

Because Jessica's book is now available on Amazon for Kindle and in paperback (yay!), I felt it only appropriate to talk about Jessica + her book here on the blog today. So lets hear from her! 

​You can learn more about Jessica below or by hopping over to her blog...

1. Tell us a little bit about how you got to where you are professionally.
I wrote about this in greater detail on my blog, The Naptime Writer, but the gist is this: after a lot of thought, I decided to drop out of my English Lit. PhD program because I just wasn’t happy doing what I was doing. When I couldn’t find a job right away, I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to see if I could write a book (or as perfect as any opportunity would ever be.) Now I’m blogging regularly, working on my second book, and taking care of my adorable and mischievous toddler. In short: I’m the happiest I’ve ever been professionally or personally. (Sorry that this sounds like an infomercial).
 
2. You just wrote an entire book (!). How did you make that happen? What was your writing routine like? 
I’ve tried to write fiction so many times before and it didn’t happen because I didn’t push through the hard parts, like what happened immediately after the first sentence. Once I forced myself to keep writing (and “forced” isn’t an exaggeration), my writing routine became writing in the mornings before my son woke up, when he napped, and/or when he went to bed at night—that’s why my blog is called The Naptime Writer.
 
3. Where did you get inspiration for your book? 
My immediate spark of inspiration was sadly seeing a mouse race through my own kitchen. I imagined how my heroine would react to that, and the next couple of chapters came to me pretty easily. And genre-wise, I’ve been inspired by some of my favorite romances, including Pride and Prejudice, all of Meg Ryan’s rom-coms, lots and lots of romance novels (I tend to gravitate toward those featuring Scottish lairds or FBI agents), and, of course, my relationship with my husband, Daniel.
 
4. Why did you want to write a romance novel? 
I’ve been into romances for as long as I can remember. (Did anyone else love Beethoven 2 and Mighty Ducks 2 for the romance plots?) As far as romance novels are concerned, I got my love of them from my mom. When I was a teenager, I started sneaking romance novels from her collection and reading them in my walk-in closet. And one of my biggest motivations is that I’m still very happily in love with my husband, Daniel, after 12+ years together. I love romance novels because they evoke that magical feeling of falling in lust and love with a forever love.
 
5. Why did you start blogging?
My original motivation for blogging was that I thought it would be a smart marketing strategy to start gathering an audience before I announced that I had self-published a book. But I have always wanted to share my thoughts about what I was reading/watching, etc. (the main topics of my blog) in the same abstract way that I have always wanted to write fiction. Once I started blogging I was amazed at how much I loved it.
 
6. If you had to give one piece of advice to women (or men!) who want to take the plunge and pursue their dreams of working for themselves or starting their own business or blog, what would it be?
This is for all of my perfectionist friends and/or readers: stop worrying so much about whether you’ll be the best x who has ever lived and focus instead on trying something that makes you happy. When I focused more on the internal rewards of doing something professionally and creatively fulfilling, I began focusing less on comparing myself and my work to others. (This doesn’t mean that I don’t want to be a great writer. It just means that I’ve prioritized feeling happy and fulfilled over what I previously prioritized—my huge anxiety regarding failure and what people might think if I “tried” to write.)

7. What do you consider your biggest accomplishment?
My son, Samuel. And second, probably writing and self-publishing a book.

8. What's your biggest guilty pleasure?
Oh my gosh, I watch the worst reality television shows. For some people, like Mary Catherine and our other best friend Laura, this was more of a college phase, but it looks like it’s going to be a lifelong guilty pleasure for me. I watch way too many of The Real Housewives spin-offs, and I love reality television shows about cooking, even though I don’t enjoy cooking itself. (That’s not an exhaustive list of the reality tv shows I watch, btw).

9. If you were exiled to a desert island and could only bring 3 things, what would they be?
I’m not going to list my husband and son because I want to be fun and also because it’s probably selfish to exile them to the hypothetical deserted island with me, so I’ll say a gigantic Norton Anthology of English Literature, swimming goggles, and a lighter.

10. Words of wisdom you live by?
​“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” -Dumbledore (J. K. Rowling)
 
And now, here's the blurb from the back of Jessica's book (FYI, if you're buying it for Kindle it's super affordable at $2.99, and if you have Kindle Unlimited you can read it for free!): 

Things get complicated when your greatest rival becomes the object of your lust.

Eliza Ward, high school English teacher, has been smitten with her gorgeous friend, Luke, for an embarrassing length of time, and she’s finally decided to do something about that crush. 

There’s only one problem, and his name is Theo Sorensen. 

Eliza and Theo have competed with one another for years, and the announcement of an available chair position in their English Department only exacerbates their conflict. But somewhere along the way Eliza and Theo start spending less time thinking about how to one-up each other, and more time fantasizing about how to get the other person naked.

This is where it gets complicated.

Should Eliza pursue Luke, the figure at the center of her romantic daydreams since elementary school? Or should she pursue Theo, a man who looks devastatingly hot wearing glasses and reading a book, but who has been her long-standing foe? Or should she choose neither? (It’s definitely not Option C.)

Finally You is a smart, sexy rom-com perfect for bibliophiles and the chronically romantic.

BUY JESSICA'S BOOK HERE {YOU WON'T REGRET IT!}

Thanks so much for sharing a bit of yourself with us, Jessica! 

​If you want more great book recommendations (Jessica read 100 books in 2016!) and/or to learn more about this amazing gal, I highly recommend her blog and/or following her on Facebook or Twitter.