Fiction Friday

It’s another Fri-yay and today I’m talking to my friend Jessica Kotzer who is one of the founders of Self Pub Hub to which I’m grateful and thankful to be a member.

Last year I came across the Self Pub Hub community on Facebook and I was at a point in my writing where I was stalled out. I was frustrated, life had happened and I was feeling rather disheartened about continuing. I figured why not find and meet people that might understand so I attended the next Pub Night which is Monday nights via zoom. It was an instant fit for me.

So, welcome Jess and thank you for joining me to talk about our great community that you created. Let’s dive into the questions.

1. Can you tell us how the idea of Self Pub Hub came about?

J: Thanx for bringing me into your network Sarah. There are a million and one Facebook groups,forums,courses, and conferences for us authors, but I wanted to create free events for authors who care about building genuine connections. In the before times, I never would’ve thought about building Self Pub Hub, but I’ve grown to love socializing and networking over Zoom, where writers can sit down together and have our own drink of choice without the limits of proximity. In a nutshell, we’re a community of social authors.

2.Who does this community cater to specifically?

J: it’s catered towards authors or aspiring authors who enjoy networking.

3. I love Pub Nights and really loving the other events you have added for members, can u tell us a little about those?

J: Pub Nights is what started it all. I honestly never know what will happen or who will show, but I committed to hosting these weekly, informal , open-house meetups for authors to come out and chat. My main objective with Pub Night is to give authors the space to be heard. That was easier at first when only a handful of authors came out. Now that 15+ authors are coming out, we mix up the conversation between smaller breakout rooms and the rowdy main room. The extra events like our new marketing meet up,write-ins, and writing groups are here for writers who want to focus on certain topics, which I can never promise at Pub Nights.

4. What has your favorite part been about starting and growing this community?

J: Regulars!! I love knowing that other writers leave Pub Night re-inspired to press on, write more, and come back and share their progress every week If it wasn’t for the regulars, the community wouldn’t be nearly as fun.

5. Now we can’t forget to mention you, yourself are an author. Can u tell us a little about what u are working on?

J: After many years writing non-fiction under a different pen name, I’m transitioning into a contemporary women’s fiction series. It’s been a rocky road (fiction is proving mich more difficult for me) but the writing community has motivated me to persevere through the challenge of writing something new.

6. Everyone has different opinions on which part they find the hardest when writing a book, which area do u find you struggle with most?

J: Finishing. I read somewhere that 97% of manuscripts never get finished. It’s one thing to ideate, another to start, but pushing through the roadblocks that come up can be rough. Writers are our own mini start-ups. We need to plan,test,create minimum viable products, and be agile enough to pivot when necessary. For six months, I stopped working on my book because I was married to my one tiny chapter that I knew needed major work. Without a healthy mix of commitment to a road map and flexibility to changing the rules of the road, it’s easy to give up. I learned this the hard way, and I’m happy I did. Killing our darlings; it’s a rite of passage for an author.

7. Do u have any wisdom you’d like to pass on to any of my readers who are maybe debating writing a book or are taking the first scary steps into publishing?

J: Let me preface this advice by saying I might be a bit of an extremist. Go to a writing retreat, even if virtually. The collective energy of others with the same dreams as you make the dream feel that much more like a reality. When I went to a week long retreat in England, I came out of it with the story outline that is now becoming a series. I also encouraged my mom- a woman who had never traveled alone to go to the same retreat. Then she egged on my aunt- a woman even more reluctant to travel alone to go to this retreat. We all had it in us to write, and if you’re thinking of writing, then so do you. Sometimes we just need to be in an environment that encourages us to believe it ourselves.

8. I think my biggest flaw as an aspiring author is self-doubt and imposter syndrome and my biggest asset is I’m stubborn enough to try anyway. What do you think your biggest asset and biggest flaws are as a writer?

J: Empathy might be my biggest asset and weakness. I’m a worrywart. I get hung up on other people’s pain easily. Sometimes I feel guilty for not helping my friends,family, or the state of the world more than I’m capable of. My mental health has suffered for it many times. But pain sure does make good art.

9. Do you have any book recommendations for writing, editing and getting started on your writing journey for newbies?

J: So many! Ease yourself into writing with Writing Down the Bones. Pick up a book or two on story structure like Save the Cat or Story Genius. Observantly re-read your favorite books with an eye on dialogue, external and internal motivations of main characters and side characters, sentence flow, and how and when tension builds up to the climax. After all, the best book you can write will likely be a book you’d want to read yourself.

10. Before we go is there any final thoughts or comments you’d like to share and where do we find anything Self Pub Hub?

J: Seek out the collective energy of other writers. When we’re surrounded by writers, we start to believe that we too are writers, and that pesky imposter syndrome becomes a lot more manageable. If you’re still looking for a writer pack, I invite you to join our Facebook group, Writers Pub Hub.

Thank you again to Jessica for stopping by to chat with me. I can without a doubt say that not only has my writing been thriving since joining, but I’m also gaining a routine of being consistent with my writing. I’ve produced my best work with all the support I’ve received. I look forward to all the events and the friendships, knowledge, support and confidence I have gained from meeting these wonderful humans is beyond words. So, to any and all writers no matter where you are in your writing journey find your people, find us and I assure you it’s so worth it.