Meet the Author Monday: Jessie Wells

It’s Meet the Author Monday! Each week we meet a new author and get to know a little about them, their writing process, publishing experience, and tips for other writers. Today we’re talking to Jessie Wells, author of The Good News Gazette.

About Jessie Wells:

Jessie Wells lives with her husband and two children in Merseyside. She has always written in some form, and previously worked as a journalist on the Liverpool Echo and Sunday Mirror and as a freelancer for various national women’s magazines and newspapers before moving into finance. She loves nothing more than getting lost in her imaginary worlds, which are largely filled with romance, communities bursting with character and a large dose of positivity.

---

About The Good News Gazette:

She may be down but don’t count this determined single mum out just yet…

Nine years ago, Zoe Taylor returned from London to the quiet hamlet of Westholme with her tail between her legs and a bun in the oven. Where once her job as a journalist saw her tearing off to Paris at a moment’s notice after a lead, now the single mum covers the local news desk. At least, she did…until she’s unceremoniously let go.

When Zoe invites her friends over to commiserate, wine and whining soon turns into something more… and before the night is out she’s plotted her next step: The Good News Gazette.

Now, as a developer threatens to force Westholme into the twenty-first century, Zoe’s good news movement finds her leading a covert campaign as a community crusader. She may have started The Good News Gazette as a way to save herself, but she might just be able to save Westholme in the process…

---

Author Interview with Jessie Wells:

This post contains affiliate links which means, at no cost to you,
I’ll receive a small commission if you purchase using those links.

1. Does writing energize or exhaust you?
   
   Both! When it’s going well, when the words are flowing and the story is taking on a life of its own, it is the most energizing, inspiring feeling ever. In fact, it’s that energy that’s powered me through many a late night of writing. The exhausted feeling comes at various times; most notably when the story hits a road block, or when I realise there are more threads that need completing when I’d thought. But those moments always pass –and then the energy returns!
2. Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?
   
   I think trying to be either is probably a mistake. Anything that doesn’t come from the
   heart has a tendency to fall flat. The only thing you can do is to stay true to the story. If it
   turns out that you’ve written something different and new, then that’s fantastic and
   exciting. If you’ve delivered a story that readers love and that satisfies them, then that’s
   great too. I try to get the story right and believe that the rest will follow.
3. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
   
   The Good News Gazette is the first in a series of books about a woman who starts up a
   good news newspaper as a way of combatting the constant flow of bad news coming out
   of her community. Zoe, the protagonist, faces a series of personal challenges as well as professional ones, and while each book focuses on a different element, they follow a sequence and ultimately tell both her story and that of the town in which she lives.
4. How many hours a day do you write?
   
   I have a day job and a busy family life, so it can be hard to find time to write. The only way I
   can do it is to make sure I’m at my computer for 5.30am. so that I can fit in some writing time before everyone else gets up, and then more often than not at nighttime, when the children (and often my husband!) are asleep. It sounds counterproductive, but I think being so busy with work and home actually feeds the writing side of my brain and I write more productively in these time frames as I know it’s the only opportunity I have to do it.
5. Where can readers purchase your books?
   
   All of the usual outlets! Waterstones, WH Smith, Blackwells., Bookshop.org, Foyles, Amazon and Hive are just some of the places you’ll find The Good News Gazette.

To learn more about Jessie Wells, here’s where you can find her:

Instagram: @jessiewellsauthor
Facebook: Facebook.com/JessieWellsAuthor
Twitter: @JessieWells22

---

Want to be featured on Meet the Author Monday?