Please welcome author Jessica Rackus author of Haven Strong to This Writer’s Life…
This Writer’s Life-(TWL)-Welcome to This Writer’s Life, happy to have you join us today. Introduce yourself and tell us about yourself, your writing and your books.
Thanks for having me! My name is Jessica, and besides being a writer, I’m a wife and mother, and a grant specialist at my day job.
TWL-Why and when did you decide to become an author?
I started writing stories in my early teens, and kept all of my writing secret for years and years. In 2009, I joined my first critique group (shout out to my NYC NaNoWriMo peeps), and for the first time it occurred to me that this was something I was actually pretty good at. Since then I’ve been on a journey to publication, finally making it late in 2025.
TWL-What’s a typical writing session like for you?
Writing sessions for me are wild, haha. Sometimes it’s that I’m waiting in a long line so I grab my phone and type a few sentences into a Google Doc. Sometimes I get to sit at my desk and be calm and think long and hard about every word I put down. I’m just not in the season of my life to have a good routine for my writing time.
TWL-What have you learned most from being a writer?
Empathy, I think. Reading and writing are the best way to step into someone else’s shoes. I don’t have a ton of life experiences, but writing has allowed me to explore situations and how I would handle them versus how my characters and the people around them do.
TWL-What’s been the biggest struggle and how did you overcome it?
Time! I always thought I had to have some sort of writing routine, where I sit at my aesthetically pleasing desk and put on some soothing music and spend four hours writing stellar chapters. Overcoming that idea and learning to write where and when I can has been key.
TWL-What’s been your biggest victory?
The day I got my first royalty check, I started bawling. It was the culmination of years and years of work (the first draft of the book started in 2018, so just for this book, it was seven years of work, not to mention all the years before that learning the craft). I was finally a “real” author.
TWL-If you could give advice to your pre-author self, what would it be?
Just keep going! I’m in my forties and I’m just getting started in my publishing journey, and teenage me definitely thought it would be easier.
TWL-What writing tip would you offer to a new author?
Read and write non-stop! It’s the only way to get better. Ask for feedback, and offer feedback to others (obviously when asked! Don’t just drop other authors a quick DM about everything that’s wrong with their book). And just keep going.
GENRE: Women’s Fiction
BLURB:
Josephine Grant lives a charmed life – a husband, three perfect children, strong bonds with family and friends in the small town where she’s lived her entire life. She’s the helper, the hostess, the one who always shows up. The person who can do it all.
Then the bus carrying her son’s basketball team crashes, and Jo’s husband and son are among the lives lost. Now she has a new identity. Widow. Single mother. Woman who lost everything. Grief begins to tear apart the place that’s always been her home. Infighting among friends. Gossip and rumors. Wounds that may never heal and bonds that just might.
Now Jo has to rebuild her life, but as the person who thinks of herself as the helper, asking others to help hold her together is impossible. Jo must learn to lean on others as she learns to stand on her own.
Excerpt
I handed my husband his sneakers, shoes he should have been able to keep better track of, given how often he wore them. At least he didn’t leave them where I’d trip on them, like the kids did.
“Thanks, Jo, you’re a lifesaver.” He cupped my face with his free hand. My shoulders relaxed and I melted against him, forgetting all the things on my to do list. My eyes drifted shut as he kissed me, the lingering kiss we were rarely allowed, with three kids running around the house. Our daughters were spending a few hours with their grandparents, and our son was upstairs ignoring us. And even without the kids interrupting us, Steve’s cell phone pulled us apart, ringing incessantly from his pocket.
“Ignore it, Steve,” I murmured against his lips.
“It’s Reston, and we have to leave anyway.” He stepped away from me and answered the phone call before sitting down to tug on the sneakers, grubby with constant wear. “We’re on our way, I swear. Walking out the door as we speak.”
A lie. Despite multiple reminders we needed to leave, Matt was still in his room. Matt and Steve were due at school in ten minutes to catch the bus to this evening’s basketball game. And if the head coach was calling, we had to leave the house now.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Jessica Rakus is a debut novelist, after many, many years of writing practice. She currently lives in Louisiana, after living briefly in seven other states.
More information available at www.JessicaRakusBooks.com
Purchase on Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F9QNWVDF/ref=sr_1_1
Purchase at Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/haven-strong-jessica-rakus/1148809286
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
Jessica Rakus will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner.