No. I loved writing stories, even when I first learned to read and write. It was something I enjoyed, but my family always said you couldn't make a living off careers like writing. They tried to steer me toward things like Engineering or being a lawyer. I floundered in college, not being able to settle on a degree because nothing felt right. It wasn't until my husband encouraged me to write full-time that I finally saw my writing as an actual career option.
The first one (Moonlight Haunting, written as Jessica Coulter Smith). It was the first book I completed and submitted to a publisher. I've learned a lot since then, and while I've made some adjustments to Moonlight Haunting since it first released in 2008, I don't feel it's the best representation of my writing. I've grown as an author over the years and refined my craft. I still love that storyline, but the writing is very rough compared to how I write now.
Yes, I do. I generally read the ones at BookBub and retailers, even though I do, on occasion, venture over to Goodreads. The good reviews make me smile, but I tried to take something away from the bad ones too. I like knowing why a reader didn't enjoy a book. Was my writing style just not right for them? Did they hate the characters? And same for favorable reviews - what exactly did they love about it?
