My Life Doesn’t Measure Up to a Lot of What’s Out There.


Matt: Tell us a little about you?

Jess: I was born in Austria and lived in Germany, Mexico and Spain, as well as travelling to a lot of other places too, before I moved to North Wales. I’ve been married for 20 years and have 9 children! Only 5 are at home the other 4 are all grown up.

Matt: That’s a lot of travelling and a lot of kids!

Jess: My childhood was very nomadic. That’s where my interest in writing came from because my family travelled during school term time so my homework was always to keep a journal about my experiences.

Matt: With 9 children you must have a lot of funny stories.

Jess: Yes, some days its organised chaos and other days its just chaos! I remember being pregnant and then school holidays started and I had 4 children home. One day I ask the boys to deliver a letter to our neighbour which had accidentally been included in our post. Next thing I knew there was noise from the roof! The boys had climbed onto the flat roof at the back of our house and were making a paper aeroplane out of the letter to deliver it!

Matt: Oh my goodness! So when did you decide to write a book?

Jess: When the children were young I used to up with them during the night. I found myself posting funny stories on my social media and with friends living around the world in different time zones I’d always get a response. Then one day a long standing friend contacted me to say I should write these stories down.

Matt: So what happened next?

Jess: Well 15 years later a friend told me she had done the PublishU ‘Writing My Book’ course and how it had helped her write and publish her book. I thought that is just what I need. The course really helped me structure my time, it kept me accountable and most importantly gave me a community of peers to talk things through with.

Matt: So now you are the globally published author of ’Moments in Mummydom’, what is it about?

Jess: It’s the story of one mum and what she has gone through during the last year. The good, the bad, the ugly and the in between. There are the funny things, stressy things and hard things. It is a real snapshot of family life. I kept her as ‘mummy’ because when you become a parent you loose a part of yourself and gain a whole side too. For example my kids parents are in my phone as Alfie’s mum or Sharon’s. So I’ve kept this mum as ‘mummy’ and not given her a name so that everyone can relate to her.

Matt: So your readers are going to laugh, cry, roll their eyes and roll on the floor laughing but what is your highest hope for your book?

Jess: It’s easy to look at social media and get in the comparison game and that can really get you down. I don’t know about you but my life doesn’t measure up with a lot of what’s out there. This kind of airbrushed family thing. It is not like that a lot of the time. So I want it to be a snapshot of real, of just refreshingly real. Also a chance for people to just realise I'm not the only one and that's good to know.

‍