We were lucky to catch up with J.R. Mason recently and have shared our conversation below.
J.R. , so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
If I’m being perfectly honest with myself… and you, as confidently as I have always presented to the outside world, I don’t know that my self-esteem and confidence have even fully developed yet – as an author or as a woman, period. I feel like it inconsistently ebbs and flows, and I’m certain I can’t possibly be alone here. Anyone visiting or following me on social media no doubt sees what they assume to be an extroverted author who has no problem cuttin’ up in front of the camera to garner public interest in her literary works. However, the reality is that I have never even thrown release parties, readings, or signings for any of my five books out of a debilitating fear that no one would show up. Overall family support has been nil, so you can’t help but wonder if the bulk of your own family doesn’t even support you, who will? I’ve never even “gone LIVE” alone on social media for the same irrational fear. Oddly enough, as quirky and hilarious as I know I am, I was somehow still convinced that no one would pop in to watch. I’m not even sure where that little voice came from that led me to believe such negativity. Though I don’t condone violence (outside of my books), a quick punch to her throat to quiet her down might have been helpful…
Even the first event I attended as an “author,” I was positive I would sit at my little table in my 10×10 tent and read on my Kindle because I am no one important. Who’s going to want to stop by here for a book from lil ol’ me? A nonfiction book about my unbelievably psychotic dating life, no less – at a local music festival at that! I sold out that day and I’d never talked so much in my life, as the crowd at my table was constant. I will say, that definitely helped a bit with building my confidence because those readers were electing to take a ride and experience my actual life. When readers began requesting a sequel to that book, demanding to know what happened next, I was like, “Okay I must have something here.” So, I kept on writing, sharing my life with the world in a manner that made me appear incredibly confident, all while behind the scenes struggling with diagnosed moderate to severe depression. Oh, THAT’S where the stupid voice came from. It was The Big “D” fighting with me all this time. The question then became, “How am I supposed to develop any level of confidence or self-esteem, especially in this writing journey, when my mind is literally working against me at every turn?” I had to wake up every morning and decide NOT to take all the pills in the house. Many times, I have told people that those books saved my life because my whole thought process was, I can’t just leave it incomplete. I have to finish telling them the story.
While one part of my mind was so encouraging, stating, “You’ve got this! You did it once, you can do it again” – which is what every author needs to hear because contrary to popular belief, writing a book is hard and it’s a skill that not everyone possesses. The fact that I had successfully done it twice should have been empowering. But by the time I had made it to book three, which was a psychological crime thriller, vastly different from the hilarious nonfiction novels I’d published, there went that voice again. This time, she was Imposter Syndrome at her finest. She came dressed to kill; no pun intended. Told me that I shouldn’t be jumping genres so drastically… asked me what I was thinking… if I had seen any other Black women writing in this genre. I hadn’t actually, which was incredibly bothersome. I figured they had to be out there, I just didn’t know how or where to find them. But if there aren’t that many of us, then I should definitely do this because representation matters.
I did the most extensive exploration I had ever done in my entire life. The Stolen Pieces trilogy put everything I’d ever researched in graduate school to whole and utter shame. Was I nervous about creating something of this nature that I had never done before? Absolutely! Passing it on to a fellow thriller author to see if I was even on the right track, she raised some critical questions about my main character that really caused me to sit with the book before deciding that I completely disagreed with her and was going to stand ten toes to the ground with what I had written. “You might love or hate my main character, but there is absolutely no way you will feel indifferent – she will evoke some sort of emotion. And by the time the book is completed, the reader will want more.” At least that’s what my empowered side said, lol… The broken part of me was screaming, “That was *insert string of STRONG expletives here* exhausting! We are NEVER doing this again! You marked writing a thriller off your bucket list, we’re good to go. Live your life with these three books and that’s it.”
To this day, I’m still not sure what happened and how parts two and three of the series even got here. Oh wait, that’s right. The readers behaved so badly that they peer-pressured me into them.
So while my self-esteem should have been blossoming years ago in childhood, it was my closest friends in adulthood, hordes of random strangers following me on social media platforms that I never wanted to join, people from high school who I barely knew… these are the faithfuls who have shown up time and time again, being my biggest cheerleaders, reading and reviewing all of my books. These are the people who have contributed most to any level of confidence I have as an author. And to them, I offer an extremely heartfelt thank you! Had I never embarked on this strange literary journey, I don’t know that I’d still be here today.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
A clever creator by day, and a naughty novelist by night, I penned my memoir series Confessions of A Sane Single Woman and its sequel, Soulmate Setbacks: Confessions II after more than a decade of being single and engaging in a savage search for a soulmate. From there, I went on to write the type of book that reflects the murky space where my dark mind resides – a Pittsburgh-based psychological crime thriller series, Stolen Pieces.
With the recent release of Stolen Pieces III: Hidden Darkness, both series are complete, with the latter now available on Audio. I am currently working on my next release, a dark comedy thriller with the working title of How to K!ll your Neighbors (and get away with it), scheduled for release in late 2025. But before I can focus on that, I’ve been contracted to narrate and produce two upcoming audio thrillers – Progeny by Kenya Moss-Dyme and The Inheritance of Amaya Montgomery by Geletta Shavers, both scheduled for audio release in 2025.
On a more personal note, I received my Bachelor of Arts in journalism and mass communication from Cleveland State University and my Master of Arts in advertising/graphic design/public relations from Point Park University. My guilty pleasures are movies and massages! No judgment, but I’m that author who would prefer to watch the movie over reading the book lol… I also take joy in playing my trumpet, screenplay writing, travel, outdoor fires on cool nights, and reading psychological thrillers.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
In these literary streets, listening, accepting feedback, and developing a thick skin are crucial to survival lol… yes, I said survival because the way some people set out to tear you people online is mind-blowing! I have been so blessed in that area, but I have seen some of the comments made by readers that can be incredibly hurtful. Comments that aren’t constructive and don’t seek to differentiate the author from the work, if that makes any sense.
The only advice I can offer is to try your best not to take any of it personally – yes, it’s hard because so much of us goes into what we write. Also, just accepting the fact that a large amount of what’s “wrong” in your writing will likely be detected by someone else because when it’s our work, we’re often too close to it. Accept the extra eyes and constructive feedback, if offered.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
While on the search to find more Black thriller authors, I came across Tanisha Stewart, a writer who left a video review, voicing how she abhorred my main character lol… But that she enjoyed the book so much, she needed to immediately crack open part two. Once I followed her and realized that she wrote thrillers as well, like Princess Jasmine, I was somehow introduced to a whole new world of some of the darkest, deadliest, most disturbed, Black women writers alive! (No worries, they will take all of that as a compliment.) Tanisha took me under her creepy little wing and got me hooked up with authors like A.A. Lewis and Kenya Moss-Dyme who were both so incredibly helpful and inspirational, respectively. I was invited to join a growing FB group of Black Women who Read & Write Thrillers. They have supported and encouraged me as a writer, shared my work, given me a new completely inappropriate nickname that I LOVE, and are the first to like and engage on social media. If any member didn’t feel like they could do it (whatever IT is) before, after talking to the phenomenal women in that group, they will feel like they can do it now! I went from writing my novels to narrating my own audiobooks! With no clue of what I was doing, I learned as I went, and ended up creating a fully immersive listening experience, complete with tense music and sound effects! I have never been prouder of anything in my life!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jrenecreative.com/books
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_j.r.mason/
- Other: TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@author_j.r.mason
Image Credits
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