Meet J’nell Ciesielski

We were lucky to catch up with J’nell Ciesielski recently and have shared our conversation below.

J’nell, so happy to have you with us today. You are such a creative person, but have you ever had any sort of creativity block along the way? If so, can you talk to us about how you overcame or beat it?

This is such a relevant question for me right now! Recently I battled a fortress of writer’s block and let me tell you, it’s not a fun place to be. You’re assailed by doubts. Overthinking or underthinking paralyze you. Fog descends on your brain as plot threads refuse to move forward. And worst of all, you can feel that well of creativity that you so carefully tend shriveling up to dust inside you. You throw your hands in the air and declare yourself a useless hack.
First of all, you’re not useless. Secondly, if you’ve come this far and want to keep going then you’re not a hack. Hacks are people who give up and you’re better than that.
So what do I do when I hit this wall?
1. I recognize when it’s happening. Not just a blip for a few minutes or hours, but days or even weeks that stretch on in a wasteland of blank screens with only your blinking cursor to keep you company. Once you accept it’s happening, then you can start working on loosening up the brain cells instead of trying to force words that will not come.
2. Step away. Sometimes when we sit and stare at or think about a problem too much, answers refuse to come. Get out of that chair, walk around, go make lunch, take a nap, go for a drive, take a mini vacation. Go do something that takes your mind off the problem and helps your brain relax. Why else do you think you get your best ideas in the shower or while driving? It’s because your brain can take a breather from over analyzing.
3. Refill that creative well. What gets your imagination sparking? What excites you to put new words together? What opens up a new perspective? Visiting art galleries, reading, listening to music, people watching. Anything that gets that creative juice flowing is important to your process as a creator because these are the things that feed our soul, a soul that we then want to spill onto paper. For me it’s watching movies. I’m a visual person so having imagery I can play in my head is so helpful to creating new scenes and thinking outside the box I’ve put myself in.
4. Go easy on yourself. Sometimes you just need a break. Every day factors of life such as kids, sickness, and bills can stress us out and that takes a toll on your creativity. You don’t need to prove you’re Superman or Superwoman so give yourself some grace when things aren’t going smoothly.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’ve been a full time writer since 2010. My debut novel, Among the Poppies, was published in 2018 and since then I have written 8 full length novels and three novellas as part of collaborative novels. So far, my stories have been set in the first half of the 20th century, but I’d also love to jump into the American Revolution, Scottish Jacobites, and the Gilded Age all with my signature glitz and adventure. I was born to tell stories. They well up inside me until I’m bursting to get them onto the page. It’s through stories I feel I can best express myself and explore all those intricacies of being human.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Three qualities have helped to shape me as a writer and have kept my career going all these years.
1. Do your research. Especially if you’re a historical writer. The devil is in the details and to bring any world to life you have to know everything you possibly can about it. What did they eat? How did they speak? What was happening socially/politically/economically? If you don’t pinpoint the correct details, it looks sloppy and readers won’t like it.
2. Do the work. Even when it’s hard, even if you don’t think it’s good, even if you feel like giving up. Over 90% of people who start out writing a book quit. The only ones who succeed are the ones who sit in that chair and have the discipline to keep going.
3. Have thick skin. The publishing industry is tough, tough, tough. You will get rejected. You will get bad reviews. You will get nasty comments. You will have to go through many many edits to get the manuscript perfect. It’s going to be painful and tears will be shed. But that’s how it goes. Give yourself a day to lament then get right back to work the next day (see point 2 above). Don’t see them as obstacles, see them as challenges to make yourself and your work better. To quote the great Tom Hanks form A League of Their Own: “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it.”

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

Embrace the Dawn by Kathleen Morgan was the book that kicked off my desire to become a full time writer. I’ve been a huge reader my entire life, but when I opened this book my freshman year of college, it changed something inside me. One, it kindled my passion for all things Scottish. Two, it made me realize that if I didn’t like a plot twist or character then I simply needed to write my own story the way I wanted to tell it. Such freedom!
The most valuable piece of advice I ever received was ‘you can’t fix a blank page’. In other words, get the story written. You can always go back and fix it later.

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