Meet J.E. Thomas

We recently connected with J.E. Thomas and have shared our conversation below.

J.E., looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I credit my late mother with cultivating my work ethic. My dad was in the military and deployed overseas during my early years. While he was away, my mother raised my brother and me while also working full-time and taking continuing education classes. She led by example and, consciously and subconsciously, I modeled myself after her.

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?

I love good books, great food, fun-loving pets and friendly people.

I grew up near Colorado’s Front Range mountains and earned three degrees—bachelors’ degrees in Mass Communications and Political Science, plus a master’s degree in Public Communications—in five years. (See what I mean about mirroring my mother’s work ethic!) Before launching a full-time writing career, I worked in corporate, health care and education communications and as a freelance journalist.

I started writing books—a lifelong goal—in 2021.

Levine Querido published my debut middle grade novel, Control Freaks, in 2023. The same publisher will release my second book, The AI Incident, in July 2025. My books feature characters who have a lot to say but don’t often take center stage. They’re the nerdy kid who want to become the world’s greatest inventor, the boy who stresses about choosing between his dad and stepdad, the girl with the birthmark right in the middle of her forehead, the boy everyone avoids because he’s obsessed with solving harmful algae blooms in the oceans, and the unluckiest kid in Colorado foster care.

One of the things that makes me happiest about the stories I’m putting into the world is that, inevitably, when I visit schools, students of every background say they found at least one character who was similar to them. Although the characters’ situations may not mirror theirs exactly, the issues they face–lack of self-confidence, blended family concerns, difficulty making friends, and loneliness–are common threads for many. And the fact that my books are full of wacky, age-appropriate humor makes them compelling for middle schoolers and fun for readers of every age.

I believe that giving back is hugely important, so I make it a point to teach writing seminars and speak with hundreds of school-age readers and aspiring writers each year.

On the personal front, I’m learning Spanish, European Portuguese and crocheting in my free time.

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?

Strong oral, reading and writing skills were essential during my journey.

Although the common thread in my career is public relations/marketing, I’ve held positions in telecommunications, health care, higher education, journalism, non-profits and independent schools. Knowing how to learn quickly and cultivating the ability to contribute in a measurable way while getting up-to-speed in new jobs enabled me to transition from role-to-role and from industry-to-industry.

My advice to those early in their journey is actually something my first boss said, which was: Work to live; don’t live to work. I was only 23 at the time, so I didn’t understand that advice then. As a result, I spent years living a very unbalanced life.

My hope is that those who are early in their journey recognize the wisdom in my first boss’s advice before decades pass by.

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

This is a great question!

I actually started living this way a few years ago. I decided to pursue my top bucket list item of authoring a book in 2021. I’m now focused on completing other bucket list items such as becoming multi-lingual (this is so, so challenging now; I wish I’d started this task years ago); experiencing living abroad; cleaning out my email inbox, which may actually take a full decade, lol; and becoming the best version of myself possible.

When I first started this quest, my goal was to die without regrets. That’s a popular saying, but I no longer think it is possible.

I’ll always regret not trying harder to go away to college, not spending more quality time with my parents, not visiting Japan with my husband (a U.S. Marine) when he was stationed there, holding on to some relationships for too long and letting others go too soon…and many more life events I can’t change.

My goal now is, as I mentioned above, to acknowledge those past missteps, avoid repeating them and become the best version of myself possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jethomasauthor.com
• Instagram: @jethomasauthor
• Youtube: @jethomasauthor
• Other: BlueSky: @ jethomasauthor.bsky.social

Image Credits

Jan Thomas