Meet J.r. Rice

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful J.r. Rice. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with J.R. below.

J.R., we are so deeply grateful to you for opening up about your journey with mental health in the hops that it can help someone who might be going through something similar. Can you talk to us about your mental health journey and how you overcame or persisted despite any issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

As a Black man from Oakland, CA, I have faced many hardships and obstacles, but my journey with mental health has been my biggest challenge. However, I have come to accept that being bipolar is part of my identity, and I want to encourage others to embrace the “ups and downs” as the beauty of mental health.

My own journey began at thirteen when I received devastating news about my best friend’s passing from a car accident. That tragic moment triggered overwhelming emotions, causing me to run away from home, and culminating in my first panic attack. This event was a pivotal experience that taught me the importance of acknowledging and managing my feelings.

Through therapy, medication, self-care and the support of friends and family, I have learned valuable coping strategies to help me find peace in my life. I want to emphasize that experiencing intense emotions does not mean you are broken. Your moods do not define you. Instead, you can embrace the positive and find ways to cope with the difficult times.

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 am a Black man, writer, teacher, event host & curator, and spoken word artist, born and raised in Oakland, California. I have a B.A in Creative Writing and an English Education teaching credential from California State University of Long Beach. While studying abroad in Greece, I was mentored by the author, George Crane. My novel, Broken Pencils earned the 2024 Literary Titan Gold Book Award, 2024 Pencraft Summer Best Book Award winner for Young Adult Coming of Age Fiction, and the 2024 Hawthorne Prize Finalist for Best Fiction. My poetry collection, I Was, Am, Will Be, is a continuation in the Broken Pencils series.

In addition to my writing accolades, I am an active spoken-word artist who has performed at various Bay Area events including Oakland First Fridays, Cal State San Marcos, Oakland Public Library, Beast Crawl Literary Festival, Contra Costa Crisis Center Poetry Fundraiser, UCSF Black Caucus, Cobiz Creative Art Expo, Literary Speakeasy, Hayward Lit Fest, and Ruckus And Revival/Tourettes without Regrets. I won 1st place at the 27th Annual Las Positas College Poetry Slam and 2nd place at the Gold.Beams Second Mondays competition in March 2023 and June 2024. I was a semi-finalist in the 2023 Berkeley Poetry Slam Finals. I am also the host and curator of Social Saturdays, a poetry showcase series in Oakland, CA.

In terms of future endeavors, I plan to develop my novel, Broken Pencils even further with an audiobook narrated by yours truly, along with a student reader’s guide that could be implemented within the classroom. In addition to the audiobook and reader’s guide, I plan to continue the Broken Pencils by showcasing Jonah’s journey within a poetry collection called, I WAS, AM, WILL BE. Lastly, be on the lookout for Broken Pencils Part 2, but instead of the Bay Area, this time Jonah is searching for his purpose in Europe…

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?

My journey toward becoming a professional author hasn’t been easy by far, but along the way I learned how to use resilience, dedication, and faith to make my dreams possible, as in the case of the debut novel, Broken Pencils.

After finishing my novel first draft out of college in 2009, I went into overload and submitted my novel to as many publishers as I could, only to receive countless flood rejection letters and emails. “Unfortunately, your book is just not the right fit for us,” “Your book has potential, and we wish you the best,” “Please try again,” were common criticisms; however, I would take heed of their comments, go back and revise the novel so that the story was better, and then, as I did before, I would submit it again to different publishers and agencies, only to receive more rejection. I wrote a third draft and then a fourth, and a fifth…sixth…tenth, yet more and more rejection.

Years, months, days went by where I simply gave up on the project, leaving my dream on the shelf to dry up like a raisin in the sun. On top of the rejection, I had to cope with the loss of my father and friend, which added to the bitterness that perhaps my dream was deferred. Though the grief was unbearable at times, I was able to stay strong through the support of my loved ones. A deeper appreciation of life had emerged from the grief and despair. A motivation had arisen to use every ounce of my talents and embrace the life I have. In honor of my father and friend’s memory, I dedicated Broken Pencils in their names.

At one point, I had lost all resilience, dedication, and faith, but a funny thing happened back in 2020. After feeling deep in grief, I decided to leave Oakland and go live and teach on the Canary Islands in Spain for three years, but upon feeling homesick, I returned to America a few months prior to COVID. So like most people on lockdown I was stuck inside with my Netflix, books, Cheez-its, bored as hell, and realizing that my life wasn’t getting any younger. I dusted off the old Google Doc file and opened my novel draft after going almost five years since my last edits. Within a year, I was able to rewrite Broken Pencils to where the story needed to be and then submitted my final draft to a variety of publishers and agencies, once again.

The most unexpected lesson learned was that you will lose and get rejected a thousand times, so that you will appreciate that one win forever. In December 2022, a small indie press called Tea with Coffee Media picked up and read my manuscript out of hundred submissions. The novel received the green light of approval from everyone on the staff, and the following night, they contacted me to see if my book had been published. On June 11th, 2024, Broken Pencils was released out into the world after living fifteen long years as a dream deferred. This experience taught me the value of resilence, the impact of dedication, and the power of faith. So my advice to other writers and artist is to stay resilient, stay dedicated, and always keep your faith in what you believe in because your dreams can become a reality.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

One of my biggest challenges has been balancing my roles and staying effective in each one. I am a full-time English teacher who works Monday to Friday, forty hours a week, and outside of work, I occupy my time as an author, spoken-word artist, event host & curator, content creator, and vendor. Although I feel that I highly skilled in each role, a fear of mine is becoming the “Jack of all trades, master of none,” so I often have anxiety about which role to dedicate the most time to.

The gift and the curse lie in that I am blessed to be talented as a writer, teacher, and spoken word artist, yet burdened by the inability to fully commit to one without regretting the others. Oftentimes, I repeat this quote from Henry Thoreau: “My life has been the poem I would have writ. But I could not both live and utter it.”

In spite of the stress of time management, I feel that the best option is reprioritizing my schedule to provide my time for my writing career. I plan to take on a lighter work schedule and occupy more time toward building my other roles and allowing more opportunities just to do what I love: WRITE!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

J.R. Rice

Cover Art © 2024 by Jason Rodriquez

@art87jr www.thewonderlandgallery.com

Author photo taken by Christian Medina @wanderingquimera

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