Life & Work with RJ Jacobs

Today we’d like to introduce you to RJ Jacobs.

Hi RJ, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started writing when I was in college—mainly short stories and a few poems, but I managed to finish two longer pieces, too. I was proud of them at the time but truthfully, they were awful. I’d heard an English professor say it was important for an aspiring author to move forward regardless, to “keep the pencil moving.” I had no idea how to construct a story, but I enjoyed the creative process, and planned to return to writing sometime after grad school. That “sometime” turned out to be my fortieth birthday, when I realized that if I was going to get serious about writing, it was time. I invested in a laptop and got to work.

My first novel, And Then You Were Gone, was published in 2019, and the follow-up, Somewhere in the Dark, came out in 2020. My next novel, Always the First to Die, will be released this fall.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It was definitely not a smooth road to getting published. I overheard someone at a conference say that if your queries aren’t rejected a hundred times a year, you’re not trying hard enough. I don’t know whether I hit that number, but I probably got close. I considered giving up many, many times. Sometimes, I wasn’t sure why I even kept going–it seemed crazy or self-indulgent to try so hard. I may not love every novel I pick up, but you’ll never hear me criticize another author’s work because I know what it takes to push through discouragement. These days, finding time is probably the biggest challenge. Sometimes I have to write whenever I can find a free moment. A few years ago, I wrote in the hallway of my daughter’s middle school while she was cheerleading using the notes function of my iPhone just to get something accomplished that day.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My genre is technically Mystery/Thriller, but Psychological Suspense is probably the most accurate category. I work as a clinical psychologist, and I’d like to think that understanding pathology and human behavior helps me construct rich complicated characters.

How do you think about luck?
I’ve struggled at times and had to work hard to get things done, but I also recognize I’ve been very lucky. Sometimes that luck has come in the form of meeting someone at a critical time, like my agent, and sometimes it’s been getting especially helpful advice. Getting published takes a lot of humility. My best hope is to always keep listening, working, and growing as an artist.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: rjjacobsauthor.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rjjacobs75/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/R.J.Jacobs27

Image Credits
Jason Myers