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About Jessica Yinka Thomas
Jessica Yinka Thomas is a novelist with a background in toy design and social entrepreneurship. As managing director of the Center for Sustainable Enterprise at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, she has authored several award-winning academic articles. Jessica has worked as a designer of interactive educational toys, as the director of a social enterprise business plan competition and as a program manager for a community development nonprofit. How Not to Save the World is her first novel. Jessica’s writing highlights her twin passions for technological innovation and for creating significant social change through entrepreneurial ventures.
Growing up in West Africa and traveling around the world has provided her with a rich background from which to draw in her writing. She lives in Arlington, VA with her husband, Jeff Forbes and their son Xavier. Jessica enjoys knitting in the winter and competing in triathlons during the summer. She holds a BS in Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
The Interview
What inspired you to write your first book?
I started out writing nonfiction travel stories as I traveled around the world in my twenties. I read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron while traveling across Australia and wrote in big letters at the close of the book, “I WILL WRITE A NOVEL.” That was 13 years ago. I’m inspired to write because I see storytelling as a compelling mode to engage people in big ideas. My hope is that everyone who reads my work will think about how they can find their personal path to leaving this world better than the way they found it. I also just love writing. I’ve never had a moment of writer’s block. The page is the one place I can funnel all of the ideas swirling around in my head. With a generous amount of editing, those ideas can be transformed into a story and even a novel, or two or three.
What books have influenced your life the most?
The authors whose books have greatly influenced me and in particular my writing span the literary spectrum. I devour the writings of William Gibson for the brilliant cyber worlds that he creates. Janet Evanovich’s early work inspired me to create a spunky kick-ass female character. Jhumpa Lahiri and Zadie Smith encouraged me to gaze into our collective soul. And finally the great authors on social impact and sustainability, Muhammad Yunus’s Creating a World without Poverty, David Bornstein’s How to Change the World, Jacqueline Novogratz’s The Blue Sweater, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s Half the Sky drove me to write a book that is a call to action for social justice.
What are your current projects?
I’m working on a sequel to How Not to Save the World, which is the second book in the Remi Austin Adventures trilogy. The sequel is tentatively titled How Not to Make Friends. I’m shooting to complete it this year. I don't want to give too much away but here is a sneak peek. How Not to Make Friends is a suspense novel set in a world of high culture, high fashion and high-tech gadgetry, about a band of three friends who make a pact to solve the world’s problems, big and small.
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
Everything and nothing. I could edit How Not to Save the World forever but after 10 years and 25 drafts I had to call it complete. Sometimes, when I do book readings, I’ll edit the book on the fly, during the reading. But really, I wouldn’t change a thing about the final print version. I’m focusing all of my creative energy on the sequel.
What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author?
All the criticism I have received has been constructive so I don’t find any of it tough, really. I know that it can either help strengthen my writing, give me a better sense of my target audience or toughen my writer’s skin.
What has been the best compliment?
Strangers writing me to ask me detailed questions about the novel. I can tell that they have really connected with the characters and the story. That still blows me away!
Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers?
I certainly wouldn’t consider myself an expert but I do have two pieces of advice for aspiring writers out there.
Write what you love! I’ve taken my inspiration from the world around me and from the parts of life that I love. I weave my travel experiences into my writing, my passion for technological innovation and my personal vision for creating systemic social change. The story in How Not to Save the World evolved from a desire to create a compelling story that would include all of those elements.
Write every day! Even if it’s only 30 seconds of making notes on your phone or 5 minutes on the computer at the end of the day. I discovered a great app called Dragon Dictation that transcribes audio. So, I will “write” on my commute to work, capturing ideas along the way, but only at red lights, of course. The woman who runs my fitness class is probably frustrated that I will often pick up my phone in between sets and make notes about dialogue, character development, settings, etc. She probably thinks I’m texting my friends, but it keeps my mind distracted during the bicep curls and keeps me writing!
What is your favorite quality about yourself?
My perseverance. The process of writing and publishing my first novel has been quite a challenge! I wrote How Not to Save the World over the course of 10 years while juggling a day job, grad school, a family, and an attempt at a social life. I spent another 4 years trying to publish the novel. First, through a small local publisher that went out of business. Then, after finally finding a literary agent, collecting glowing rejection letters from all the big publishing houses. And finally, making a commitment to self-publishing the book. It’s been a long, bumpy road and I’m so glad I hung in there the whole way!
What is your least favorite quality about yourself?
My tendency to flip on the Housewives of some town or another whenever I’m looking for a distraction from writing. Thankfully it only takes a few minutes of watching before I realize I would rather be writing.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
I welcome feedback from readers. Part of my marketing strategy includes participating in book club discussions about the novel. This has actually provided fantastic feedback for me as a writer and as I work towards completing the sequel to How Not to Save the World. So please connect with me on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/J-Yinka-Thomas-Author/126522400703035), Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/jyinkathomas), Google+ (https://plus.google.com/u/0/103171471354420883556/posts) or via email (jyinkathomas@gmail.com). Thank you!
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