Daily Inspiration: Meet Jaqueta Abbey

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jaqueta Abbey

Hi Jaqueta, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve loved books and reading for as long as I can remember. Growing up, mom and grandmother were avid romance readers—I’m talking a basement filled with floor-to-ceiling bookcases filled with Danielle Steel, Brenda Jackson, and so many other authors. Each week my mom would take my sister and I to the library to pick up more books, and every day after school, I wasn’t allowed to watch TV until I wrote her a story.

In college, I continued exploring my passion for storytelling by majoring in Communication Studies with a concentration in Media Studies & Production, and minored in Writing for the Screen & Stage. It was the first time I not only finished a piece, but had others read it and act it out.

Fast forward to November 2013, where all the pieces fell into place for me to get serious about writing. I’d already decided to take part in National Novel Writing Month, in which you write 50,000 words of a novel in November (30 days), and at the same time, I got laid off from a job and received a small severance package that allowed me to completely focus on writing for a bit. I self-published that novel in 2016, along with another, then took a break from self-publishing until 2023. During that break, I started down the traditional publishing path, wrote two other novels, queried agents, and landed my amazing agent. Disillusioned by how slowly publishing moves and treats authors of color, I decided to take matters into my own hand and self-publish again. Over the course of the last year (2023-2024), I’ve self-published 8 novellas and shorter works.

Currently, I’m a hybrid author, meaning I’m self-publishing some work (steamy romances under the pen name, Simone J. Maxwell) and I have an agent that represents other work (romantic comedies and women’s fiction under the pen name Jax McQueen).

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 definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. I think my current biggest challenge comes from trying to balance being a creative with paying the bills. Spinning stories is something I feel called to do, but it’s not the most lucrative thing. Another challenge is accepting that there’s a bit of luck at play—luck in your book landing on the right person’s desk at the right time. Luck in an influencer coming across your book, loving it, and making it go viral. I absolutely believe there are readers for every book, but it’s hard to get seen when there are so many other great books out there.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As Simone J. Maxwell, I specialize in “steamy stories to sate your wanderlust.” My stories are shorter reads with steamy scenes, wanderlust-worthy locales, and complex characters who always get their Happy Ever After.

As Jax McQueen, I write shenanigan-filled stories featuring hot mess heroines finding love and laughs as they embrace absurdity of everyday life.

I think what sets me apart from others is my ability to find the humor in every day life and weave it into my work. For example, someone might go shopping for a storage container and get fed up after 10 minutes of searching for a matching lid to no avail. Meanwhile, my brain thinks about how I can incorporate that into my writing, and BOOM—this becomes a recurring nightmare for an anal, Type-A character.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Romance will continue to thrive—even more than it is now. Life can often be hard and messy, and these books provide a form of escapism, even if it’s only temporary. Going into a romance book, readers know it’s going to end on a happy note and they’ll finish with warm fuzzies. A lot of people are going to need those warm fuzzies over the next few years.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://simonejmaxwell.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonejwrites
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SimoneJWrites
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Simone-J.-Maxwell/author/B0C3PFLFVP