AUTHOR: @JessicaBFry Jessica B. Fry for non fiction, and J.M. Butler for  fiction.

Hi Jessica! This is your second year at the Wattpad Block Party. What will you be giving us this time around? 

This year I'm doing a crossover interview. A lot of my readers have asked similar questions about my leading ladies from Tue-Rah, Mermaid, Ragnarok, and Battle for the Lunar Realms. So I did a story/interview involving all of them.

A mash-up, eh? Clever! 

You're a 'seasoned' Block Party author now. How was the experience? 

The Block Party was a great experience the first time through. I had never been involved in such a large group of authors, and I had the privilege of discovering some great new stories to read. There's so many great and fun people who can tell entertaining stories, and I enjoy reading and promoting books by people like that. The only downside to last year's was that right as the block party started, my husband and I had a huge jury trial case that required a lot of our time. So I didn't have as much time to spend reading and chatting with the authors as I wanted. 

That's right! You're an attorney by day, and author by night. That is seriously inspirational! Tell us about that. 

I run a law firm with my husband as well as a freelance writing business and tutoring side business. Writing isn't just one of my favorite things to do. It's one of the best excuses I've ever had for learning new things. So, while I'm not much good at knife throwing, dancing, ziplining, scorpion handling, acting, carving, sword fighting, and so on, I have gotten to at least try them and so much more. And boy, is it fun! Most of the time. For the record, scorpion legs are as scratchy as they look. *  

Yikes! You're a regular Indiana Jones!! Ha ha! But I digress... What advice do you have for aspiring authors? 

Keep writing. It really doesn't matter how old you are or how young you are or what your experience is. You can do it. You just have to get out there and work hard. I actually got my first story officially published when I was a young teen, and when I was about 15, I decided I wanted to run my own freelance writing business. I failed a lot. My rejection to acceptance ratio was over 20 to 1, and I had no idea what I was doing. But I kept at it, and I managed to get a lot of valuable opportunities and experience. I will add this little caveat though. If you are young when your first stories get published, there's a better than likely chance that you'll be quite embarrassed about them when you're older and more mature. So while I strongly encourage young writers to seek publication of short stories and even full length works, I don't recommend jumping into self publishing. Stories, essays, and articles tend to be more forgiving, and give you greater opportunities to grow and develop. Plus when you get into some anthologies and magazines, you'll hopefully get to work with some editors and other professionals who will help you hone your writing. With self publishing straight out of the corral, you run the risk of skipping all the essential development points. (I could share some really embarrassing stories that my writing peers and I look back on now, but I'll keep myself focused for now. ;) Sometimes there's just no way to avoid embarrassment, but if you get good feedback and editing, it'll minimize it.) 

That is excellent advice. You only have one shot at making a first impression, right? 

Remind us again. Who are your favorite authors? 

Oh, like so many authors, it's hard to narrow it down. If I had to though, I would have to say J.R.R. Tolkien, John Grisham, C.S. Lewis, O'Henry, Mark Twain, George MacDonald, Flannery O'Connor, Jane Austen, Shakespeare. And actually some other fantastic published writers who can be found on Wattpad: @CaroleMcDonnell @MoonZephyr @TaranMatharu and @SarahBensonBooks Books by all of these authors are the ones that I go back to read over and over again. *

All great Wattpadders! BTW, I'm sure you know, @SarahBensonBooks is also at the Block Party? 

Knowing what you've learned, are you doing anything differently this time around? 

Not really except for trying to avoid any surprise cases. That's part of why I asked for an earlier date. The end of the month always seems to get very busy. And I've got some new scheduling and multi tasking tricks I'm working on. Hopefully, we're past the busiest stint for awhile. This time the surprise cases chose to show up right in the middle of my prep for some book releases, so that was postponed. But flexibility is key. Things may not happen when we want them to, but just keep trying and eventually it works out.

It's hard to imagine you have a moment of free time, given your time writing, practicing law, or doing your crazy, death-defying circus act with poisonous creatures :) ... but I'd be remiss if I didn't ask if there isn't anything else?

My husband and I host a small group for some of the high school students, and we participate as counselors. It's so much fun. On most Sunday nights, a group will come over, and I'll whip something up liked quesadillas or beef stew, and we'll have great conversations, hangout time, and just enjoy it. I love working with the younger writers in particular and talking story with them.*

Whoa. That makes me want to sweat just thinking about it. Somebody bring me some water! Which reminds me, you drank a ton of ice-water the last we spoke. Do you still? It's SUMMER after all! ;) 

 Absolutely. As much ice water as I can get my hands on. And it goes best chilled with lemon and cucumber.

I loved your sage writing tips the last time we spoke. Can you repeat some of them, please? 

I have stashes of notebooks everywhere I go so that I can always get my hands on a notebook or a tablet. And I make the most of every snippet of time I can find. Five minutes of writing time here or there quickly adds up. I don't actually have any set writing routine. My preference is to write late at night, but law firm demands and client meetings generally work best when set in the morning so that afternoons are available for trials and so forth. Fortunately, my husband handles the litigation component, so I stay at the office and get to work on various projects while he goes and argues. Which works great for me because I'm more of an introvert.*

Yes. You're a shy, knife wielding, arachnid-handling, lawyer. Sounds like a new interview to me! 

Thanks so much for doing this!

Thank you, Jessica! 

*answers taken from my previous conversation with Jessica.