Jessica Lourey is my first guest who is a writer and a full-time writing teacher.In this episode of the podcast we talk about her Murder by Month mysteries, and also about her non-fiction book, Rewrite Your Life, an amazing book, which I am currently pouring through.I use writing every day to keep myself sane. I journal each morning, which helps me to work though some of my garbage, and it also sometimes helps me to know what I'm thinking. I wrote a memoir about ten years I spent in a cult in the 1990s, and writing that book was incredibly healing. And, of course, I also write fiction, which makes me happy, keeps me sane, and hopefully brings a little more light into the world.If you have any interest in writing at all, I encourage you to listen to my chat with Jessica. We have a lovely time discussing writing, reading, healing and more.You can find out more about today's guest, Jessica Lourey, and all her books on her website JessicaLourey.com. You can also find her on Twitter @JessLourey.Links and resources mentioned in this episodeClick on any of the book covers to go to Jessica's books on AmazonJessica's TEDx talk about using fiction to rewrite your life [12.54 minutes]The writing Workshops and Online Courses that Jessica offersBouchercon, the World Mystery Conference. This year it's in Toronto, Canada on October 12 to 15, and Jessica will be there!Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher.You can also click here to watch the interview on YouTube.Transcription of Interview with Jessica LoureyAlexandra: Hi, everyone. I'm Alexandra Amor. This is It's a Mystery Podcast. And I'm here today with Jessica Lourey. Hi, Jessica.Jessica: Hi, Alexandra. Thanks for having me.Alexandra: Oh, you're so welcome. It's great to have you here. I'm excited to talk about your books. So let me introduce you to our listeners. Jessica Lourey is best known for her critically-acclaimed "Murder-by-Month Mysteries", which have earned multiple starred reviews from Library Journal and Booklist. The latter writing her books are a splendid mix of humor and suspense. Jessica also writes Sword and Sorcery fantasy as Albert Lea...is that how I pronounce Lea, L-E-A?Jessica: That's right. Yup.Alexandra: And edge-of-your-seat YA adventure as J.H. Lourey. And she's also branching out into literary fiction under her given name. So welcome, Jessica. It's great to have you here today.Jessica: I'm excited to be here.Alexandra: We're going to talk mostly about your "Murder-by-Month Mysteries". And the main character is...now, I'm pronouncing her name in my head because I'm reading the first one right now, Mira James. Is that how you pronounce it? Jessica: That is how I pronounce it but so many readers pronounce it Myra James. I will say Mira.Alexandra: Yeah. Okay. Good. I was saying Mira too.Jessica: Okay. Good, good.Alexandra: Yeah. Yes. I has a woman I used to get pedicures from and her name was Mira. And that's how she spelled it so.Jessica: Okay, good. Perfect.Alexandra: There you go. So Mira is an urban woman and I would sort of describe her as complicated if I was being generous and also maybe trying to get her shit together sort of.Jessica: I like this already.Alexandra: Okay. Good. But she's moving at the very beginning of "May Day", the first book, she's moving to rural Minnesota. Why don't you tell us a little bit about more about her?Jessica: "May Day" was my very first book that I got published and so it's a little rough around the edges. But when I was writing it, my vision at the time was to deal with what I was dealing with as a woman who moved from Minneapolis to a super small town. And everybody knew each other and it was sort of this overwhelming cultural block that I just...