Jessica Rose Williams is a writer and simple living blogger who lives in the Peak District. For the last six years she has dedicated her time to simplifying her life, slowing it down and sharing what she has learned along the way. She specialises in minimalism, capsule wardrobes and intentionality. We caught up with her to talk about her new book Enough: Learning to simplify life, let go and walk the path that's truly ours and how all of her experiences so far have contributed to her body of work.
Jessica Rose Williams
For those who are new to your channel, please can you tell us a bit about your values and how these have contributed to your new book Enough?
In terms of values I like to think of them as how I’d like to be remembered. Given the nature of what I do for a living my personal and professional values overlap. My main goal with all my work is to encourage anyone engaging with it to think and to feel. If I can do that then I’ve done my job. My intention with Enough was similar in that I wanted to encourage others to think about their lives, how they live them and motivate them to make positive changes as I did on my own path towards a simpler more intentional life. The book encourages simplicity, introspection and the pursuit of fulfilment through celebrating our individuality and living the life we want to live as opposed to the life we think we should be living.
You have talked a lot about how difficult the last year has been for you on your channel, so how much does writing help you to overcome the most challenging of times?
Writing is a lifeline to me. It helps me channel all the madness and nonsense out of my head and into the physical form which feels like such a relief. I think I’d lose my mind if I didn’t write. I love how non-judgemental the blank page is, how it holds unlimited space for us to express our most inner thoughts and feelings and try to make sense of them. I find writing meditative and a great way to practice mindfulness because it brings me back into my body and the present moment. Everything slows down when I write and even if I write nothing but jibberish I feel as though I’ve lightened my load.
You have thousands of loyal followers, so how has their response been to your book so far?
Really positive. When I set out to write the book I took all expectations away to relieve any pressure I was putting on myself. I told myself to write as if nobody would read it and this was very freeing for me. My only intention was to write something truthful, honest and heartfelt. After that it was on its own and all I could do was hope it found its way into the right hands. It’s amazing to see that intention has translated into how others are interpreting it when I pluck up the courage to read the reviews.
Running your own channel and website must be time consuming tasks on their own so how did you organise your days to fit in writing your book?
I took a step back from the day to day tasks in order to write the book. If I hadn’t made it my number one priority I don’t think it would have ever been written. I’ve wanted to write a book since I can remember and when dreams mean a lot to me I find them harder to make time for because my fear of failure intensifies. I had to face this head on last year and it taught me a lot about what I’m actually capable of. Focusing on writing the book over the regular blog stuff I’m used to was a really scary thing to do because I’m much more of an instant gratification kind of person but it’s paid off and I’ll always be glad I took a leap of faith towards myself.
You are a very gifted writer so is this something you have always excelled in or a passion that you embarked on later in life?
Thank you, I certainly don’t think of myself this way. My intention with writing has always been to write what I know and bare my soul in a way that feels comfortable for me so others might benefit. Publishing my writing wasn’t something I had the confidence to do until my mid twenties. It took a lot of courage and self-belief to believe I could write anything worth reading.
At what point did you realise that your content would translate well into a book format?
It was the magnitude of writing a book that intimidated me. I was talking to a fellow creative about this once and he said that it’s just a series of blog posts. As soon as he said this I could envisage my writing and the themes I like to unpick in book format. It also helped me break down such a big project into bitesize chunks.
For anyone who is looking to launch their own You Tube channel- what are your tips for starting out and how do you continue to build your audience?
Focus on storytelling. Technology, algorithms and the zeitgeist will inevitably evolve but our love of storytelling and hearing stories will never change. Learn how to tell good stories and apply this to your work. This is how you reach people in a way that truly matters. This is how you can connect with like-minded hearts through a screen. Know that your story and the stories you wish to tell are valid, important and worth sharing. In terms of building an audience the best advice I ever got was to focus on creating quality content and connecting with the audience you already have. The cream will always rise to the top.
Please can you tell us what a typical day looks like for you when you are filming.
I usually plan a theme for each video with key points I want to make without overplanning as I like them to feel natural. I go about my usual day to day life with these in mind and take the audience along with me. My vlogs are usually shot over a few days where I pick and choose which snippets to include. I like to edit my vlogs as I go so I don’t have lots of footage to sift through and organise at the end.
What inspires you to come up with new ideas for your content and is this the most challenging part of working for yourself?
I’m forever inspired by real life and the struggles we face. On top of that I get a lot of inspiration from watching other bloggers I admire and reading as much as I can. I go through phases when it comes to inspiration and I try not to force it too much but at the same time I have to have some discipline or else I’d go missing for weeks at a time.
What is next for you?
Right now I’m really enjoying getting back to my day to day filming and blogging but not too far in the distant future I’d love to have a go at writing fiction.
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