Meet Jess - Owner of ITN Publishing

Mike said it best in his introduction blog post (check it out if you haven’t already!), writing about yourself is hard. All I can think of as I write this is Dory in the Fishaholics scene from Finding Nemo. “Hi, I’m Dori and well.. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a fish….” Clearly, I'm not Dori, and I love a good Tuna sandwich, but I don’t generally prefer fish. Not that fish is or is not a defining factor of me… I’m not off to a great start, am I?

So how do I define me? First and foremost, I am a child of God. I say that as much as a reminder for me as an introduction. Like many of us, my relationship with God has it’s ups and downs, but my golly I am grateful for the place He brought me out of and the place He is leading me to. In The Name Publishing has become a mirror of my love for Jesus as we get to help tell the stories that He’s given others, and create platforms like Power Magazine, which has truly become a love letter to God.

Outside of my faith and the work I do with ITN, I’m a pretty average person. I write faith-based psychological thrillers (weird, I know), and children’s books. I’ve always said that in writing

thrillers I am able to explore my own experiences, and in children’s books I’m able to heal them. There’s never been a time in my life when I didn’t want to write. Storytelling comes as naturally as breathing. The sitting down and writing part isn’t quite as fluid, but we’re getting there with novel three.

Along with the written creativity, I am an avid painter. I love painting anything to do with the sea and boats and have more recently gotten into scenic/landscape paintings. While I normally have the attention span of a goldfish (or a Dory), I can get lost in a painting for hours. There’s something so cathartic about turning off your brain and letting your hands and a brush take control for a bit. I have been blessed to use this gift to support other authors, having painted a book cover and illustrations for their work. I may not be the best, but I certainly love to be surrounded by the beauty of painted canvases.

As much as my love for creating, I’ve got a roaring passion for animals (tax included below). With three dogs (two house-floofs and a guardian dog), six sheep, seven chickens, and four ducks the cuteness overload is real. I am currently living on my parent’s property in Kanas, where my crew is joined by boxers, cows, a myriad of cats, and even more chickens. When it’s not a billion degrees outside (Kansas summer is my least favorite thing), I love walking with the animals and genuinely can’t get enough of watching them exist. Ducks are by far the cutest. There’s an insane amount of poo, but when they waddle around following me it is life giving!

When I’m not spending time with family playing board games, Switch games, or hanging out on the porch with a glass of wine, I love reading, writing poetry, old-school Nintendo, and anything in the Mario or Zelda franchises. I am a Bob’s Burgers fan through and through and enjoy a good movie periodically.

My dream for In The Name Publishing is that, by the grace of God, we will someday be up there with more traditional publishers, with our own spin on it. I’d love to see our work expand beyond publishing books but turning them into something more. Creating a network of Christian Creatives that thrive on a growing platform that champions them, their stories, and the incredible testimonies of how God has influenced their lives.

I hope that you will join me, and my incredible team, on our journey!

J.Hieb

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