Love, Art & Inner Work: How JC Wilde Is Creating a Life Without Creative Limits

Writer, filmmaker, publisher, and multimedia artist JC Wilde is building a creative life where purpose, spirituality, healing, and authentic expression meet.

For JC Wilde, creativity is more than a career—it is a way of living. A writer, editor, filmmaker, screenwriter, multimedia artist, and co-owner of J & J Publishing House, JC has built a creative life rooted in authenticity, spirituality, love, and fearless self-expression. Her devotion to supporting her wife, JFo, helped inspire the creation of their independent publishing house, but JC’s own story is equally layered. Through filmmaking, poetry, visual art, martial arts, meditation, and her forthcoming book project, Dearest Jennifer: Letters to My Inner Child, she continually explores what it means to heal, evolve, and create from within. In this conversation, JC shares the woman behind the many creative titles—and the purpose, inner work, and love guiding everything she brings into the world.

You describe yourself as someone committed to making your life your greatest work of art. What does living artistically look like beyond creative projects, and how has that philosophy shaped the person you’ve become?

 To me, art is a temporary expression of self, based in physical nature, rooted in the particular space and time that birthed it—at its essence, it is a temporary expression of the eternal soul. I want my life to be that: an expression, a manifestation, a reflection of my truest self—my Soul. Beyond creative projects, that looks like making choices based more on my spiritual reality than my physical one. Deciding something based on how it makes me feel and how it effects my internal landscape rather than on material gains or ego-based measures of success. As I make these choices which enhance my inner world, my outer world becomes a reflection of that, as opposed to the usual way of going about life: chasing external things believing they will change how we feel on the inside. My world is peaceful because I choose peace in a moment to moment way. That is how I make my life a work of art—I practice the art of living a joyful/peaceful/fulfilling/free/true…fill in the blank…life—of and as and in love.

J & J Publishing House was born from your desire to champion your wife JFo’s work. What inspired you to transform that support into an independent publishing company with a much larger mission?

The independent publishing company was the best way to maintain our freedom of expression. This was really the only way forward. In many ways, our work is leading edge, and we couldn’t risk anything being diluted. The larger mission of the company is really just an extension of our mission as humans. Even in my film production company, HalfJack Generation, my mission is to make films that elevate consciousness. This is why both of us are here, and that purpose is made manifest through our creations.

Your publishing house emphasizes books created from “the sacred space of light, love, freedom, joy, and peace.” In an industry often driven by commercial trends, why was it important for you to build a company centered on intention before profit?

Because I believe in the wealth of my heart before any other kind of wealth. I understand that financial wealth without fulfillment or joy or peace is not true wealth. When I graduated from college, I went to work for my family’s business straight out of the gate. It is a very successful business and I was the first of the third generation to be of age to work there. I was making outstanding money and was able to buy anything I wanted. I had total financial stability, and I was absolutely empty, miserable, and felt my inner fire dwindling to embers. One night JFo asked me what I think about creatively. And over my towering glass of wine, I answered, “Nothing.” I was shocked by that reality—unknowingly, I had creatively laid down to die. She quickly followed up with, “Well, what do you want to do?” I answered, “I always wanted to write a movie.” And a very long (and great) story, short: My life is now driven by creativity in all ways, and I’ve never felt more wealthy. And I’m three years sober-sober, and have never felt such sustained joy in my life.

As a writer, editor, publisher, and creative partner, you wear many hats. How do you balance honoring another creator’s vision while also contributing your own editorial insight?

We really make a point of clear and honest and intentional communication. Saying what we need from the other in each moment is a huge factor in our ability to work together. And we really, deeply, genuinely love each other’s creations. We see the magnificence in each other’s work—how much of ourselves we pour into each creation. So it becomes more about being in service of the work. And when JFo feels how deeply I want to serve her work, it’s easy for her to hear what I have to say—and vice versa. It’s about honoring each other first, and serving the work first and foremost.

Grief Monster is your company’s debut publication. What made this book the perfect foundation for establishing the identity and mission of J & J Publishing House?

I like to say, “I just work here”—meaning me the human working for the larger and greater mission on this planet. Grief Monster is the book that was completed first. While JFo was working on that, I wrote two other books: one of my own called Dearest Jennifer, which is a compilation of letters to my inner child, and the other which will be a collaborative work from JFo and me called The Lion and the Crab: A Journey of Unlikely Soulmates, which is about JFo (a Cancer) and me (a Leo). That will be an illustrated book about honoring each other’s differences in relationships. All the while, JFo is cranking out illustrations for her upcoming Diaries. As we are inspired, we create. As we create, we publish. It’s all in perfect and divine timing.

Your upcoming book, Dearest Jennifer: Letters to My Inner Child, explores reparenting through deeply personal letters. What first inspired you to begin writing those letters, and how did they gradually become the foundation of a future book?

I didn’t know I was writing a book, which is why I think it flowed with such ferocity and ease. The last few years of my life have been one of connection with my younger self—my inner child if you will. There was so much she thirsted for—as all of our younger selves did—and finally I felt like I had become the person capable and honored to give her what she needed. After visiting her in my Higher Mind consistently for years, she finally trusted that I would be there when she needed me. I finally bridged a loving connection to her. And earlier this year over the course of the winter, I found inspiration each morning watching the sun rise—the inspiration to connect with her, be with her, talk to her, nourish her, protect her, essentially, to “reparent” her. And I started writing, each morning a new topic. And when we were ready to head back north for the spring, I scrolled through all I wrote and counted 42 letters. I was astounded. I thought, “I think I wrote a book.” And, I did.

Many people speak about healing their inner child, but your work approaches it through practical and spiritual acts of self-parenting. What have you learned about compassion by becoming the caregiver you once needed?

I first needed to learn compassion for the struggling parts of myself. The parts that I so deeply wanted to change or fix or banish. I realized that all those parts needed me. They needed my compassion and presence and acceptance—they needed my love…my unconditional, nonjudgmental, all-accepting love. And one by one, I gave that to them, sometimes over and over. And gradually, I integrated them back into my Whole Self. This integrated self naturally wanted to visit my inner child in all of her conflicted moments and offer anything she needed. This level of healing is actually practical at its essence. It touches every aspect of your life and applies love like an all-healing salve. You literally become love. And compassion is just an extension of that—compassion for your self and others, even the ones you used to blame for God knows what. You start to see through the eyes of compassion. That changes everything at a foundational level.

Your creative interests include poetry, digital collage, filmmaking, photography, and publishing. Do these disciplines fulfill different emotional needs, or are they simply different languages telling the same story?

I recently learned through my work with Dr. Ivi at Courageous Being that my creative landscape is an ecosystem, not an assembly line at a factory. My poetry fuels my screenplays which inspire my photography which expands my director’s eye which is enhanced by digital collage which births a poem… All of these creative outlets serve the inspired energy moving through me. They inspire their own final form which catalyses something else entirely. Creative energy is truly the ever-expanding force of the entire Universe flowing through us. I let it move me however it wants.

Through your production company, HalfJack Generation, you’re committed to creating films that elevate consciousness through character-driven storytelling. Why do you believe storytelling has the power to transform not only individuals but communities?

 From the time humans gathered around a fire to tell tales of any kind, story held the power to shape our templates for living. As my wife touched on earlier in the interview, movies falsely shaped her expectations of death, which was very detrimental to her actual experience of her mother’s passing. This is just one example of how stories shape our expectations—and our belief systems of what’s possible—of what life can and should and will be. As a storyteller I take that responsibility very seriously. As we begin to tell stories of self-awareness and taking responsibility for what our life is and who we are being within it, the world will see there is another way. A sovereign and peaceful and joyful life is possible—and stories can show us new possibilities and perspectives of how to get there. I believe that with these types of stories being told, the world will shift towards truth—towards love.

Your work frequently explores themes of love, truth, humanity, spirituality, sexuality, and transcendence. What draws you toward stories that ask audiences to confront both light and darkness at the same time?

I thought you could “overcome” darkness. For years I was on the “good vibes only,” train. And I’m here to tell you from experience: that’s not how it works. You can’t ignore your darkness—you can only transcend the person you were who created it out of necessity. And you can only transcend that person by becoming someone else—by becoming the one with the capacity to love that dark part of you. Transcendence comes from integration. Integration comes from love. Love grows by facing the darkness and seeing its truth: it’s a part of you asking for love. I believe sexuality is one of the most banished parts of our collective selves, which is why I’m making a documentary reconciling sex and divinity, SEX | GOD. When we truly love all parts of ourselves, we will be whole. And when we all return to wholeness, the world will be healed. Salvation starts within each of us.

Meditation, martial arts, and contemplative time near the sea all play meaningful roles in your life. How do those practices influence your creativity and your ability to remain grounded during demanding projects?

For most of my life I didn’t understand the difference between rest and collapse. I didn’t think rest was allowed or deserved until collapse was the only thing left I could do. I now understand that rest is a necessary part of work—and of life in general. Life is not easy—even when it is joyful, it is exhausting. Do you not need as much sleep at the end of a good day as a bad one? Rest is essential. It is part and parcel of creativity. It fills my well so that I can access the fullest part of me—the one who is inspired and charged and poised to create. Meditation, martial arts, and being with the ocean or the forest are all activities of nourishment. They plant my roots in the earth and connect my channel to the higher planes—these activities help to make me the creative vessel I came here to be. The hard work is learning how to rest. Then you can do the true work, which is play.

Supporting another creative person’s vision can sometimes mean putting your own ambitions on hold. How have you intentionally created space to nurture your own voice while continuing to champion JFo’s work?

Every morning I sit quietly with my coffee in nature. I sit with the intention of becoming my surroundings—erasing the separation, feeling my oneness with All-That-Is, tuning in to the Truth of existence. This is a very sacred time for me each day, and I never miss it. I get a lot of inspired thoughts and ideas…often poems or nuggets for a film project…and I write them in my little notebook that I carry everywhere with me. These small moments accumulate to quite a bit after some time, and I’m always able to build on my projects from those micro moments. Also, when I feel inspiration for one of my projects, I make the time to sit and do the work that is coming through me—no matter what else I have going on that day. Never ignore your muses—or they’ll start to ignore you. Honor them like the Goddesses that they are, and they will worship you right back.

As co-owner of an independent publishing house, what challenges have surprised you the most, and what opportunities exist today for authors seeking a more heart-centered publishing experience?

It always amazes me how much goes into a creative publication—first with films and now with books. When you only ever see the finished product, you just don’t get how much went into getting it out into the world. It’s just a ton of work and dedication. For us, we love what we do and we believe in the power and purpose of what we’re creating—that keeps fuel on the fire. The world we’re living in literally takes all the excuses off the table. You can learn and do anything yourself. Stop putting off your creative life—make it happen.

Looking beyond Grief Monster, your company plans to expand both its catalog and its advocacy around grief awareness. What legacy do you hope J & J Publishing House leaves for readers, authors, and the publishing industry?

 I hope J & J Publishing House and its books serve as models for self-love and self-responsibility. I hope they offer a roadmap back to wholeness.

When readers discover both Grief Monster and your upcoming Dearest Jennifer, they’ll encounter two very different journeys connected by vulnerability, healing, and love. What do you hope people ultimately learn about themselves through the stories you and JFo are bringing into the world?

 I hope readers ultimately learn to create space and time for their own healing. I hope they slow down enough to hear the whisper of their soul and feel the tenderness of their own heart. I hope readers open to miracles and worthiness and purpose and fulfillment. I hope our books point to joy as the new compass for living, and make the belief in a peaceful existence possible. I hope our books connect the hearts of the world so we can learn to support and forgive and accept one another. I hope the sharing of our open hearts is a bridge to love, in and of and as all things.

How can our readers connect?

Web: https://www.jjpublishinghouse.com

IG: https://www.instagram.com/j.and.j.publishinghouse/ 

Continue the Conversation

There’s more to this story. Continue exploring our special three-part series featuring JFo and JC Wilde, the creative forces behind J & J Publishing House. From the deeply personal story behind Grief Monster to conversations about creativity, healing, self-discovery, love, and building a purpose-driven publishing house, each interview offers another layer of their journey. Be sure to check out the other posts in the series and experience the full conversation.