Forgotten Tales

Do I have to have a pet to mine? It seems like when I try to mine, monsters spawn and interrupt me.

Depends - as is often the case - on your lvl. In my experience, a pet is essential when mining for certain quests. I then get rid as I'm not a fan in normal gameplay. They grant huge pvp benefits but can' t be attacked pre-emptively, for example. Anyway, that's straying off-point

If you are mining to upgrade skills OR need to mine for large quantities of ore AND your pet can kill the monsters in the area you are mining, they are beneficial. If the pet cannot kill the monsters they do not help.

But how do I mine if the monsters interrupt me? Is there a trick I'm missing or something I don't know about?

Monsters attack.
You kill them.
You continue mining.

Easy enough.