This episode is about a #amwriting win!
Meghan P. Browne wrote to us a while ago to share her happy news: her debut middle-grade novel that she revised in the Blueprint Challenge of 2022 and that we reviewed in one of our First pages episodes had just gone under contract! Welcome to Heaven was acquired by Liz Szabla at Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan), and publication is scheduled for Spring 2026.
Meghan shared that this manuscript was destined for the drawer if it hadn’t been for the 2022 Blueprint Challenge. In this episode we discuss what the challenge helped her to do.
When she was finished with the revision, she decided to submit for our First Pages episode. “The First Pages submission leap was the test I needed to see if I cared enough to push through to the finish line,” she says. She submitted it, we reviewed it, and she tweaked the first page according to our response. The Booklab episode where we reviewed her first page can be found here: Redacted Kitty-Cat and Welcome to Heaven
If you’re a paid supporter and would like to submit a page for the First Pages review, fill out the form HERE. Include your title, genre and first 350 words. We’ll let you know if it’s been chosen and when to expect your episode to drop.
We’re just thrilled for Meghan and so grateful at the tiny part we played in helping her bring her book to life.
You can find Meghan at meghanpbrowne.com and check out her other books, including The Bees of Notre-Dame.
Join the Blueprint Challenge Next Week
If you have big goals for 2025 that include writing, finishing or revising a book, you’ll want to join us for the Winter 2025 Blueprint Challenge.
Starting January 5, we’ll be walking you through the 14 steps of the Blueprint over 10 weeks. Some of the steps are very short and we combined them into one episode.
Every episode speaks to fiction writers, memoir writers, and nonfiction writers. There are workbooks, and you will get a link to the digital download of the Blueprint book of your choice.
We’ll also be hosting weekly AMAs (ask me anything), write-alongs, and Zoom meet-ups with coaches—and KJ will be writing her own Blueprint, and Jennie will be coaching her through it in weekly episodes. For more about the challenge, check out these past posts:
* What the Blueprint is and why Jennie made it
* Introducing the winter book coach hosts
* Overcoming Pantsing Pitfalls: How the Blueprint Method Can Save Your Story
If you finish your Blueprint during the Challenge, you will be eligible to win a review from either Jennie or KJ. (If you missed the #AmWriting Success Story about the writer who won the Blueprint Sprint grand prize in 2022, give it a listen. It’s very inspiring! It’s right HERE.)
It’s going to be such a good time and we’d love to have you join us!
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