#AmWriting

This short outline thing is hard. It’s hard for one of two possible reasons: Either you don’t want to write an outline at all, bc “you know what you’re going to write” or you “hate outlining” or “don’t want to practically write it before I write it” OR you love outlining and could do it all day, to the tune of 17 pages all about what this is about and what it’s going to say and therefore “can’t possibly fit this onto 2 pages!”Both of you, chill. It’s okay. You’re going to do this, and I suspect that you’ll end up liking it. The cool thing is that the thing that makes it easier—to either outline at all or to make a short outline as opposed to the monster some of us tend to create—is actually the same. (And don’t worry—there’s a place for those monster outline instincts. That’s called pre-writing, and we have a whole episode about it coming up in the fall.) Making outlines for fiction easier is all about where you start (try the end or the middle), and focusing on the emotions and tentpole events rather than on the plot. In non-fiction, the same reluctance applies—especially if you think you know where you’re going or what you’re doing. Know your topic inside and out? Think you could “write this book in your sleep” because you write, lecture or teach about the subject all the time, or it’s your business? Do you have a list of things to cover chapter by chapter, or a particular memoir story to tell? Then you need an outline desperately. Trust me. Can you write this book without one? Yep. Will it be the book you want it to be? Almost certainly not, and I speak from experience. You, two, may be inclined to either gloss over this, or to want to write reams, going into detail about each area you intend to cover. But doing either will get in your way. The path to a better book—one that has readers turning the pages of even a how-to in order to get to the next thing, or engrosses them in a chronological story of a thing they’ve never done and have no interest in doing—lies in getting this skeleton right. In non-fiction, that means finding a way to build interest and knowledge so that the reader constantly sees the need to follow you through to the end. In your outline, focus on the repeating themes and topics and the way those develop for the reader as they progress through the book. Keeping it short forces you to look hard at what you’re building before you cover it with glitter and tinsel and helps you see and work on the flaws before they get baked in. How to listen: if you’ve listened to any previous Bonus episodes or Minisodes, this one should already BE in your podcast feed. If not, click on the link to listen and you’ll find yourself at amwriting.substack.com. You COULD listen there, but we’re guessing you’d rather get all subscriber episodes, from now on, in your usual podcast-listening app. It’s easy, and you only have to do it once to get every #Minisode from now on right where you want it.So click “listen in podcast app.” You’ll get an email with a link in it. Click the link—ON YOUR PHONE—and you will get a menu of the most popular podcast apps. Chose yours and click, and you’ll have a new “private” podcast feed for supporters only.If your favorite listening app isn’t included, fear not. There’s an RSS link in the email. Your podcast app has a way to add that—it’s probably a “+” sign somewhere on your main page. Add the link once, and any time we do a #SupporterMini, you’ll get it without having to do a thing. (Trust us, it’s easy. This is WHY we chose Substack.) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Pace, y’all. It’s the magic secret sauce in everything. And yet it’s also a squishy sounding word that’s almost undefinable. What is it? Can you point to it? Can you highlight it in yellow so I can see it? Can you tattoo it on my arm?I would if I could. But sadly, pace is invisible. In fact, write it out in so many words: I just knew that if I didn’t get that promotion, I’d feel like a failure forever—and you’ve killed it. It’s an airy sprite, damnit, totally un-pin-downable.Pace is the wind at your back as a reader. It’s the ghostly tug forward. It’s the thing that makes you turn the page. And it exists in the most unlikely places, especially when it comes to non-fiction. This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch truly is, if you’re the right reader, a page-turner—because at every stopping point, it essentially says to you, ah, now you think you understand me. And therefore you think you understand yourself. But wait there’s more. It’s the ginzu knife commercial of non-fiction, in a good way. Structurally, it unpacks the problem facing the writer on a deeper level in every chapter, and suddenly there you are with a book you can’t put down. My latest fiction can’t-stop-won’t-stop was Carrie Soto Is Back, Taylor Jenkins Reid’s latest. That book had a wildly intense narrative thrust that was so brilliant (I actually forgot to talk about this in the recording)—the whole question, the whole time, is always will she win this match/this tournament/this Slam—and as a reader you care about that—but ONLY because you care about where she is emotionally. It’s a tour de force, TJR at her peak, a masterpiece of intertwining plot action with emotion. Yeah, I can’t do that yet, and maybe neither can you. But we can look for it, and try to figure out what makes it work and learn from it. So that’s your bonus assignment this week, as I say in the audio: look at the books on your bed table that are just kind of lingering there, versus the ones you finished days (or hours) after you started them and ask yourself—why? What make this work for me, and what’s there that I can use in my own work?PS: If you’ve done all the exercises up to now, NICE JOB getting this far, kids. I can’t tell you how much this is really going to help as you write or revise. Color me envious, because it’s always hard for me to do this work. But I, too, am learning!How to listen: if you’ve listened to any previous Bonus episodes or Minisodes, this one should already BE in your podcast feed. If not, click on the link to listen and you’ll find yourself at amwriting.substack.com. You COULD listen there, but we’re guessing you’d rather get all subscriber episodes, from now on, in your usual podcast-listening app. It’s easy, and you only have to do it once to get every #Minisode from now on right where you want it.So click “listen in podcast app.” You’ll get an email with a link in it. Click the link—ON YOUR PHONE—and you will get a menu of the most popular podcast apps. Chose yours and click, and you’ll have a new “private” podcast feed for supporters only.If your favorite listening app isn’t included, fear not. There’s an RSS link in the email. Your podcast app has a way to add that—it’s probably a “+” sign somewhere on your main page. Add the link once, and any time we do a #SupporterMini, you’ll get it without having to do a thing. (Trust us, it’s easy. This is WHY we chose Substack.) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Structure, people. It’s everything. Or it’s a very simple thing. Like I said in the shownotes, for fiction, chronological 3rd or 1st person, present or past tense, following the protagonist through the story is the white-button-down and jeans of structure. Always appropriate, almost invisible. For non-fiction, it’s harder—there is no fall-back basic, but a good trick is to pretend your book is either a chronological story or a how-to and start from there, then see what feels right and what feels wrong about it. Overlaying a very practical structure on a philosophical topic can make it more accessible to the reader—and easier to write.I threw in a bunch of book references to this one. Our stand-by, The Art of the Book Proposal from Eric Maisel. The Christie Affair, The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls, Adult Assembly Required, The Arc, The Mutual Friend.Hope the blueprint is going well for you! How to listen: if you’ve listened to any previous Bonus episodes or Minisodes, this one should already BE in your podcast feed. If not, click on the link to listen and you’ll find yourself at amwriting.substack.com. You COULD listen there, but we’re guessing you’d rather get all subscriber episodes, from now on, in your usual podcast-listening app. It’s easy, and you only have to do it once to get every #Minisode from now on right where you want it.So click “listen in podcast app.” You’ll get an email with a link in it. Click the link—ON YOUR PHONE—and you will get a menu of the most popular podcast apps. Chose yours and click, and you’ll have a new “private” podcast feed for supporters only.If your favorite listening app isn’t included, fear not. There’s an RSS link in the email. Your podcast app has a way to add that—it’s probably a “+” sign somewhere on your main page. Add the link once, and any time we do a #SupporterMini, you’ll get it without having to do a thing. (Trust us, it’s easy. This is WHY we chose Substack.) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Kids, this is a Blueprint for a Book Summer Challenge Bonus Episode. I’ll be dropping these weekly throughout the Summer 2022 Challenge. Some of you are already signed up and challenging away, turning in weekly assignments and pushing yourself to get this done.Some of you are #AmWriting supporters who’ve put your $$$ where your <3 is (that’s an old school pre-emoji keyboard heart, in case you’re wondering). We appreciate you—and so you’re getting these bonus episodes too. I touched on this in the bonus for Blueprint episode 1—but now I get to really dig in. The change is the theme, y’all. If your readers are going to learn how to be happier parents—the theme is around happiness and why it matters (and why we resist it, in the case of my own non-fiction). If your protagonist is going to learn to value what’s important to her over what she’s been told she should value, that’s your theme (oh, and also why it matters and why it’s so hard to trust ourselves to figure out what makes us happy). Or if she’s going to learn that you cannot be happy while you’re hiding yourself from the people she loves… why, your theme might just be around being true to yourself and understanding what will make you happy! (Hello, yes, I have a single theme that I return to again and again, as do many of us.)But you may not be able to spot that theme from the beginning. So trust me—to find your theme, keep coming back to that change, in yourself, the protagonist(s) or the reader until you can put that baby on a bumper sticker. That’s when you know you’ve got it.How to listen: if you’ve listened to any previous Bonus episodes or Minisodes, this one should already BE in your podcast feed. If not, click on the link to listen and you’ll find yourself at amwriting.substack.com. You COULD listen there, but we’re guessing you’d rather get all subscriber episodes, from now on, in your usual podcast-listening app. It’s easy, and you only have to do it once to get every #Minisode from now on right where you want it.So click “listen in podcast app.” You’ll get an email with a link in it. Click the link—ON YOUR PHONE—and you will get a menu of the most popular podcast apps. Chose yours and click, and you’ll have a new “private” podcast feed for supporters only.If your favorite listening app isn’t included, fear not. There’s an RSS link in the email. Your podcast app has a way to add that—it’s probably a “+” sign somewhere on your main page. Add the link once, and any time we do a #SupporterMini, you’ll get it without having to do a thing. (Trust us, it’s easy. This is WHY we chose Substack.) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Kids, this is a Blueprint for a Book Summer Challenge Bonus Episode. I’ll be dropping these weekly throughout the Summer 2022 Challenge. Some of you are already signed up and challenging away, turning in weekly assignments and pushing yourself to get this done.Some of you are #AmWriting supporters who’ve put your $$$ where your <3 is (that’s an old school pre-emoji keyboard heart, in case you’re wondering). We appreciate you—and so you’re getting these bonus episodes too. This is a longish episode in the hopes of offering you some shortcuts to writing a short thing—that often feels super-hard.Here’s my shortcut to a starter sentence for your logline for fiction/biography or narrative nonfiction (read on for memoir and prescriptive non-fic): On the verge of/About to/Just after/Just before CURRENT LIFE, a NOUN who HAS A PROBLEM discovers/is drawn into/some other action THE INCITING INCIDENT/PLOT PROBLEM and STAKES, but when TWIST, s/h/the/y must SOLVE INTERNAL PROBLEM to SOLVE PLOT PROBLEM.Here’s my current one. I can transform this into jacket copy by adding some proper names and sparking it up—but starting with a terrible run-on sentence like this can be really helpful.On the verge of losing a chance to start over in the small town she loves, a woman who believes her flaky mother destroyed her life by depending on fortune-telling and magic discovers that cookies with the images of the family heirloom Tarot cards she stole long ago have the ability to change her life and the lives of others, but when her attempts to control the cards play right into the hand of a witch more powerful than she’d ever imagined, she must recognize that true power lies in letting those you love make their own choices in order to save her daughter from sacrificing herself to a destiny that might not be her own.For memoir, it’s similar but a little different. On the verge of/About to/Just after/Just before/description of where author started, AUTHOR AND WHY WE CARE ABOUT/RELATE TO THEM (usually includes dramatic core narrative or how core narrative is universal) does/endures/experiences THE PLOT and learns THE CHANGE in order to survive/grow up/find something/achieve something.Finally, for instructive/prescriptive nonfic: AUTHOR/EXPERTISE offers a guide to/provides lessons in/ demonstrates/shares THE OSTENSIBLE THING BEING TAUGHT and gives readers/shows THE REAL TAKEAWAY FOR LIFE. These are really logline cheats (and the Publisher’s Marketplace stuff I promised is WAY below)—but you can do the same thing by grabbing your comp books, looking at the jacket copy and then taking out all the specifics and replacing them with generalities, then use the various transitional words—on the verge of, but when, forced to, faced with or studied, learned, translated, to help readers, readers will learn—to make your own awful Frankenstein monster version.How to listen: if you’ve listened to any previous Bonus episodes or Minisodes, this one should already BE in your podcast feed. If not, click on the link to listen and you’ll find yourself at amwriting.substack.com. You COULD listen there, but we’re guessing you’d rather get all subscriber episodes, from now on, in your usual podcast-listening app. It’s easy, and you only have to do it once to get every #Minisode from now on right where you want it.So click “listen in podcast app.” You’ll get an email with a link in it. Click the link—ON YOUR PHONE—and you will get a menu of the most popular podcast apps. Chose yours and click, and you’ll have a new “private” podcast feed for supporters only.If your favorite listening app isn’t included, fear not. There’s an RSS link in the email. Your podcast app has a way to add that—it’s probably a “+” sign somewhere on your main page. Add the link once, and any time we do a #SupporterMini, you’ll get it without having to do a thing. (Trust us, it’s easy. This is WHY we chose Substack.)What follows (and will be too long for the show notes, you’re going to have to click through to the website to see it) is the Publishers’ Marketplace from 7/20/22. DO NOT LET IT WORRY YOU. Sure there are lots of CEOS and second-time authors here (and a neurosurgeon, jeez) but there are also debut authors and plenty of people you’ve never heard of. I love these, they’re very informative about what the INDUSTRY is looking for. It’s all there, fiction to memoir to non-fic to children’s and YA down at the bottom. Heck—bonus in the form of some agents and editors you might be interested in. The links probably won’t work, though, as I think they require a PM subscription. FictionDebutEmily Jane's ON EARTH AS IT IS ON TELEVISION, in which the world is rocked by the arrival of alien spacecrafts that appear over major cities only to disappear as suddenly as they arrived, leaving humanity to wonder why they came and what happens next, to Adam Wilson at Hyperion Avenue, for publication in summer 2023, by Holly Root at Root Literary (world). Rights:linda@defliterary.comGeneral/OtherAuthor of THE WIFE UPSTAIRS Rachel Hawkins's THE VILLA, a dual timeline Gothic suspense following two women on a trip to Italy, where they uncover the deadly legacy of their rental villa, tracing back to one unforgettable summer in the 1970s whose events reverberate into the present day, to Sarah Cantin at St. Martin's, for publication in January 2023, by Holly Root at Root Literary (world English). Foreign: Heather Baror at Baror International Film: Jon Cassir and Berni Barta at CAANoa Yedlin's STOCKHOLM, the basis for a Israeli television series optioned by Amazon Studios, a dark comedy in which four lifelong friends in their 70s conspire to hide the corpse of their friend, a leading contender for the Nobel Prize in economics who has been found dead just one week before the prize's announcement, a plot that begins as a tribute to the legacy of their late friend but becomes a revealing journey that will test their bonds, their sanity, and the lengths they will go for redemption, to Daniella Wexler at Harper Via, by Elizabeth Winick Rubinstein at McIntosh & Otis, on behalf of Steph Thwaites at Curtis Brown (world English).Women's/RomanceMichele Dunaway's WHAT HAPPENS IN THE AIR, in which a photojournalist returns home only to find her father involved in a feud that could endanger the town's hot air balloon festival, and she and her widowed high school sweetheart are the only ones who can fix it, to Megan Broderick at Harlequin Special Edition, in a nice deal, in a three-book deal, for publication in January 2023, by Jennifer Herrington at Harvey Klinger (world).Sidney Halston's VALENTINE'S HATE, an enemies-to-lovers holiday romance, featuring an anti-Valentine's Day heroine who, while preparing for her best friend's Valentine's Day wedding, runs into the man who ruined her love for the holiday many years ago, through a series of unfortunate events they end up sharing a hotel suite, to Tessa Woodward at Avon, for publication in winter 2023, by Sarah Younger at Nancy Yost Literary Agency (world).Willow Quinn's THE RIDE, a debut rom-com pitched as FORCES OF NATURE meets ALONG CAME POLLY, where a straight-laced architect who analyzes and calculates his every decision has no choice but to journey down the path less traveled, in more ways than one, when he hitches a ride with an eccentric free spirit, to Gilded Press, in a nice deal, for publication in the summer of 2023 (world).publisher@gildedpressbooks.com Rights contact(s):rights@gildedpressbooks.comDigitalFiction: Mystery/CrimeAuthor of IMAGINING ELSEWHERE Sara Hosey's SUMMER PEOPLE, in which a neurodiverse seventeen-year-old girl hoping to enjoy her last summer before college in her small, sleepy town instead discovers the body of a friend in the polluted town lake, forcing her to investigate and find justice for his death, even if it means implicating her own family and community, to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books, with Helga Schier editing, in a nice deal, for publication in summer 2023 (world).Non-fictionBusiness/Investing/FinanceFormer chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors and Harvard economics professor Jason Furman's INFLATION, about how to understand inflation and think about it, how worried we should be, and when it's likely to abate, to Joe Jackson at Princeton University Press, by Rafe Sagalyn at ICM (world English).General/OtherNational Magazine Award-winning writer Richard Conniff's ENDING EPIDEMICS: A HISTORY OF ESCAPE FROM CONTAGION, the story of how we came to understand the infectious diseases that once killed us and how we might escape such diseases in the future, to Robert Prior at MIT Press, for publication in spring 2023, by John Thornton at The Spieler Agency (world). Rights:mitpbooks-rights@mit.eduAssociate professor of surgery and a practicing transplantation surgeon at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Joshua Mezrich's XENO, a transplant surgeon's view of the history and future of xenotransplantation, to Robert Prior at MIT Press, for publication in fall 2024, by Eric Lupfer at Fletcher & Company (world English). Rights:mitpbooks-rights@mit.eduStu Horvath's MONSTERS, ALIENS, AND HOLES IN THE GROUND: A GUIDE TO TABLETOP ROLEPLAYING GAMES FROM D&D TO MOTHERSHIP, a decade-by-decade examination of the evolution of tabletop roleplaying games, to Noah Springer at MIT Press, for publication in fall 2023 (world). Rights:mitpbooks-rights@mit.eduNYT contributor and cultural critic Lindsay Zoladz's FEAR OF A FEMALE GENIUS, a feminist history of the idea of artistic genius and a critical journey through the lives and work of many female artists, writers, and musicians who transformed male-dominated fields, including Joni Mitchell, Yoko Ono, Elaine May, Hilma af Klint, and Mary Shelley, as well as several previously unsung female artists, all of whom inspire and argument for a new and more expansive understanding of genius itself, to Jackson Howard at MCD/FSG, in a pre-empt, by Ethan Bassoff at Ross Yoon Agency (world). Rights:devon.mazzone@fsgbooks.comHistory/Politics/Current AffairsVice provost at the University of Montana and author of PASSIONATE UPRISINGS and HYPHEN Dr. Pardis Mahdavi PhD's BOOK OF QUEENS: THE TRUE STORY OF THE MIDDLE EASTERN HORSEWOMEN WHO FOUGHT THE WAR ON TERROR, the story of Middle Eastern freedom fighters—horsewomen who safeguarded an ancient breed of Caspian horse—and their efforts to help themselves and defend their homelands from the Taliban through combat, ally training, and counterintelligence, to Mollie Weisenfeld at Hachette Books, by Jessica Regel at Helm Literary (NA).Illustrated/ArtThe late Joseph Mitchell's THE BOTTOM OF THE HARBOR, illustrated by Joana Avillez, to Modern Library, with Kaeli Subberwal editing, by David Kuhn and Kate Mack at Aevitas Creative Management for the illustrator.MemoirAuthor of DEMON CAMP and a NYT Magazine and Harper's contributor, as well as a recipient of the National Magazine Award for Feature Writing Jen Percy's GIRLS PLAY DEAD, blending personal narrative and cultural reportage to examine coming-of-age, trauma, and the ways women survive and heal from violence, told through the unforgiving wildness of the writer's upbringing in rural Oregon and the prismatic stories of battered women, cultists, psychic disconnection, and utopian visions, to Thomas Gebremedhin at Doubleday, in a six-figure deal, in a pre-empt, by Jin Auh at The Wylie Agency (NA).Clark Fredericks's untitled memoir, about how the abuse the author suffered as a young boy fundamentally altered his life: from his inability to maintain relationships to bouts with addiction and gambling, his closely held secret culminated in slitting his abuser's throat with his childhood hunting knife some three decades later; covering his subsequent incarceration and rehabilitation, and his current work fighting for meaningful legislative reform, while offering hope and strength to those suffering in silence, to Amar Deol at Atria, by David Halpern at The Robbins Office (world English).NarrativeColumnist for the Nation Magazine and the author of A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF SPORTS IN THE UNITED STATES Dave Zirin's THE PEOPLE'S HISTORIAN, a biography of Howard Zinn that examines his life and work as a progressive icon and thought leader through the story of the times that shaped him -- and America, based on access to Zinn's papers and the full cooperation of his family, to Brent Howard at Dutton, in an exclusive submission, by Susan Canavan at Waxman Literary Agency (NA).Pop CultureFrankie Cosmos drummer and journalist Luke Pyenson and Real Estate multi-instrumentalist Alex Bleeker, eds.'s THEY'RE FEEDING YOU TONIGHT: ON TOUR AND AROUND THE TABLE WITH INDIE MUSICIANS, an anthology of essays, photos, and ephemera that lets readers pull up a chair to the table with a diverse lineup of inspiring indie musicians around the world, sharing meals and travel experiences, peeking intimately behind the curtain at the commonly misunderstood way of life on tour, including original, unpublished contributions from over 25 indie favorites including Fleet Foxes, Pavement, Animal Collective, Weyes Blood, and many more, to Olivia Roberts at Chronicle, at auction, by Soumeya Bendimerad Roberts at HG Literary (NA).Religion/SpiritualityBloggers, lifestyle influencers, and cohosts of The Good Life podcast Stevie Hendrix and Sazan Hendrix's THE GOOD LIFE, a guide for making each part of each day an installment and investment in a beautiful life; showing readers that the acceptance and belonging they desperately want is something that happens in the heart—one good day at a time, to Brigitta Nortker at Nelson Books, for publication in October 2023, by Bryan Norman at Alive Literary Agency.Podcaster and television personality Jinger Vuolo's BECOMING FREE INDEED, sharing how the author began to question the harmful teachings of her childhood to find and experience true freedom in Christ, to Stephanie Newton at W Publishing, for publication in February 2023, by Bryan Norman at Alive Literary Agency.Bloggers, podcasters, cofounders of Marriage After God, and the parents of five children Aaron Smith and Jennifer Smith's 365 PRAYERS FOR MY MARRIAGE, guiding couples in praying for their marriage to reflect Christ into a hurting world, to Carolyn McCready at Zondervan, with Carly Kellerman editing, for publication in October 2023, by Bryan Norman at Alive Literary Agency.Children'sMiddle Grade FictionAuthor of the Kiki Kallira duology and the forthcoming THE VERY SECRET SOCIETY OF IRREGULAR WITCHES Sangu Mandanna's VANYA AND THE WILD HUNT and VANYA AND THE SHIFTING SPIRE, pitched as AMARI AND THE NIGHT BROTHERS meets Nevermoor with a touch of How to Train Your Dragon, following a neurodivergent British Indian girl who is swept away to a magical school where she trains to become a monster hunter and learns to fully embrace her different and wonderful brain, to Jennifer Besser at Roaring Brook Press, with Luisa Beguiristain editing, a joint acquisition with Sam Smith at Macmillan UK Children's, in a significant deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2024, by Penny Moore at Aevitas Creative Management (world). Film:awarren@aevitascreative.comCaldecott Award-winning WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS author Carole Lindstrom's two untitled books, to Mary Kate Castellani at Bloomsbury Children's, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2024 and 2025, by Natascha Morris and Sarah Fisk at The Tobias Literary Agency (world).Picture Book FictionCarrie Kruck's IGGY WHO BREATHED FIRE, about an ordinary girl with a quite extraordinary condition, in a magical twist on girl power and a reminder to us all to treasure the fire within, illustrated by Erika Meza, to Sylvie Frank at Disney-Hyperion, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2024, by Ammi-Joan Paquette at Erin Murphy Literary Agency for the author, and by Claire Cartey at Holroyde Cartey for the illustrator (world).D.J. Steinberg's ST. PATRICK'S DAY, HERE I COME and YOGA, HERE I COME, in the Here I Come series, illustrated by Emanuel Wiemans, to Penguin Workshop, in a two-book deal, for publication in February 2023 and November 2023, by Kelly Sonnack at Andrea Brown Literary Agency for the illustrator.Picture Book Non-fictionAuthor and illustrator of NEITHER Airlie Anderson's ONLY, a story that explores the spectrum between introversion and extroversion, about a bird that doesn't like the same loud and boisterous activities as its friends, preferring alone time in its quiet nest, but also doesn't want to feel lonely, to Deirdre Jones at Little, Brown Children's, for publication in winter 2024 (world).Co-founder of Multicultural Children's Book Day Mia Wenjen's FOOD FOR THE FUTURE: SUSTAINABLE FARMS AROUND THE WORLD, an exploration of 12 amazing ways we can grow food while caring for our planet, illustrated by Robert Sae-Heng, to Lisa Rosinsky at Barefoot Books, for publication in spring 2023, by Lary Rosenblatt at 22MediaWorks for the author, and by Jess Lomax at Inkling Illustration Agency for the illustrator (world). Rights:helen.kissler@barefootbooks.comDon Tate's A POEM FOR DUDLEY RANDALL, a biography-in-verse about Dudley Randall, a poet, poetry publisher, and leader in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, illustrated by Laura Freeman, to Howard Reeves at Abrams Children's, for publication in spring 2025, by Caryn Wiseman at Andrea Brown Literary Agency for the author, and by Janet DeCarlo at Storybook Arts for the illustrator (world).Young Adult FictionJoelle Wellington's THEIR VICIOUS GAMES, pitched as Ready or Not meets The Bachelor, following an 18-year-old Black girl offered entrance to the 1%'s twisted games after her acceptance to her top choice college is rescinded, but once she accepts the challenge, she finds that she has two choices—win the game or die, to Alexa Pastor at Simon & Schuster Children's, in a major deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2023, by Quressa Robinson at Folio Jr. (NA). Rights also to Penguin Random House UK. Rights:jenny@meyerlit.comNYT bestselling author Morgan Matson's PROMCHANTED, a rom-com about two teens who, en route to the prom, find themselves in the Disney film SLEEPING BEAUTY and must team up to keep the film's events on track, to Brittany Rubiano at Disney-Hyperion, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2024, by Emily van Beek at Folio Literary Management (world).Author of SETON GIRLS Charlene Thomas's PEEKABOO, in which a tiny town is firmly divided—with Have-Lots and Have-Nots—and a girl knows all too well which side is hers; but when she meets a stranger at the annual Halloween carnival, she gains the power to get everything she wants—until her addiction to perfection uncovers the town's biggest secret of all, to Andrew Karre at Dutton Children's, for publication in fall 2024, by Ann Rose at Prospect Agency.Graphic NovelLambda Award-winning author of SKYE FALLING Mia McKenzie's DORIS STEELE, a comic novel about a pious, small-town teenager who travels to Atlanta in 1960 to get an abortion and finds herself smack in the middle of the civil rights movement and the secret lives of queer Black people, ultimately discovering the transformative power of leaving your bubble, even for just one chaotic weekend, to Caitlin McKenna at Random House, by Alexa Stark at Writers House (world). Rights:decronin@prh.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

THE MARKET. First of all, I am having the best day here. I’m through 9 of 10 phone call/Zoom interviews about In Her Boots, and 8 of those interviewers appeared to have read it or at least in one case started it (a record) and a bunch of them seemed to have genuinely LOVED it and I’m delighted. Why tell you this here? In part because something readers have come back to several times is a piece of the book that I changed, at my editor’s suggestion—because she thought readers would want something different from what my original draft gave them.In other words, the market. I made the change and I’m so glad I did, not just because readers like it, but also because it was true to the story I wanted to tell to the people I wanted to read it. And that’s what thinking about reaching your market can be. It’s not “selling out” or “writing to market”. It’s—how can I tell my story or share my thoughts or message in a way that reaches the people I want to reach?I love this assignment. I hope you do too. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Kids, this is a Blueprint for a Book Summer Challenge Bonus Episode. I’ll be dropping these weekly throughout the Summer 2022 Challenge. Some of you are already signed up and challenging away, turning in weekly assignments and pushing yourself to get this done. Some of you are #AmWriting supporters who’ve put your $$$ where your <3 is (that’s an old school pre-emoji keyboard heart, in case you’re wondering). We appreciate you—and so you’re getting these bonus episodes too. If this one inspires you to join the challenge, it’s not too late to sign up. Start with Step 1, do the work (we’ll give you an assignment every week), and in 10 weeks, you’ll have a solid foundation for a first draft or revision of your project that will help you push through to “the end”. For the details on the challenge, and to sign up for weekly encouragement, bonuses and the chance to win a blueprint critique, head to authoraccelerator.com/amwritingblueprintchallenge before July 15, 2022. This bonus episode is all about… the book’s why. What’s your protagonist or your reader working toward? What do you want that character (fiction or non-fiction) to know at the end of this that they don’t know at the beginning, and what is the reader thinking hard about too? This is the heart of your book, and every book, whether it’s The Chicken Sisters or How to Be a Happier Parent, needs a heart. Once you find it, a whole lot of other things drop into place. Sadly, however, this may be the single hardest one-sentence-to-go-on-a-post-it-note you ever write. But fear not! It’s ok to keep groping toward this for as long as it takes.How to listen: if you’ve listened to any previous Bonus episodes or Minisodes, this one should already BE in your podcast feed. If not, click on the link to listen and you’ll find yourself at amwriting.substack.com. You COULD listen there, but we’re guessing you’d rather get all subscriber episodes, from now on, in your usual podcast-listening app. It’s easy, and you only have to do it once to get every #Minisode from now on right where you want it.So click “listen in podcast app.” You’ll get an email with a link in it. Click the link—ON YOUR PHONE—and you will get a menu of the most popular podcast apps. Chose yours and click, and you’ll have a new “private” podcast feed for supporters only.If your favorite listening app isn’t included, fear not. There’s an RSS link in the email. Your podcast app has a way to add that—it’s probably a “+” sign somewhere on your main page. Add the link once, and any time we do a #SupporterMini, you’ll get it without having to do a thing. (Trust us, it’s easy. This is WHY we chose Substack.) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Kids, this is a Blueprint for a Book Summer Challenge Bonus Episode. I’ll be dropping these weekly throughout the Summer 2022 Challenge. Some of you are already signed up and challenging away, turning in weekly assignments and pushing yourself to get this done. Some of you are #AmWriting supporters who’ve put your $$$ where your <3 is (that’s an old school pre-emoji keyboard heart, in case you’re wondering). We appreciate you—and so you’re getting these bonus episodes too. If this one inspires you to join the challenge, it’s not too late to sign up. Start with Step 1, do the work (we’ll give you an assignment every week), and in 10 weeks, you’ll have a solid foundation for a first draft or revision of your project that will help you push through to “the end”. For the details on the challenge, and to sign up for weekly encouragement, bonuses and the chance to win a blueprint critique, head to authoraccelerator.com/amwritingblueprintchallenge before July 15, 2022. This bonus episode is all about YOUR why. Next week, we’ll talk about what I think of as the book’s why—but for this week, it’s all about you. Knowing why you want to do this hard thing will help you keep your butt in the chair and head in the game when you’d rather do something else—because you’ll know better what you’re working for and why. And it will also help you make some decisions down the road about exactly what this thing is that you’re working to hard to produce and where you want it to go in the end.How to listen: if you’ve listened to any previous Bonus episodes or Minisodes, this one should already BE in your podcast feed. If not, click on the link to listen and you’ll find yourself at amwriting.substack.com. You COULD listen there, but we’re guessing you’d rather get all subscriber episodes, from now on, in your usual podcast-listening app. It’s easy, and you only have to do it once to get every #Minisode from now on right where you want it.So click “listen in podcast app.” You’ll get an email with a link in it. Click the link—ON YOUR PHONE—and you will get a menu of the most popular podcast apps. Chose yours and click, and you’ll have a new “private” podcast feed for supporters only.If your favorite listening app isn’t included, fear not. There’s an RSS link in the email. Your podcast app has a way to add that—it’s probably a “+” sign somewhere on your main page. Add the link once, and any time we do a #SupporterMini, you’ll get it without having to do a thing. (Trust us, it’s easy. This is WHY we chose Substack.) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

It’s the things-that-aren’t in the episode edition of your weekly #AmWriting email! First off, about 60 seconds in, I mention (this is KJ, it’s nearly always KJ) a podcast I like. But then I flake off to look up the name… and forget to ever mention it again.It’s the Crappy Friends Podcast with Kristan Higgins and Joss Dey. And it’s FICTION GOLD. Every week, a couple of people write in with stories of awful friends and angsty dilemmas and towns that are too-small-for-the-both-of-us and there is a novel in every question and a whole lot of shadenfreudy entertainment in the answers provided by best friends Kristan and Joss. It’s a fun, I’m just here for the hang situation.Want more? Sarina just texted me that she forgot to tell y’all her BIGGEST achievement so far this year: she writes first thing. I’m going to take credit for this one. I’m a big fan of eat-the-frog first (I exercise first thing, then write, for the same reasons) although I can’t remember what I said that finally got her to actually do it, but she just gave herself a big, justified pat-on-the-back for this one. “I have felt as though I had lots of free time this month because I didn’t spend half the day in avoidance.” That’s a gift you can give yourself too!Overall note from the episode? There are lots of reasons to check in on your goals. To cheer. To re-assess and decide—do I even want this? If I do, what do I need to go to get there? To wonder—really? Why? Maybe I don’t need to organize that drawer. Maybe I need to throw its contents away. To remind ourselves of what we’ve done, and what we still hope to do.It’s all even more meaningful that we all figured out the universal truth that landed in March 2020: we don’t even really control the goals we think we can control. But if life gives us a chance to make a choice to do a thing… better grab it!So… how go your goals so far this year? In honor of this episode, we’ve started our first thread discussion. If you’re on our email list, you’ll get an invite shortly after the episode airs. Otherwise, head to amwritingpodcast.com and look for the thread to tell us—is 2022 half-over, or half-to-go? What will you do with the rest of your year, and what have you done so far?Links from the PodGen the bookworm on Instagram#AmReadingSarina: The Mutual Friend by Carter Bays—Sarina shouts out the omniscient narrator, and KJ notes the head-hopping omniscience in The Arc.Jess: Mr. Nobody, Catherine SteadmanKJ: The Murder of Mr. Wickham, Claudia GrayBETTER SIGN UP SOON!! It’s the #AmWriting Blueprint for a Book Challenge! 10 episodes, 10 guests, 10 weeks to you being ready to write your best novel, memoir or non-fiction book this fall. There will be homework. There will be deadlines. Complete all 10 weeks, and you could win a critique of that Blueprint from KJ or Jennie Nash—but you’ll already be a winner, because you’ll have a plan that will put you way ahead of the game. Play for free—or reserve an Author Accelerator critique for your finished product to hold your feet to the fire and make sure you do the work and get bonus episodes and write-alongs. Want details? Ready to sign up? CLICK HERE. And quickly. Sign-ups end July 8.PS: Along those lines, Author Accelerator has opened registration for the 2022 Manuscript Incubator, an intensive, 7 month coaching opportunity that offers one-one-one support and guidance for novelists and memoirists planning to have a submission-ready project by early 2023—and includes the opportunity to have that project reviewed by a group of agents and editors when it’s ready. For more information, head to authoraccelerator.com/manuscript-incubator. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

We made something amazing. It’s called the Blueprint for a Book Summer Challenge, and it’s coming your way starting July 1, 2022 in the form of 10 episodes that could guide you through the steps for a creating a blueprint for the book you’ll write this fall—or for revising the one that’s just not quite coming together.The episodes will all drop into your pod-player just as they always do—and they’re great listens whether you’re ready to work through the Blueprint or just starting to think about what your book might look like when you are. But if you’re thinking about going ALL-IN, you’ll want to SIGN UP HERE for all the pokes and prods you’ll need to really get this done, and to be entered to win a free critique from Jennie or KJ of the Blueprint you write. Come on, play with us. Come September, you’ll be glad you did.PS: Already ready? No need for a Blueprint because you’ve already built the house? Author Accelerator has opened registration for the 2022 Manuscript Incubator, an intensive, 7 month coaching opportunity that offers one-one-one support and guidance for novelists and memoirists planning to have a submission-ready project by early 2023—and includes the opportunity to have that project reviewed by a group of agents and editors when it’s ready. For more information, head to authoraccelerator.com/manuscript-incubator. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe