The Manuscript Academy Podcast (00:00:01)
Introduction and overview of the episode.

20 Writers Interview (00:00:36)
Discussion about a group of 20 writers who were interviewed together.

Introductions and Writing Projects (00:01:39)
Writers introduce themselves and their current writing projects.

Formation of the Writing Group (00:04:46)
How the writers met and formed their supportive writing group.

Support and Sharing Experiences (00:07:09)
Writers share their experiences of support and encouragement within the group.

Beta Reading and Feedback (00:09:28)
Discussion about beta reading and the valuable feedback received within the group.

Creating a Supportive Vibe (00:12:35)
Tips for creating a positive and supportive writing group environment.

Building Real Friendships (00:15:31)
Cultivation of real friendships within the writing group.

Writing Collaborations (00:15:49)
Discussion about potential writing collaborations within the group.

Final Words of Advice (00:18:19)
Each writer shares their best piece of advice for fellow writers.

Importance of Writer Friends (00:19:43)
The importance of having supportive writer friends for critiques and feedback.

The importance of good beta readers and critique partners (00:20:13)
Understanding the value of constructive feedback and recognizing when feedback is not beneficial.

Trusting your instincts and your story (00:20:52)
Emphasizing the importance of finding trusted advice and staying true to your own storytelling vision.

Overcoming the fear of writing poorly (00:21:48)
Encouraging writers to embrace imperfection in their first drafts and not be afraid to be beginners.

The magic of the revision process (00:22:34)
Highlighting the transformative power of the revision process and trusting that it enhances the story.

Protecting the creative spark and embracing change (00:23:05)
Encouraging writers to safeguard their creative passion while being open to pivoting and rethinking their stories.

Shaping the manuscript according to your vision (00:23:25)
Empowering writers to rewrite and reshape their manuscripts to align with their creative vision.

Embracing the unique path to publishing (00:24:21)
Encouraging writers to avoid comparing their journey to others and to stay committed to their own path.

Aspirational message for positive writing relationships (00:24:42)
Acknowledging the supportive and aspirational nature of the writers’ relationships and the importance of modeling positive interactions for other writers.

Please note that this is auto-generated and we cannot guarantee 100% accuracy. 

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:00:01) – Welcome to the Manuscript Academy podcast, brought to you by a writer and an agent who both believe that education is key. The beauty is the people you meet along the way and that community makes all the difference. Here at the Manuscript Academy, you can learn the skills, make the connections, and have access to experts all from home. I’m Julie Kingsley. And I’m Jessica Zimmer. Put down your pens, pause your workouts, and enjoy. Hello friends! We have such a fun episode for you today.

*Julie Kingsley * (00:00:36) – We had 20 writers interview us all at once.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:00:41) – I love how they supported each other and they were so funny. I think my favorite part is that one of them brings up the Dowager Countess whenever she doesn’t approve of what they’re saying.

*Julie Kingsley * (00:00:49) – Every writer needs a community. And today, here’s a guide.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:00:53) – And they’re living proof 20 plus writers to show you can have a community. It can be fun. You can support each other. And there was an amazing moment, actually, when Julie asked them, how many of you had agents going in and how many of you have agents now? And it was incredible to see all those hands going.

*Julie Kingsley * (00:01:09) – Was it really was. And I think it’s so interesting when you start the journey with the people at the same space as you, how that creates an energy and just kind of a lift that really can push you over that, that hurdle.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:01:25) – Yeah, it’s tough out there and if you have friends to go with you, it makes it all the easier. All right, without further ado, here they are. Hey everyone, we’re so happy you’re here. Please go around and tell us quickly your name and what you’re working on. My name is Amanda Nelson.

Amanda Nelson (00:01:39) – I co-write with another writer. Her name is Lisa Marie Potter. We have written two books. We’re currently querying a rom com. We’ve recently retitled it to be Men in Books or Better.

Anne Putnam (00:01:50) – I’m Anne Putnam, I write under Anne Putnam. I am a memoirist. I’m one of two memoirists in our group, but I am currently working on fiction as well, and I’m querying my second memoir, which is called Sit With It, and my first memoir was published in 2013.

Anne Putnam (00:02:06) – But I am back in the query trenches. My name is Bonnie Jo.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:02:11) – I write contemporary romance and rom com.

Amanda Nelson (00:02:13) – And romantic suspense. My name is Kat Norris. I am querying my first novel, which is a sci fi thriller slash romance. It’s very like sciencey philosophical type of novel, and it also has high heat romance. I started writing the sequel, but I’m mainly focusing on querying right now.

*Julie Kingsley * (00:02:37) – Hi, I’m Crystal Hill. I write Young Adult.

Crystal Hill. (00:02:40) – And I am querying my second novel, which is called Accidental People. I’m currently writing my third young adult, which is a paranormal.

Grace Ellis Barber (00:02:48) – I’m Chris Ellis Barber. I am an accidental romcom writer. I thought I was going to be historical fiction, and then I decided to experiment, and I wrote a contemporary romantic comedy, and also as an experiment, I thought I’d query it, and now I have an agent, and apparently I’m a romcom writer.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:03:05) – Congratulations.

Grace Ellis Barber (00:03:06) – Thank you.

G.S. Brouwer (Greg) (00:03:07) – I’m Greg, I write under G. S Brouwer. I’m writing the plans.

G.S. Brouwer (Greg) (00:03:11) – Invest in difference in revisions. Right now it’s Olympic novel.

Lindsey Danis (00:03:14) – I’m Lindsey Danis. I am querying my second young adult novel, and I just finished yesterday revisions to my adult market novel.

Lindsey Maple (00:03:24) – My name is Lindsey Maple. My debut novel is being published by Rising Action Publishing Collective. It’s called Not Your Basic Love Story, and I just recently signed with Clare Harris at RPS literary for my next romcom.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:03:38) – That’s awesome. Congratulations. We love Clare. Thanks.

Lindsey Maple (00:03:41) – She’s pretty great.

Anne Putnam (00:03:42) – Hi, I’m Liz.

Jessica Sinsheimer0 (00:03:43) – Cusack, I’m the weird Time Zone member of the group because I’m here in London, England. Despite not being English like you can tell I have a Canadian accent and I have just signed with an agent for my Ya romcom called my Cottagecore Summer. And meanwhile I’m working on my first novel at the moment and we’ll see how it goes. Hi, I’m Trish, I write middle grade and.

Crystal Hill. (00:04:06) – Young adult science fiction and fantasy. I’m currently querying a young adult novel called When Love Runs Out, and it’s a mashup of fantasy and science fiction.

Crystal Hill. (00:04:16) – I’m just entering into the query trenches after a two and a half year hiatus. Hey everyone, I’m.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:04:21) – Guy Regina and I write ya. So far, I’m deep in revisions on my second novel, and.

Lindsey Maple (00:04:28) – It’s a paranormal horror, and I hope to have it.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:04:31) – Query ready.

Lindsey Maple (00:04:32) – By April.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:04:33) – That sounds really fun.

*Julie Kingsley * (00:04:35) – This is amazing. It’s not often that we could just see this many writers together in one space on the podcast, and I’m so pleased that it happened. So tell me, how did you all meet?

Lindsey Maple (00:04:46) – I was looking for some people to share in the querying journey with me, because it can be very lonely and very hard. And after a manuscript academy lesson you put on about querying and how to interpret rejections and what. Not. It was very helpful. I highly recommend that I posted on the Facebook group. Is anyone else querying? Let’s be in this together. And several people were interested, so I made a Twitter group for us and over time we whittled some people down who aren’t really interested in being a part of it.

Lindsey Maple (00:05:17) – We met some other people like Grace and Greg and Skye and Kat, who ended up being perfect for a little group. We all have the same weird sense of humor. Two years later and we’re all together still.

G.S. Brouwer (Greg) (00:05:27) – I actually joined after Grace and I met randomly in some Twitter exchange. We weren’t friends or didn’t know each other, and I was talking to somebody about fiction. And then she jumped in. And then after a while we started DMing and she’s like, hey, I have this group of writers that I know that I think your weird sense of humor will fit in well with. And so I think you should join. And that’s how I got invited to the group.

Amanda Nelson (00:05:48) – I was welcomed into the group by Santa, who unfortunately can’t be here today. Long story short, I started a like moms group in the San Francisco Bay area because I was lonely and I didn’t know anybody. I met her through there. She thought I would be a good fit for this group, especially since I was in the process of writing my novel at the time.

*Julie Kingsley * (00:06:11) – Can I step back a little bit because I’m super interested in this? So you all showed up at the submission strategy event, and so you all were querying at that point, and you guys have been together through people getting agents book deals. Bebe’s so everyone here, you could just raise your hand. How many of you were agents when we started that event? None, of course, because you’re in the vet. How many of you are agent ID now? One two, three, four, four. Like half of our group got half, so isn’t that amazing? So there’s something really interesting that happens when you show up with a bunch of writers in the same exact space in your writing, and you join together and we talk about the journey, right? As we’re talking about the journey, it grows into so much more than just publishing. So I think our next question is tell us some exciting things that happened or some hard things that happened. Tell us some stories.

Lindsey Maple (00:07:09) – I’m at Grace mad, and I was just scrolling through pitches and hers was like, oh my God, get this in my hands.

Lindsey Maple (00:07:15) – And that’s how I met her. And I invited her to the group because she was just a weirdo. And that’s how I get people into things.

Grace Ellis Barber (00:07:23) – I guess one of the things that is really struck me about this group is how we have managed to stay supportive in every space that we are in our journey. I’ve been very fortunate where I am right now. I was in a multi offer situation and I was a little bit scared to share that with people because I didn’t want to make anybody feel bad. And these wonderful people listen to me talk about all my options and give me feedback on just how I was talking about it, to gauge what was really going to work for me and what was the good option. And I will always really appreciate that because in a different group, they might have been like, stop bragging or go away, or we don’t want you in here anymore. You’re making us feel bad.

Jessica Sinsheimer0 (00:08:02) – I don’t think I would have kept on querying and actually gotten to the point where I had the offers from agents.

Jessica Sinsheimer0 (00:08:08) – If it hadn’t been for this group, because I was at the point where I made over like 100 queries, rewritten my manuscript a few times, and was just like, is there actually an appetite for this? And then something just changed. People suddenly wanted really funny things for 2022, and I was lucky enough to find myself in a similar situation instead of having to make some choices. But honestly, if it hadn’t been for the continuing support of this group, I probably would have just said, okay, I’ve done my querying experiment. I’m going to stop now. But instead I kept on going.

Amanda Nelson (00:08:38) – I love the Twitter writing community. It can also be really disheartening. A lot of people tweet stuff like, this is my.

Jessica Sinsheimer0 (00:08:45) – Seventh.

Lindsey Maple (00:08:46) – Pull requests.

Amanda Nelson (00:08:47) – And when you’re not that person.

Lindsey Maple (00:08:49) – You’re just like.

Amanda Nelson (00:08:50) – Okay.

Jessica Sinsheimer0 (00:08:51) – You know, that just makes you feel horrible.

Amanda Nelson (00:08:53) – And it’s so nice to come into this group and say something and to hear stories like Liz’s, where she’s done over 100 queries and it took her that 120th to get that agent.

Amanda Nelson (00:09:05) – It’s okay that I’ve got 85 rejections. It’s all right. I can keep going. And it’s just so nice to have people who understand, because Twitter can skew the view on what is expected as far as your request rates are, and to have all of these writers in there with you where they’re like, yes, that’s a pipe dream. Everybody wishes they had that one, but it’s not the normal. And so you feel better about yourself and it’s so nice to have that camaraderie.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:09:28) – Yeah. It’s true. No. It’s going to go on Twitter and say guess what guys? Nothing happened today.

Crystal Hill. (00:09:32) – I was revising my current manuscript, like probably for the eighth time, and I was just so over like constructive criticism. And I just wanted somebody to read my story for fun because I felt like that’s an important thing and always look at it with a critical eye. But fun is an important aspect to my. Asked if anyone would be willing to read it for a positivity pass, and I had a lot of people volunteer, so that made me feel good.

Crystal Hill. (00:09:58) – And then you will need to keep going with my revisions.

Anne Putnam (00:10:01) – Because I was also going to comment on the beta reading. Like, that’s the other thing that we do in this group, and I haven’t had as much bandwidth as I’d like to, but I’ve read a few people’s books, but there’s always someone who’s willing to beta read your manuscript. And then I think one of the nice things that comes from that, beyond either the constructive criticism or the positivity, both of which I think everyone gives in spades, is that people will get, you know, a rejection on a full and they’ll be like, I don’t understand this feedback. And people will come in to the chat and be like, I read your book. That’s definitely not the case for me. Or yeah, I could see how that would be the case in this one instance. And so you get these perspectives on your feedback that are actually informed by people who’ve read your book. And I think it’s so valuable. We all are looking for feedback all the time from agents.

Anne Putnam (00:10:48) – But like one agent is just a person. So it helps to have the sounding board of the group.

G.S. Brouwer (Greg) (00:10:54) – I think I was it. One of the positives too is just through the last story I’ve been writing. It was originally a short story and so my editor, Jamie Dale said, hey, you have a lot of backstory in this story. You should write it out as a novel instead of being a short story. And what’s been great about the group is a lot of us write in a lot of different styles or genres, so when they read the work that I’ve done or I’ve read their work, the feedback that you get doesn’t usually like, disagree with each other. But people with different skills pick up on different things. So I know Amanda is a really good romance writer, so her feedback was very good about like the romantic elements of my story. Grace, I know is also good into reading the actual like line edits. Hey, you’re getting more than a little bit purple. You should probably cut some adjectives.

G.S. Brouwer (Greg) (00:11:38) – It’s been a really good to get like the different skills from everybody. So you’re getting almost like multiple editors at the same time, everybody who has their own strengths, and it really makes the work that you’re outputting then so much stronger than you could even imagine. Before I met the group. So that’s been pretty fantastic.

*Julie Kingsley * (00:11:53) – I want to stop for a second because I need to tell the people that are listening how hysterical and polite everyone is being taking turns and we have a chat and the chat is so funny. People are calling Greg fancy. And so what I’m feeling from you all is this amazing energy of support. And that’s exactly what we try to do at the Manuscript Academy. What you’re talking about really is when things are bad, you’re there for each other. When things are good, you’re there for each other, you’re not competitive, and you have this culture that you’ve created randomly. Can someone give tips to other people out there that are looking to create this?

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:12:35) – Yeah, I can just imagine all of the writers out there who are super jealous and they’re like, I want this writing group.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:12:40) – How do I get it? So how did you make the vibe so good? I’ve been wondering that this whole time.

Jessica Sinsheimer1 (00:12:44) – I’m jealous now and I’m not in this group.

Amanda Nelson (00:12:46) – I know I wasn’t there since the beginning, but people have hopped in and then they kick themselves out because they’re like, you’re humorous, too inappropriate. You guys post too many thirsty GIFs or sense of humor can get pretty crass and inappropriate at times. We all have a very similar communication style and sense of humor. In the time that I’ve been here in the group, a bunch of people get added and they either stay because they like us, or they see themselves out because they’re like not feeling this.

Jessica Sinsheimer0 (00:13:17) – We do talk a lot.

G.S. Brouwer (Greg) (00:13:18) – One of the positive aspects, also, besides talking constantly, is that people are also giving back constantly. And that makes a difference because I think some people want to join the writers group. They want people to read their manuscript or read their work, and then it’s like, cool, great, thanks, I’m out.

G.S. Brouwer (Greg) (00:13:33) – And then they’re done. They leave, they drop in their little happy news, and then they go away. I think everybody in the group has been very supportive of everyone else’s work, which is really helpful.

Lindsey Maple (00:13:42) – Yeah, I just wanted to add that when I first started the group and we first got everyone together, I was very adamant that the group was anti-racist, pro Lgbtq+ and pro neurodiversity and that everyone was welcome. And if you’re not comfortable with that, here’s the door. We do have people on all sides of that, from all different cultural backgrounds and on the LGBTQ plus spectrum and the neurodiversity spectrum. So I think that’s really special because we have so much to add and to offer. And I think that’s really cool.

Lindsey Danis (00:14:11) – I just want to say for people listening that want a part of this for themselves, I wouldn’t think about how can I get what they have? I would think about what do I have to give and what do I have to share with other writers, and then approach other writers from that perspective of sharing and connecting, and then it’ll happen for you.

Grace Ellis Barber (00:14:28) – I remember now that when I was invited to join, Lindsay had a post or a tweet, and it was something like nice people only, she stressed. From the beginning this was about support and about being kind to one another, and that if you were going to get catty or something like that, that this was not the group for you. And I think that setting expectations start out with was probably really helpful because I would not have joined just any group. I have been added to other ones, and those don’t usually last, because I don’t think that there’s a same sort of aspiration there to remain together as a support group and to be very. Kind and to put the other people in the group before you.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:15:04) – For me, this group is so important to me, not just for.

Lindsey Maple (00:15:07) – Writing.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:15:07) – For the friendships.

Lindsey Maple (00:15:08) – That I’ve made. I don’t talk to a lot of my real life friends anymore just.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:15:12) – Because of Covid. There’s been.

Lindsey Maple (00:15:13) – A huge.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:15:14) – Divide in my.

Lindsey Maple (00:15:15) – Life and my social life, and.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:15:17) – Having this to look forward to every day, and it keeps me grounded. And the writing talk is amazing.

Lindsey Maple (00:15:23) – I love.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:15:23) – It because it.

Lindsey Maple (00:15:24) – Holds me accountable.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:15:25) – And I’m so impressed by everything that.

Lindsey Maple (00:15:27) – I’ve read from this group, and it pushes me to do better in my own writing.

Jessica Sinsheimer1 (00:15:31) – So I have a question for everybody here. Since you all have cultivated more than just a writing group, you’ve cultivated real friendships. So because of this, and I know there’s I think two people already in the group that write together, if you had to write with somebody else in your group, who would it be?

Lindsey Danis (00:15:49) – I would write with Crystal. I think we could collab on an awesome. Yeah, I.

Lindsey Maple (00:15:53) – Think I would write with Lindsay Maple because we write first person romcoms.

Amanda Nelson (00:15:58) – And I don’t.

Lindsey Maple (00:15:59) – Write sex scenes, and she does great at that.

Amanda Nelson (00:16:01) – I’m going to jump on the Lindsay train too. We already talked about the potential future rom com book, Sister Wives.

Lindsey Maple (00:16:09) – I’ve been talking with so many people about what if we did this together and they have so many ideas? I think everyone would be great to write with.

Lindsey Maple (00:16:17) – You’re all fantastic writers. We got really lucky. You’re all super talented.

Jessica Sinsheimer0 (00:16:22) – Yeah, and that was something I wanted to bring up, which is that one of the great things about this group is you get to read some amazing writing. And I really love reading everybody’s books. Like I finished reading a mass market published best seller the other day, and I was just like, yeah. And I picked up Bonnie’s book last night featuring a whiskey drinking goat and an ex-Marine who’s saved this woman from this horrible explosion and everything. And I’m like, I can’t put this down. It’s so good. But the writing here is really top notch.

Lindsey Maple (00:16:49) – Thank you. Liz.

Jessica Sinsheimer0 (00:16:50) – I’m really enjoying it.

Grace Ellis Barber (00:16:51) – Bonnie I think Greg and I could write a book together. We would spend a lot of time fighting about how many adjectives were in our sentences, but other than that, I think we could probably write something super high brow about something super low brow.

G.S. Brouwer (Greg) (00:17:03) – She says that what she means is she probably either write a great book with me, or flip over the table and leave the room and never talk to me again, depending on how it went.

G.S. Brouwer (Greg) (00:17:10) – So. But I would also have said grace as well.

Crystal Hill. (00:17:14) – I write in so many genres. I could definitely write a really good way. Contemporary with serious issues with Lindsay. Okay, creepy paranormal guy. Get on the time travel train again with Amanda. I love all the different genres this group writes.

Anne Putnam (00:17:27) – Yeah, genre wise, there’s pretty much nobody that I match up with just because I’m a memoirist. But I will say I would be stoked to write with anyone because I think we all have really different talents. All the books I’ve read have been great. Everyone has a ton of talent, but everybody’s talents are so different. And so I would be like, really interested to see what would come out of different partnerships with different people in the group.

Amanda Nelson (00:17:54) – I have to say, I actually co-write with another person, but if I had to, I think I would actually write with Jackie. She’s not on the chat. She’s incredibly talented and I like her voice and I think we match up well.

*Julie Kingsley * (00:18:05) – So I want to respect all of your time.

*Julie Kingsley * (00:18:07) – This has been so amazing. If each of you went around and just gave your best piece of advice to writers, and it could be any advice that you want, just something that they can leave this podcast with.

Amanda Nelson (00:18:19) – Get used to rejection, to thick skin, and get to know what a form looks like because there’s lots of varieties of that.

Anne Putnam (00:18:25) – I would say keep going, but maybe don’t keep self-flagellating in the same vein that you’re already in. So, um, in the last year and a half, I’ve started writing more short pieces and pitching personal essays to publications and things like that, and that has really helped me keep going and keep writing rather than just beating the dead horse. That is my second memoir. So, yeah, maybe find a new avenue that is still within writing, if you can.

Lindsey Maple (00:18:53) – When I was a teenager, I watched Finding Forrester with Sean Connery, and it impacted me because Sean Connery is standing behind the main character and he’s yelling just right. And so if there’s anything I could leave with, everybody is just right.

Lindsey Maple (00:19:06) – Because your story is important. The world needs to hear your story, put your words on the page, get your story out there. It’s important. People need to read it.

Amanda Nelson (00:19:15) – I’m going to give more technical advice, so be familiar with all the tools that are available to you. Manuscript Academy is great. Manuscript wish list is awesome. You can look for the agents that are regularly updating also query tracker. They do a great job of stats and you can filter and sort like who’s requesting in your genre and all kinds of stuff like that. So if you’re familiar with the tools that are available to you, that will help you be successful.

Crystal Hill. (00:19:43) – I was going to mention that it’s really important to have writer friends that have your back and make you feel safe, especially with getting critiques. Twitter is a great place to find writers that want to be friends. You could start by offering query and first chapter swaps with people you’ve shared comments with, and then see how your critique meshed together. And keep that going.

Crystal Hill. (00:20:02) – And if you find a few other people like that, maybe bring everyone together in a chat and see what happens. You might be surprised by the dynamic a bunch of angsty writers and Aquarian trenches can create.

Grace Ellis Barber (00:20:13) – I wanted to add to that one of the best things you can do is learn the difference between a good beta reader or a good critique partner, and a bad one. Your critique partner or your beta readers should have your best interests at heart, and they want to encourage you and make you a better writer. So if you get feedback that is damaging to you, that is not a good beta reader and it’s okay to reject everything they say. I know that sounds like carte blanche, but if they can’t give you feedback without crushing you, then their opinion is not going to be worthwhile to you. And I think that is so important because I have seen writers get just devastated by basically a bad critique partner. That’s one of the worst things.

G.S. Brouwer (Greg) (00:20:52) – I would say similar to that, the two pieces of advice I would think, is find the person that you trust.

G.S. Brouwer (Greg) (00:20:56) – There’s definitely a lot of people that will give you advice, some of which is good, some of which is not, depending on what their own biases are or just other background stuff and what their vision is. Which then brings my second piece, which is trust yourself. At a certain point, people will give you advice. It might be great from their standpoint, but it might not necessarily work for you because it’s not the story that you personally want to tell. If it’s not the story you want to tell. You know their advice is helpful. You say thank you. You integrate the pieces that help you and the other pieces. You are grateful for them, but you need to make sure that it’s still your story at the end of the day, because you’re the one whose name is going to be on it, and you’re the one who’s telling the story and submitting it to agents. Learn to trust your process. Learn to trust your own voice and your own story, and make sure that it’s yours.

G.S. Brouwer (Greg) (00:21:37) – Don’t blindly follow every piece of feedback, because then you end up writing a thousand different stories for a thousand different people, and then none of it’s yours and all over the place, and not necessarily the best story that you personally can write.

Lindsey Maple (00:21:48) – My advice would be, especially when you’re writing a first draft, don’t focus on making it perfect. You’re just getting the words on the page. You’re learning as you go. And that’s what later drafts are for. I see so many people getting hung up on being afraid to write poorly that they don’t do it at all. And it’s okay to be a beginner. It’s okay to not know what you’re doing. It’s okay to write really bad. I opened up the first draft of my first book that I started six years ago, and it said her feet landed adeptly on the forest floor. Okay, so that’s not a good sentence to start with, but I’ve learned and I’ve grown. And now look at me years later. I’ve written multiple books. I have a book deal and an agent, and if I had given up at that first book, I wouldn’t be here today.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:22:34) – To add on to what the teacher said, because I’m so deep in my own revisions, my main piece of advice would be.

Lindsey Maple (00:22:41) – To trust the.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:22:42) – Revision process.

Lindsey Maple (00:22:43) – I’ve been very resistant.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:22:45) – To revision in the past, but there’s so much magic in it. It really is just like part of excavating the heart of the story. And it can seem so overwhelming at first at the beginning, but by the time you’re done, your story will likely be better for it. So to trust that the work that you’re doing in revisions is only going to to make your story better.

Lindsey Danis (00:23:05) – I would encourage people to remember what they loved about their story, what they loved about writing, what got them into it in the first place, and just really protect that creative spark, but at the same time, not be afraid of pivoting, shaking it up and just rethinking the story. Because if it’s not working, odds are something can change for the better.

Jessica Sinsheimer0 (00:23:25) – Yeah, and following up on what Lindsey just said, that would be my piece of advice to which is if you’re writing a manuscript, it’s your manuscript to change, it’s your manuscript to shape it the way you want it to be.

Jessica Sinsheimer0 (00:23:37) – You can rewrite the darn thing as many times as you want to, especially when you are just starting querying and looking for an agent, because this is your time to shape this and make this what you want it to be. Like I said, I did something like over 100 queries. I rewrote my manuscript three times. One time was taking out five chapters of backstory, one time was going through forensically and taking out all those extra vats and all the other weasel words that had gotten in there, and I changed the title, and it was a new manuscript, but it still had the heart of my old one, and that was the one that got an agent. So just keep going. Keep shaping it. It’s yours. You can make it what you want it to be and it will find its home eventually.

Crystal Hill. (00:24:21) – I was just going to say that it’s hard not to compare yourself to other writers and where they are on their writing journey, but it’s important for everyone to remember that everyone’s path to publishing is different, and it doesn’t matter how long it takes you to get there, or what path you even take, as long as you keep doing what you love to do, then the journey is worth it.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:24:42) – It’s lovely to see all of you getting along so well. I think this is such a nice, aspirational message to show writers what they should be striving for in their writing relationships, and I think sometimes it’s really important just to have a model of what it can be like. And you’ve given that to all the writers out there. So thank you.

*Julie Kingsley * (00:24:59) – We are so glad that you joined us. And as always, we appreciate your feedback. Just head on over to the iTunes store and let us know what you think. And not only helps us make this podcast be the best it can be, but it also affects our ratings within the iTunes platform.

Jessica Sinsheimer (00:25:14) – We’d love to hear from you if you’re feeling brave and want to submit your page for our First Pages podcast, you can send it to Academy at Manuscript Wishlist. Com with First Pages podcast in the subject line. We’d also just love to hear from you.

*Julie Kingsley * (00:25:29) – And if you’d like to learn more about the Manuscript Academy and everything we have to offer, just jump on over to Manuscript academy.com.