“Hit me again. I’m coming back harder.”
That’s not a sports movie quote. That’s Shanna Upchurch describing her mindset after years of collecting rejections in the query trenches — 415 of them, to be exact, each one represented by a bead in a glass jar sitting on her desk.
And this spring, her debut picture book, The Honeybee Highway, publishes with Disney.
We sat down with Shanna to talk about her nearly 10-year journey to publication, what finally clicked, and what she’d say to the writers who are still in it. If you need a shot of hope today, keep reading.
The Book (and the One After That, and the One After That)
The Honeybee Highway is narrative nonfiction for young readers about the phenomenon of commercial beekeeping — the way billions of honeybees are transported across the country every year to pollinate the crops that feed us. Shanna describes it as a little girl’s cross-country journey, carting her family’s 400+ hives to do the work the whole food chain depends on.
“Like Johnny Appleseed for bees?” Jessica asked. (Yes, Shanna confirmed.)
But that’s not the only news. She also has a middle grade duology that went to auction and sold as a two-book deal — described by a friend as The Hunger Games meets Noah’s Ark — plus one more unannounced, top-secret project she is absolutely not allowed to talk about yet.
In other words: multiple deals, multiple formats, multiple genres.
Thank goodness she didn’t give up.
The Long Road There
Shanna started writing seriously almost 10 years ago, when her first son was born. Becoming a parent tethered her in a new way and reignited her love of children’s literature.
The early years were hard. She was receiving form rejections without understanding why.
“I either needed to throw in the towel or go all in. It’s optional. So I either need to step out and not have the stress of it, or I need to commit.”
She committed. And we’re so glad she did.
She sought out critique groups, read widely in her genre, tracked every query in a spreadsheet (with gorgeous graphs, she notes), and started investing in professional feedback — including with Manuscript Academy faculty. She saved birthday money, Christmas money, whatever she could — and used it to get her pages in front of sharp editorial eyes.
“Things really started to click when I actively sought out resources.”
The Beads
About that jar.
Shanna keeps every rejection — all 415 of them — as a bead in a glass jar. The colorful beads are agent rejections (380). The wooden ones on top are editor rejections. She shows it off without flinching.
“You’re not a writer unless you have a jar full of beads, metaphorically or otherwise. Every rejection is a gift to my craft. It keeps me hungry. I hope I never stop getting rejected altogether.”
This is the athlete’s mindset she recommends to every writer still in the trenches: Keep going. Get stronger. Come back harder. You don’t have to have been an athlete to think like one.
The Faculty Who Changed Her Work
Shanna is generous in crediting the specific feedback that moved her work forward. Two Manuscript Academy faculty members made a particular difference.
Working with Molly Cusick, whose background as a former editor gives her a sharp and experienced editorial eye, helped Shanna understand what her manuscripts needed structurally.
But it was Fiona Kenshole whose feedback she calls visionary. For one of her picture books, Fiona told her: You’ve written this hilarious concept and then put a sock over it. Why would you mute it? That single note — unlock the humor, trust the wackiness — changed the book entirely.
“She never belittled a single project. Even one I brought her that I could tell wasn’t working at all. She just said: here’s how this moves forward.”
The Plot Twist
Here’s something Shanna hadn’t planned to share, but did — and we’re glad she did.
At one point during the long road to publication, her editor left. And within 48 hours, her agent — who had moved up in her organization — let her go as well. In the span of two days, Shanna lost both the editor on her only sold project and her representation.
“That was low, low, low. I fed my children cereal two nights in a row.”
In that moment, she jumped into a Manuscript Academy member office hours session with Jessica and asked, direct and vulnerable: Is this recoverable? She was told, plainly: yes.
“That was the turning point. I was like — okay. It’s going to be okay.”
And then, it all got better. The middle grade novel that had been submitted nine times went to auction. Multiple books. Multiple publishers. Multiple deals.
What She’d Tell You
If you’re still in it — still querying, still getting the form rejections, still wondering whether to keep going — here’s what Shanna says:
The only lever you can pull is your craft. Read in your genre. Study the industry. Seek out feedback from people who are genuinely excellent. And then be a cool and interesting person, because that’s who writes cool and interesting books.
There’s room for you. “This isn’t a club that only lets a few people in. If you persist long enough, and you keep honing your craft, there’s space for everyone who gets good enough.”
Keep going. Please.
Shanna Upchurch’s debut picture book, The Honeybee Highway, publishes April 7th with Disney. To work with Manuscript Academy faculty like those who helped Shanna along the way, browse our consultations here.