The US...for now

Yes! It's a real thing! The exact same book can look completely different on different days.

I've been thinking about going to London for the cheese conveyor belt restaurant! 😀

Alas, I haven't won my idea prize (free planes for a year! Can you imagine?) yet, but if I had, I'd be interested!

That's beautiful! Okay, as a person always looking out for "But what if the worst thing happens," I'm not sure about the safety of posting your words on the open internet, just in case--but this was lovely to read.

Thank you! I've actually been meaning to read Tolle for years.

Also--as always, you should only do edits that feel right to you--perhaps the evil queen could have some subtle parallels with politics in our world?

That's really cool! And I saw your pitch in the forum--it looks great!! It always feels like cheating to request from there, but if your work is still available when I open to queries, please consider sending to me.

I'm sorry. This still falls into the "AI as a huge plot point" caveat for me. If it were a regular, human-powered cult, that could potentially work for me, but I think you should try someone with a friendlier approach to AI characters first.

Understandable, but the mere mention of AI makes me want to do something like 1) Get up and get some chocolate 2) Get up, find my phone, mindlessly scroll 3) Get up, find my remote, watch TV, 4) You'll note the pattern starts with "Get up and..."

Ironically, it also makes me want to dissociate.

I post these in the hope that you'll see this process is far less personal than it seems.

All of the above had good writing, concepts I think could sell, perhaps excepting #3.

Sometimes it really is the agent, not your book. Chin up.

The latter is a challenge, but fixable.

The former is, sadly, an easy no.

Sometimes a work has all the "right" ingredients (the adjectives, settings, conflicts, characters, even aesthetics I like) and still feels wrong.

Sometimes a work has all the "wrong" ingredients (too-high word count, genre against trend, plot that takes an hour to explain) and still feels right.

Yes! You can ALWAYS start again.

3. Mentions of AI annoy me, so I don’t want your MC to be in this category.

4. Painful in ways the news is painful. I can’t have too much more of that.

5. I’m kind of creeped out by angels. Their wings look sharp.

6. I don’t work on picture books.

7. This will give me nightmares.

Reasons I've rejected writers in the past year that have nothing to do with them:

1. I can't hold this much grief right now. (Yes, I told her. I hope she sees it's a genuine "It's not you, it's me.")

2. This is based on an entire category of movies I haven’t seen, and deserves a true fan.

My advice in three words:

Don't give up.
Don't give up.
Don't give up.
Don't give up.
Don't give up.
Don't give up.
Don't give up.
Don't give up.
Don't give up.

Yes, absolutely! Choose when you might hear something sad, I say.

I like how they branded it as friendly. Like your study friend who brings you a coffee in the library at midnight during finals. :)

I'm so sorry that happened--but so glad it worked out!

Yes! I have an email address that's so full, it's mostly "Buy this thing" or "Donate to this cause" or "Gosh, something terrible happened in politics AGAIN" and I am constantly missing real emails in there from humans.

Dedicated email FTW.

Can you still send your next project even if they don't specifically ask to see it?

Of course!

Do your research, due diligence, follow guidelines, etc.

You don't need permission. Just again, please, take this as a huge compliment.

We do not say this to everyone, or just to be polite.

Okay, I just did a little math for you (thank you, GSuite tags!).

I said I'd like to see the next project to 3.96% of rejected queries.

And I feel like I'm pretty generous with it.

So.

This is RARE and SPECIAL.

Please believe agents when they say this.

And it bears repeating:

1) Agents don't have time to lie! If they say they'd love to see your next work, they mean it.

2) Any personalization AT ALL, even if it feels mean, is a compliment. They wouldn't bother if they didn't see potential.

If you're thinking, "But Jessica, what if I get a request and I don't respond RIGHT AWAY," please allow me to reassure you: we don't need them that quickly.

Yes, sometimes, I sit around hitting refresh hoping it comes in ASAP.

But one business day is fast enough. Promise. Even two.

A reminder that I think it's a great idea to set up an email address JUST for your submissions.

This way, you won't be in the middle of dinner--or, worse, your birthday! As happened to a writer I know--and get a crushing rejection.

Don't give rejections unlimited access to you. Let Gmail help.

Interesting! I've seen the lock boxes with a timer...

And no, I immediately turn wifi back on if I just turn it off.

That's true! Amtrak wifi is amazingly spotty. I thought about the Amtrak writing scholarship for this--maybe it elongates time *and* increases focus!

For some reason if I unplug my router too much it stops working, and the internet guy told me to quit it. But in an ideal world, yes!

Ha! Yes, nature's floss!

I learned yesterday that Einstein said as you increase your own personal velocity, time slows down.

So does that mean we should spend more time on trains? I like trains. Worth a try!

Luckily, I have a client in Physics. I'll annoy him with this question during our next call.

If anyone has any tips for:

1) Slowing down time

2) Turning down the volume of the world

I am very interested

Also, why is celery? Other than "ants on a log" (peanut butter and raisins), and I guess mirepoix, I'm not really sure what it's for.