Hi #AmWriters and subscribers to Jess’ content, Jess here, looking out my office window over a beautiful, snowy Vermont Sunday and thinking of you. We do these things called “Lahey Cafe” days in the Lahey household and we have one coming up this afternoon. Back when my husband and I were in graduate school and never got to spend time together away from the books, we would go to cafes (Caribou Coffee on Main Street in Chapel Hill, NC was our favorite) and spend time together while studying. We kept this practice up once we had kids and now our daughter (a college student) asks for them regularly when she has essays to write or studying to do at home. Today, I’m serving up a King Arthur chocolate babka I baked yesterday, the wood stove is burning, and we will all sit at the dining room table with tea and coffee and chocolate-stained fingers while we work on our respective projects. I’m still slogging away on a book proposal, so that’s my task at the Lahey cafe.

Before I leave for the cafe, however, I wanted to offer up a bonus episode of the #AmWriting podcast for you. Last week, for the final AMA of the year, I invited EVERYONE, not just subscribers, to ask me anything, and boy, they did. I love these AMAs because they get at the heart of our most basic intent when we started this podcast over four hundred episodes, which was to flatten the learning curve for writers. If we, or someone we interview, have learned something through a mistake or stumbled upon something useful, why make someone else repeat the effort. Also, AMAs are a throwback to my career as a teacher, which I miss very much.

So enjoy the podcast version of last week’s AMA as well as some pen recommendations recommendations for left-handed writers from Bungu (not sponsored, I’m just obsessed with their products and their TikTok, @bungustore). I’ve linked the pens here:

Zebra Sarasa Dry is their top choice, apparently because the ink dries so fast

Uni Power Tank (pressurized ink!)

Uni Jetstream

Pento Energel

It’s a working weekend, so I’m off to work on some annoying administrative details of my book proposal and play with my new kitten, Lila.

Thanks for reading #AmWriting! This post is public so feel free to share it.

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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