J.J. Phillips
@jjphillipsyo.bsky.social
58 followers 110 following 44 posts
#AmQuerying Hunted for his meteorite wand, twelve-year-old Catch must master spell-hacked spycraft to stop the Acolytes from seizing the Minerals of Power.
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Great interview! Unfortunately I cannot post on the blog post to enter. Keep getting errors. I also subscribed to the blog.
Can you break it into two books?
“Harumph" is such a fun word. Gotta live a good onomatopoeia. Congrats on three month anniversary!
It’s great! And, a T.V. show adaptation of Alchemy of Secrets is in development by Julie Plec for Universal!
The unfortunate cost of a great book is the surrender of sleep in pursuit of a thrilling conclusion.

*Read in the voice of Niles the butler from The Nanny (because that’s what I’m watching).
Over the summer, it was a hundred and one degree day, but still it rained. The rain turned to a ghostly fog when it hit the blacktop. The ghostly fog made it into the first 50 words of my manuscript!
What happened to your birthplace?
“Despite the fact that London was the highest paid and most famous author of his day, he received hundreds of rejection letters before being published.” -J.L. Museum

Reminder to all of us #AmQuerying that even the greats started off with rejection.

Keep writing! Best of luck!

#AmWriting #SCBWI
Jack London rejection letters Jack London rejection letters Jack London rejection letters
I’m excited! Any examples available for the pitches? Are there any writing prompts? Limits to how many submissions an author can make in the 21st? #MG #F #Q
July 4th! Hotdogs, burgers, cake, and fireworks.
Ahh I just read further down your MSWL that you are not looking for fantasy. Hope you find some good matches when you open!
Hilarious MG coming at you on Wednesday! Because every kid could use a fun spell-hacked spycraft story.
The advice for queriers is so muddled. Lots of YouTube vids, blog posts, and an editor I talked to all recommend personalizing.

Now, I’m reading a book repped by each agent I’m querying, to make sure my story is a good fit for the agent, and to have a reason to personalize the letter.
Risking his friendships sounds vague. So does getting tangled with his new mentor.

It sounds like the A plot (their lives are at stake) has good stakes.

For the B plot (personal stakes), what does the MC want? Who is standing in their way? What happens if they fail to get what they want?
Spooky inspiration for the season from the grave of Jack London and his dream home that never was.

He died a few years after it burned down and was never able to rebuild.

#AmWriting #AmQuerying #SCBWI #SCBWIOKTFEST25
"Don't loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club, and if you don't get it you will nonetheless get something that looks remarkably like it."
-Jack London

Stopped in to see Jack London’s museum. Fired up for next week’s #SCBWI in Oakland! #SCBWIOktFest25

#AmQuerying #AmWriting
100%! Querying feels like a completely different part of my brain, and puts me off the writing where I need to be immersed in the world I am creating.
Using it as a way to slow down and query more intentionally. So far, it’s helped make querying less stressful and more enjoyable!
Love this! I’m reading a book repped by each of the agents I’m querying, ideally a book I can comp to.
Thanks for the positivity! Querying feels like throwing darts in the dark, after being spun around ten times, are told the dartboard is somewhere south by southwest, the dartboard is a moving target, and you have to hit a bullseye to get an agent.