Jessie Mullins, YA Author

Blueberry picking with my little family!  Scene Scone In the background, my toddler yells, "Welcome to the Music Show!" and slams his little toddler fingers on a keyboard we bought at a yard sale this morning. "They cannot find it anywhere!" he sings. He's probably singing about us because our home is such a mess, we can't find anything. I stopped cleaning a couple weeks ago because Pitch Wars is near and I'M NOT READY. But I will be. Oh. I. Will. Be. My husband is playing Madden on the PS4, and we keep sneaking each other these looks of, "Isn't our spawn so cute and amazing!?" Now the juicy stuff... Favorite Juice Just kidding. No one cares. Jokes! But it's grape and apricot made fresh in my juicer if you really want to know. I'm that health-oriented person who uses a juicer and eats organic bananas because GMO bananas technically aren't vegan, and if that doesn't weird you out...I don't know what w

I just had a conversation on Twitter with some other writers after someone told a writer she should write more nice girls instead of angry girls. My reply was, "As a recovering nice girl, there's no such thing as nice girls...only girls who learn to quiet the parts of themselves other people won't approve of." If you're a writer and thinking, "Yeah, but I have a character who is so nice, for real. She goes out of her way for other people. She's so noble and selfless and wouldn't hurt anyone blah blah blah..." Okay, I hear you. A girl or woman can be all of those things, but honestly, if everyone thinks she's "so nice," it's because she never stands up for herself. She has quieted herself and made herself smaller to fit inside this tiny box of other people's expectations. A girl or woman could volunteer at homeless shelters, be the safe place for all of her friend's woes, dress modestly, pray for world peace, ba

As I sat in my bathtub wishing I had all the time in the world to shave my legs, cook delicious meals, spend quality time with my friends and family, keep my house clean, conquer world domination, and rearrange my Yu-Gi-Oh deck, I realized I didn't have enough hours in a day, so I'd have to pick and choose. Pretty basic realization, but us overachievers can get carried away sometimes. We're only human, and we only have twenty-four hours in a day. The struggle is real. I'll have to push off world domination for another day because family time comes first. And then I have to decide between cooking good meals or cleaning...hmm, tough choice. And these are choices our characters should have to face too. After all, they're just as human and you and I. It's actually something you should put a lot of thought into when creating your characters. Why? Because...  1. It keeps our character's consistent. If a character holds their family in highest priority, th

 #ShareYourRejections is trending on Twitter, and the entire writing community has tons of personal rejection stories to tell because rejection is one humongous, unavoidable part of being a writer. I mean, instant success happens, but only to unicorns. It's all good though because rejections make us look at our work with fresh eyes. Rejections humble us and remind us we always have room to learn and improve. Rejections help us evaluate what we really want and go for it with every ounce of our fighting spirit. I was proud of my very first rejection (from Jenny Bent) because it meant I was TRYING. It meant I had finished a book and had the courage to put it out there. So I saved it and told myself I would celebrate that letter every year. I never did celebrate because it soon faded into the tons of rejections to follow. They all sounded pretty much the same for a long time. But I pressed on and never let them stop me. Until one day... I got the rejection letter that really f

I recently wrote about why my WIP is TOP SECRET over on YATopia . Basically I'm keeping all the magic bottled inside until it gushes out on paper all glittery and vibrating with life. If I tell anyone my ideas, the inspiration balloon deflates and I'm suddenly more concerned with whether they like it. I get so worried about not disappointing that I freeze up. Wellll, turns out I feel the same way about deadlines. (UPDATE: I now feel this only applies to first drafts. I found that in revision and editing, having a deadline propelled and energized me.) I'm just going to be honest with you...I REALLY FREAKING WANT TO JOIN  PITCH WARS IN AUGUST. I've joined before with a different novel that's on the backburner right now before a major revision (again), and the experience was so cool. I was never picked, but the community of writers was just...ahhhhmazing. And I like the thrill of having something out there, of being mentored, of the chance at publication drea

You know those action scenes full of explosions, fighting, and all around danger that just...make your eyes glaze over? And then those other danger scenes that plunge you right into the action and make your heart beat faster like you're actually there? There's a key difference. There's an element of danger every writer needs to make danger scenes matter to the reader. Read about this element of danger in my post over on YATopia! Follow me on  Facebook  and  Twitter  for more bookish things.