September 13, 2025 • 48 mins
Ever wondered how to seamlessly transition from corporate life to becoming a successful author? Join us on Craft Chat Chronicles as we sit down with debut author Rebecca Dazenbaker, who shares her incredible journey from professional photographer to YA novelist. You'll discover her unique social media strategies for platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and pick up practical tips for using tools like CapCut, Unsplash, and Pexels. Rebecca also opens up about the importance of balancing engaging content creation with everyday life, all while managing her creative process and mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Explore the often tumultuous road to publication with Rebecca as she recounts her experiences with querying, rejections, and the invaluable support of critique partners and writing groups. We shed light on the crucial role an agent plays in refining both the manuscript and the query letter, and the perseverance needed to secure representation. Rebecca's story is a testament to the dedication required to transform a passion into a publishable work, and the extensive revisions that shape a marketable book.
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the thrill of negotiating a book deal and the collaborative efforts with an editor to bring a story to life. Rebecca shares her excitement about her upcoming book release, planned community-centric book launch, and future social media strategies. We also discuss the significance of critique partners in the writing process, honest feedback, and evolving writing approaches. Don't miss out—subscribe, share, and connect with us at JDMeyercom for show notes, tips, and more.
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🎙️ Craft Chat Chronicles with J.D. Myall
Candid conversations on writing, publishing, and creative life — featuring bestselling authors, MFA students, and writers at every stage of the journey.
About J.D. Myall
J.D. Myall is the co-chair of Drexel University’s MFA Alumni Association and a publishing and library professional. She is the creator and host of Craft Chat Chronicles, where she interviews authors, agents, and industry insiders about the art and business of writing.
Her work has appeared in Ms. Magazine, Writer’s Digest, and HuffPost. Her debut novel, Heart’s Gambit, releases with Wednesday Books/Macmillan in February 2026.
When she’s not conjuring magic, murder, and mayhem on the page, J.D. mentors emerging writers through workshops and alumni programs, fostering community among aspiring and published authors alike.
💜 Connect with J.D. Myall
📸 Instagram
🌐 Website & Media Kit
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🔗 Linktree
Watch episodes on YouTube as well.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Craft Chat Chronicles, the go-to podcast
for tips on craftingbest-selling fiction.
Here at Craft Chat Chronicles,we bring you expert interviews,
insights and tips on writing,publishing and marketing.
Join the conversation andembark on a new chapter in your
(00:26):
writing journey.
For workshops, show notes andmore information, visit
jdmayalcom.
That's jdmayalcom.
J.D. Myall (00:40):
In season two, episode five of Craft Chat
Chronicles, we dive into Part 1of our two-part episode with
debut author Rebecca Dazenbaker.
Again in Season 2, episode 5 ofCraft Chat Chronicles, we dive
into the first part in atwo-part episode with debut
(01:01):
author Rebecca Dazenbaker.
Rebecca talks writing, craft,her publishing journey and a
universe of stories.
So listen and let's dive in andstart chatting.
It's nice to meet you.
It's nice to meet you too.
You're a whiz at social media.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (01:19):
Well.
J.D. Myall (01:20):
I was looking at your Instagram.
I was quite impressed.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (01:23):
Thank you.
People say that, but I feellike, uh, I'm like I don't.
I don't understand the wholeInstagram thing.
I find it really hard to maketraction there.
But I'm just trying, like.
I'm like I'm just going to make, I'm like going to make an
effort and then eventually it'llpan out.
But I enjoy making the goofyTikTok videos.
Um, I just find, like I usuallyam like right now you can't
(01:49):
tell, but I'm wearing pajamabottoms, so I'm usually like in
my pajamas all day.
So I'm like, oh, I got to makeeffort to like get dressed on
days that I create TikToks andstuff.
So it's like is today going tobe one of those days?
If not, like maybe I'll just doanother aesthetic video and let
that go, it's fine.
J.D. Myall (02:10):
What um?
Is there any software oranything that you use to help
with that?
Rebecca Dazenbaker (02:13):
Just CapCut.
Um, that kind of helps, though,you know, sometimes I can get
away with using the tick tockeditor and I'm not.
I think you can do a lot withthe Instagram editor too.
I just haven't created videoson that yet, so maybe someday
I'll give that one a try too.
But yeah, I went through, likeUnsplash and Pexels, to just
(02:36):
gather a bunch of like videosand photos that like fit my
aesthetic like the red, white,black theme for my book and I'm
like all right, I'm just savingall those.
And then it's really easy tofind templates on a CapCut and
you just literally click thephoto and it slides it in to
match up with the music and it'slike okay, great.
And then I'll add the captionand post it.
(02:57):
Those are easy.
Those take like 15, 20 minutesto create, whereas if I'm like
talking, I'm like then I have togo through and edit out all the
ums and the likes and the like.
I'll just keep recording andthen I'll start over saying what
I said, cause I messed it upand, as you can tell, I'm a bit
of a rambler too.
So I'll have to go through andlike I didn't need to say those
two minutes of nothing Like,I'll just be talking for, like,
(03:21):
I'll just be saying nonsense andI'm like, wait, I, it's just
like my writing, in fact I'lljust write, and then later I'm
like take all that out, thatthat didn't need to be there.
Why did I write that?
So?
But you just have to get it onpage, you know.
J.D. Myall (03:37):
Very true, very true .
You can't edit a blank page,exactly.
So tell me a little bit aboutyour writing journey, exactly.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (03:44):
So tell me a little bit about your writing
journey.
So I'm a professionalphotographer.
I saw that you do photographytoo, so I noticed that your
pictures are really great, bythe way, thank you so much so as
you are.
As I was looking through, I waslike, oh, she's a photographer
and so I was clicking on allyour photos and so I run my own
business.
I've been since 2013,.
(04:05):
I've been a full-timephotographer.
So during COVID I had to shutdown my business.
But right when I was startingmy photography business, I had
an idea for a YA novel.
So for those like 10 years upuntil COVID, I had been like
jotting down notes just aboutthe world building.
And when our governor I live inVirginia our governor shut down
(04:27):
all non-essential businesses, Ijust was going stir crazy.
My kids were both teenagers, sothey didn't need me to do
anything.
They were self-sufficient,making their own lunches and
stuff.
And so all this time that I'dspent every day running my
business, I now just had freefor and I didn't know for how
(04:47):
long.
So I was like well, I alwayssaid I'd write this novel if I
had the time.
So I took like a workshop oncreative live through with Lisa
Kron, wired for story, and it'slike a three-day workshop and it
like had like hands-onactivities and so I had my world
, but I didn't know what story Iwanted to tell.
(05:10):
So that's basically what I wentthrough with her and then I
just started writing and I waswriting I didn't, I was
literally just doing it formyself, for fun.
And after I had written acouple of chapters, my husband's
like maybe you should likestart to actually like write
this, like in paragraph form.
So cause I was like sending himand my best friend like every
(05:30):
chapter, like hey, look, I'mdoing this, it's fun, and I was
really writing just to curb thepanic attacks, um, from the
pandemic and I am not a personthat would typically have panic
attacks, but that was reallyterrifying, like everyone knows,
and so you know I would getlike the heart palpitations and
just like the nerves andeverything and just sudden
(05:52):
anxiety onset.
And so just escaping into thisworld really helped my mental
health and I just had fun withit.
I was writing for myself, I waswriting just to have fun and I
was writing the story that Iwould like to read.
I read a ton of YA, I read a tonof romance, so there's a lot of
romance tropes, there's a lotof YA themes in my stories, and
(06:17):
when I finished writing it andmaybe had read it through once,
I contacted a friend of mine whowas traditionally published and
I used to work with her and Ihad a corporate job before
photography and I was like, hey,can you just tell me about the
business?
I didn't know anything aboutthe publishing business or how
(06:37):
she got a book deal, and so shewalked through her publishing
journey with me and sheintroduced me to her agent,
which was, in hindsight,something that is very rare,
like people don't usually justintroduce you to their agent.
Her agent requested the full,which was very sweet, but within
(06:58):
a few days she was like I don'trep YA, but this is great, you
should keep sending it out.
And I had like people in mybook club who'd read it and they
loved it.
So I was like, yay, I'm goingto start querying and expecting
it to be like so fast, cause Ijust loved my book and everyone
had loved it so much.
And this one agent was like it'sgreat, keep sending it out.
(07:20):
And so I was like yay, and then, like rejection after rejection
started coming in and that wasjust like my my like heart did
not handle that well.
It was devastating for me.
So, between this was like 2020,still end of 2020, like
September to December, I mayberacked up like 60 rejections, no
(07:42):
partial requests or anything.
I wasn't getting any tractionand I just told my husband I was
like I can't do this, I don'twant to do this anymore.
And he was like, well, just,he's like, you can take a break,
just don't give up.
So I took like a one monthhiatus over the holidays and
then I started joining likeactual writing groups, pitch
groups, found legitimatecritique partners, other authors
(08:06):
, and figured out what I wasdoing wrong and there was a lot,
and so I made all this?
J.D. Myall (08:14):
Was it your query or was it your page?
It was everything.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (08:17):
The query letter wasn't right.
It was so long, it was like 500words and it basically was a
synopsis and it wasn't even inthe character's voice.
So, yeah, it was really dry.
And then I had a prologue,which was written from an
eight-year-old's point of view,which you don't do for YA, and
(08:39):
so it was just.
There were so many things, thewriting wasn't tight, there were
a lot of flashback chaptersthat didn't need to be there, so
, yeah, so it was a lot of justcleaning it up and making it
more exciting and stuff.
Um, so I started re-queering inlike April of 2021 and by the
end of May I had an agent.
(09:00):
So that part went fast.
It seems like it went fast, butit wasn't.
It was a lot of like revise,revise, revise, keep getting
more critiques, more critiques,like over those like four or
five months of revisions andthen like six months more
revisions, because it wasintended to originally be a two
book series or duology, and myagent was like take everything
(09:25):
you want to do in the sequel andput it in the first book, but
don't increase your word count.
So that took like another threemonths to do that huge revision
.
And then she was like, okay,that's great, but you basically
have one book and then a secondbook stuck at the end, so now
you have to incorporate it alltogether.
It's like, okay, I see whatyou're saying, I just don't want
(09:47):
to do the hard work, but I didit.
So now it's all like seamlesslyintegrated, and even more so
now that I've gone througheditorial developments, like
this one character who wasn'tgoing to be in this, who wasn't
going to be introduced until thesecond book, is now in the
second chapter.
So I've just kept moving him inmore and more as the revisions
(10:09):
have gone on.
Um, so now it's pretty seamless, but that's kind of in a
nutshell.
So I was on and this issomething Michelle Wolfson with
Wolfson literary Um, it's a verysmall boutique agency, but she
one of her biggest.
She's like several bestsellingauthors, but Kirsten White is
kind of what drew me to herbecause she's a really prolific
(10:31):
YA and now adult writer.
And Lauren Blakely sherepresents a lot of romance too.
So I was like, oh, ya andromance like that's me too.
So it just ended up beingperfect.
She was a really great fit.
So I feel very lucky and she'ssuper patient and she's also
very responsive, like if I sendher an email.
(10:52):
I'll hear back, usually within30 minutes.
So that's nice.
You're not just sitting theretwiddling your thumbs.
So she's great.
Mine was the opposite.
J.D. Myall (11:01):
Oh yeah, mine was.
It's me forever for her to putme on stuff because we had doing
revisions.
But then when I went on stuffit sold quick, but oh good we
were doing revisions for Ididn't think I was ever going to
sub.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (11:14):
We were doing so many.
Oh, that's gotta have been likeover a year of revisions.
J.D. Myall (11:19):
Wow, well, you know, after a while you start to
think well, maybe she justdoesn't like it and she doesn't
want to be.
You know she's being, you don'twant to tell me.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (11:27):
But I mean, in hindsight it's like, okay,
well, she knew what she wasdoing, because then it sold
right away.
And my, my agent is not aneditorial agent.
So like her comments were,literally take the second book
and put it in the first book,like that was all of the like
comments.
So I was like, okay, but but Ihave these wonderful critique
(11:48):
partners that I can like rely onnow.
Um, so that's great.
And then I think now, goingthrough the editorial process a
little bit I'm I've only gonethrough first round so far I
feel like that's going togreatly improve my writing.
Just to see what those commentswere, I was like, oh, it just
kind of like opens up a world ofI don't know the right word for
(12:11):
it, but it just like opened myeyes to, kind of, where my
writing was falling flat.
You know, like seeing someonepoint out things in that way,
I'm like, oh, okay, that makessense.
And so, and also like so farall of my revisions have been
like dial it back, dial it back,try to get the word count down.
(12:32):
You know, smaller, smaller,smaller, make it tighter.
And now the editor is like weneed to add in more of internal
dialogue and a little bit of thechoreography of the scene, and
so we know like we can visualizewhat people are doing in the
scene and all that stuff I'dbeen like taking out just to
make it lean.
So now it's kind of fun likeadding a lot of, a lot of that
(12:53):
back in Cause I love to hearwhat people are thinking and
visualize what they're doing too.
So it's all good.
Yeah, your story, the conceptsounds really cool, thank you.
Yeah, so I had that idea.
Yeah, so I had this idea.
Like I was driving past thecemetery and I was like, oh gosh
, I wonder if my former self wasburied there.
(13:16):
And maybe it wasn't even a girlwith curly hair it's all
straightened out right now butlike, maybe it was a boy or
maybe I was a totally like bornin a different nation, and like,
well, how cool would it be tofind out.
Like maybe we just don't havethe technology yet and maybe
someday we'll have thattechnology to literally connect
(13:36):
our souls from life to life.
So I just brought, like myphotography expertise.
I was like what if we couldphotograph souls and then they
could compare them like we dowith fingerprints, right, like
you have a little specificidentifier, and then you carry
that from life to life and, likeyou know, your DNA is
determined by your parents, soyour soul can really be born
(14:00):
into anybody, right Like.
So that's kind of like how thethought came about.
And then, like I said, I'vejust been world building from
then on.
I was like, well, how wouldthat change the world?
How would that change religion?
How would that change ournationalism?
How would that change currency?
You know?
So I, the more I thought aboutit, the more I was like people
(14:22):
will start judging you, not onthese superficial things that we
see through our DNA right now,but probably more of our actions
, especially our soul's actions.
And you can get penalized oryou can get certain advantages
based off of who you were inyour past.
(14:44):
So people come out of theirsoul identification.
They're either going to havetheir inheritance from their
past life Instead of passing itto your kids, you'll give it to
your next life and job offers,because you were a famous
mathematician and you have theNobel Prize, so you're going to
get all of these job offers orscholarships, um, and you know,
(15:08):
waiting for you when you comeout, or, if you were a criminal
and you didn't finish your lifesentence.
You have to go in and finishthat.
Um, you know because so yeah,so.
So there's that drama of it all.
And then I in this world, partof my magic system even though
it's not a fantasy like it kindof reads like a fantasy to me
(15:31):
anyway Um, my magic system isthat only a very small portion
of the population has soulmates.
So they can, they canscientifically identify them
because they have almostidentical soul, like Prince,
they're light rays or whateverthat are being photographed are
almost identical.
And then only a very smallportion of people have soulmates
(15:54):
.
So it's kind of this like thingwhere you're going in and
you're like, am I going to havea soulmate?
And you know that most peoplewon't.
And so my main characters, liketwin best friends, went in and
they got, they hit the lottery,they got everything, they got
the huge inheritance, they gotthe scholarship job offer, they
got soulmates.
(16:14):
So then she goes in and they'relike you're going to get it too
.
And, of course, like everythinggoes the opposite, because
that's what we do to ourcharacters.
J.D. Myall (16:26):
Yeah, love it, love it, love it.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (16:27):
Yeah, when is this slated to come out?
Right now it's slated for July1st of 2025.
So, um do you have a cover yetno, I've seen a rough draft and
I love my cover artists and I'msure you'll be able to.
Once it prints like you'll,you'll know who it is.
(16:49):
But he's amazing.
He's done Chloe Gong's covers.
He did Jennifer Lynn's, barnesthe Inheritance Game covers.
So when they told me who it was, I couldn't sleep that night.
I was so excited.
I was like are you?
kidding me.
So, yes, so I'm really excited.
Hopefully I'll have the successthat those books have had,
(17:09):
cause I'm like, oh my gosh, thatwould.
That's why I couldn't sleep.
I was like what?
Like I didn't get a hugeadvance.
So I'm like, if they're goingto invest that much in that
cover artist, like maybe thatmeans good things, maybe I'll
actually get some press for mybook.
But if not, like literally justso thrilled to have gotten this
far, like my idea, my, my likeconstant mantra was it will
(17:30):
happen, don't give up.
J.D. Myall (17:32):
Like you didn't get a small advance either, though
you did good.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (17:35):
Yeah, it wasn't.
It wasn't like six figures byany means, but it's.
You know it's split over twobooks.
I would say it's like average.
It's not small, it's not.
I would say it's an average fora big five, right?
Exactly For YA.
Yeah, I'm grateful.
J.D. Myall (17:55):
Tell me about your agent call and then we'll talk
about the author call.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (19:28):
Okay, so she had surprised me.
I mean, I got the full requestwhen I queried her.
She was my first and only fullrequest from a query letter.
I did have some from livepitching, but yes, so I've
gotten one and only one fullrequest from a query letter and
it was her, and it was with 30minutes of sending it.
(19:52):
And so later that day I sentthe full cause.
I had to stop crying first.
And so later that day I sentthe full cause.
I had to stop crying first.
And then, um 10 days later, shecalled me on the blue and it was
an unidentified number.
I thought it was spam at first,but something about the New
York, new York area code had mepicking up and she was like hi,
rebecca, this is MichelleWolfson.
(20:13):
And I like started, I was likelike I kind of knew it was
happening, but I didn't.
And she, you know, kind oftalked to me about my book and I
love it so much and I'vealready read it twice and my
daughter loves the idea becauseshe had talked about it with her
preteen daughter at the time.
Now she's a teenager and herdaughter was like you're going
(20:34):
to sign her right.
So she's like, so I feltobligated to call.
So she loves, apparently, tosurprise authors with the offer
call.
And then she scheduled afollow-up call so I could ask
all of my questions.
So she was like did you, yeah?
(20:57):
Yeah, so we had a follow-upcall.
I asked him my questions, Iasked to talk with one of her
other authors on her list andshe arranged that for us and she
won me over too.
I fell in love with that authorright off the bat, so that was
great.
What?
J.D. Myall (21:08):
kind of questions did you ask your agent before
you accepted the?
Rebecca Dazenbaker (21:10):
offer.
So it was like three years ago,so it's hard to say.
I could probably pull up thedocument, um it.
It was a lot of the standardstuff, cause I, I did all the
research.
You know, like I went to Google, I went to all my writer groups
like, who do I ask?
What should I ask?
And I think, like the one thatmost people were, that
(21:31):
recommended was to ask to talkwith another author that she
represents, asked to talk withanother author that she
represents, and there werethings like, you know, will you
um pitch like to the big five?
Um, and she, you know she saidyes, uh, you know, I, I I wanted
print versus EPUB, um, cause Iknow there's a lot of like
(21:53):
agents out there that mostly doEPUB now and I really want to,
just I want to hold it in myhands.
So I was like oh, I want to like.
So there are certain thingsthat I wanted and I was fine
with her not being an editorialagent again, because I found,
like, such wonderful critiquepartners so that we were just
like a nice little tight knitgroup now.
So, yeah, so I think it was allthe standard stuff, it wasn't
(22:18):
anything out of the norm.
I'm just really glad that I didconnect with one of her authors
.
She published last 2018, thenshe kind of stopped writing for
a while, but Michelle like neverdropped her.
She was like stay with me, youknow, like.
And then once her, once thisauthor's sons were off to
college, she started writingagain.
(22:39):
So they sort of like rekindledtheir professional relationship,
but they'd stayed friends thewhole time.
So I love that idea of like, ifthis book doesn't sell and that
was one of the questions that Iasked Michelle like, if this
book doesn't sell, like whathappens then?
And my fear was she'd be like,well, maybe I'm not the right
person for you, but she was likeoh well, then we'll just go on
(23:00):
to the next one.
You know, keep writing.
And I did like, once I went onsubmission, I started, I kept
writing.
So I have a couple of otherbooks waiting for homes now and
I'm and we haven't pitched whatmy second book is now.
So I'm like halfway throughwriting a third that we think
might be the one, because it'sanother speculative like this
(23:22):
one.
The other two are contemporaryYA, so we'll see.
So yeah, that's how it went.
Sorry, I am a rambler, so justshut me up if I talk too long.
So how?
J.D. Myall (23:36):
did the editor call though?
Rebecca Dazenbaker (23:38):
Okay, so that was also unique.
Four days before the offer came, my agent emailed me that one
of the editors was enjoying itand that's all she said, and
we'd had authors enjoy it beforeand nothing happened Again.
It had been like a 20 monththing.
So I literally thought nothingof it.
(24:00):
I was like, whatever, I hadsent Michelle my newest
manuscript over that weekend andso she called me on Monday or
Tuesday and I thought she wascalling to like she had read it.
She reads fast, obviously.
So I thought she was calling tolike she had read it.
She reads fast, obviously.
So I thought she was calling toread it.
So, as I do, I rambled for thefirst like 20 minutes of our
(24:24):
conversation.
We talked about her son goingoff to college and his dorm
mates and our Google calendarsand just everything busy we were
up to and vacations and stufflike that.
And then the conversation kindof lulled and she was like so we
got an offer on your book todayand I was like what you were
like, why didn't you lead withthat?
(24:46):
And it's funny because I'mfriends with another author she
represents who got her firstbook deal like two weeks after
me, so both of us got our debutbook deals like back to back.
And she said she went back toMichelle when I told her that
story and Michelle was like Idon't remember it like that.
And I was like no, it was 20minutes.
I have the call on and hisoffice is I'm pointing that way
(25:18):
but his office is over there.
And so I'm like on the phoneand I like walk over there and
the glass you know, he has likethese pained glass doors to the
office.
They're closed.
And I'm like I got a book dealand like meanwhile, it's like
Michelle's telling me about thedeal and I'm trying to like
write down the details and I'mlike telling him and he's like
what?
And I'm like I got a book deal.
And he was like calm down, Iwas like okay, and so anyway,
like I was just pacing the houseand everything, and she told me
(25:41):
the details and like what doyou think?
And I was like it's, it'samazing, just take it or
negotiate, like you've done thisforever, whatever.
So she was like, yeah, she'slike I think we can get better.
Um, I was like but she's likeyou, you want to?
(26:03):
I was like, absolutely yes, Iwill sign it right now, just
whatever.
So, anyway, she was, she waswonderful, um.
So I did not get, I didn't talkwith or email with my editor
until after the terms wereagreed to Um.
So I didn't have a call withher until I got my developmental
letter, and that was the firsttime we'd actually talked.
So we'd emailed a couple oftimes but I um Michelle, didn't
know what changes she wanted tomake.
We, it wasn't discussed.
So that was something that myagent said to me once my
(26:27):
development editor came at it.
Sorry, my edit letter came in.
She was like they bought thisas is, without requesting
changes, so you don't have to doanything.
But I was like, no, no, no, Ilove her ideas.
I'm going to give it a try.
I have literally never met anedit that I didn't love or fall
in love with.
The same held true with thisrevision.
I'm completely obsessed.
(26:49):
And so now I'm like reallynervous about what my second
letter is going to say, causeI'm like, oh, I hope I don't
have to change that much more,cause I so love the plot now,
like this story is the same.
The story has always been thesame, even as I've incorporated
all these changes, um, but theplot has made significant
changes here and I'm just like,wow, how did I write this?
(27:09):
Like it's just so, like it justblows my mind.
I'm like how does my brain worklike that?
I don't know.
Like if anyone asked me to tellthem the story without sitting
and writing it, like it justwould never have come out.
But I don't know, I'm juststill like in awe.
I'm like I don't know, it'sgreat, it's a fun feeling your,
your editor story.
J.D. Myall (27:28):
um was like other people I've talked to.
There was another girl who toldme that she didn't talk to her
editor until like after the deal.
Mine was the opposite.
I talked to her first.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (27:40):
Wow, yeah, I think that's pretty common.
And you kind of like becauseyou want to get an idea of the
working relationship, you know,like am I going to want to work
with this person?
But it was like I could tellfrom the first email exchange
because she wrote like words inall caps and there was like 12
(28:00):
exclamation points at the end ofthings and I was like, oh, okay
, we have the same energy.
Like I could just tell from herand like with Michelle, I like
have to like go and takeexclamation points out of my
emails after I draft them, likecalm down.
But with Nicole she's like oh,the exclamation points.
I'm like, yes, let's do it,we'll take it out of my novel
but we'll keep them in theemails.
J.D. Myall (28:20):
So yeah, that's exciting.
What are your plans as far aslaunching goes?
Rebecca Dazenbaker (28:28):
So I have a friend Well, it's like more of
like my husband's businesscolleague's wife who opened a
bookstore nearby, an indiebookstore which I'm in love with
.
So I already know I'm going topartner with them for my book
launch.
But it's a very small store andI have a lot.
You know we live in a reallylarge community here and I have
(28:49):
a lot of friends, so there's noway everyone's going to fit.
So we'll probably like rent outa space in my neighborhood
there's like a community center,right and just have the, the
bookstore, bring copies there.
I don't know, um, so that'slike one thing.
And then I'm hoping, um, to goback to my hometown I live, I
grew up like three hours Southand maybe do like a signing
there.
And, um, I have friends wholive in Portland, oregon, and so
(29:15):
they're like you have to comeout here and do one at oh shoot,
what's the big bookstore there?
My brain's gone to Powell's.
So they're like you have to do,you have to do a signing at
Powell's.
I was like I don't know ifPowell's will take a debut
author, but maybe I'll just belike hey, um, so, yeah, like
I've already talked with my kidsare both in high school, so I
already talked with their schoollibrarian to like I'd love to
(29:36):
come in, like talk to thewriting classes.
You know that sort of stuff.
Um, I don't know, like I'm sureit'll build more and more as
time goes on.
So the librarians they werelike, oh, we asked this one
author to come in and theyquoted us $20,000.
(29:57):
I was like, oh well, I will notcharge you $20,000.
Yeah, but now I'm thinking bigthoughts like can I charge
$20,000 at some point to go talkto a school?
Does he actually get that muchmoney?
Cause that's a lot.
They were like I think that hejust didn't want to do it, and
he was like, well, it'll be morethan my while for $20,000.
I was like, yeah, most thingswould be, I think.
(30:19):
So that's wild.
Anyway, I don't.
Yeah, no, I'll probably be like, just let me come in and talk
about my book.
What?
J.D. Myall (30:28):
are your social media plans?
Rebecca Dazenbaker (30:30):
I know you um, since you're the social
media, yeah, so, um, I meanpretty much for every phase I
try, I'm trying to like, pumpthings up.
I did just get character art afew days ago and so I have a
plan to roll that out, butthere's a lot.
J.D. Myall (30:45):
Did you make it or did the publisher do it?
Rebecca Dazenbaker (30:48):
No, neither I hired someone on Fiverr.
I did a lot of research becauseI love digital art, but I
didn't want someone who woulduse AI.
So I did a lot of research andI found someone whose catalog or
portfolio went backpre-generative AI, back to the
2016s, and I was like okay, sohe's legit and I love it.
(31:10):
There's just a lot going onright now, so things are slowed
down.
I just need to kind of getthrough the next couple of weeks
personally with things that aregoing on.
There's a funeral, there'sstuff going on.
So I was like well, that'sgoing to take a back burner and
then, once I have the energy tofocus on that, like I'll go on.
But the nice thing is we havelike 14.
(31:31):
I know you have closer to like16, 17 months to your launch, so
I have time right and I don'talso like keep slamming the same
content down my followers post,so I want to make sure I have
something new and different tosay each time.
(31:51):
Um, so that was like my last one.
I was like oh, I haven't talkedabout retitling my book.
So the last one I made was hereare the titles that I sent and
here's the one they selected.
Um, so I was like that'ssomething fun I can do and I
don't have to be on camera.
Um, so that was something newand different.
But you can only do so manylike book trailers till I was
like, uh, that's, you know, it'sjust not getting much traction.
(32:14):
Now, one thing that I'venoticed my Tik TOK views are
lame, my IG views are lame, butYouTube, like same content
posted on YouTube, does great.
So, I use Metricool, um, whichis a free social media planner,
um, to repost my content.
(32:35):
So I'll just download it fromTik TOK and then I'll repost it
to Facebook, ig, uh, pinterestand YouTube and um, the nice
thing like about YouTube andlike again, like YouTube.
Just for some reason the booktrailers do well there and then
on Pinterest.
(32:55):
The nice thing about Pinterestis the content only like, the
reach only grows, and I'venoticed that with my own
photography work.
Like photos that I posted fouryears ago get more views than
content I'm posting now.
So things like snowball withPinterest and you just have to
give it time and it marinatesand it just gets better and
(33:17):
better and better.
So the best time to post onPinterest was two years ago and
then it'll just keep going.
So that's a little like, uh,maybe a little unknown thing
that people don't know and thatI just learned through
photography.
Like I, most of the hits frommy photography site are from
Google and Pinterest.
Like, so I like love it, causeit just gives you a little bit
(33:41):
of that validation.
Um, yeah, so you can alwaysrepurpose stuff.
So, if it, if it bombs on TikTOK, which everything's been
doing lately because, um, it'smore about the Tik TOK store
these days than like sendingstuff to like.
I don't have a Tik TOK store yetCause I'm obviously not selling
books or anything.
(34:02):
I'm hoping to get some fun swag.
Um, like, there's thecrossroads symbol, like the
circle with the X in it is a bigsymbol in my book, so I'm
hoping to get like sometemporary tattoos or stickers
and, um, I'm actually probablygoing to get my very first, only
ever, tattoo.
But when I launched my book, or, leading up to my book, launch
(34:25):
um of the crossroads symbol,just to like memorialize my very
first novel.
Um, so I, anyway, so I there'slike a fun, a bunch of fun stuff
.
So maybe at some point I'llhave a tiktok store and my
content will start doing better,but for the most part now it's
just like.
Oh, it's like I just try not toworry about it.
(34:45):
I'm'm like 300 people is 300,you know 300 people who didn't
see it yesterday.
You know like I didn't reachyesterday.
J.D. Myall (34:51):
And the book's not out yet.
Once the book is out and instores and you have readers,
it's going to grow.
The numbers are going up.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (34:57):
Yeah, and I think you know I feel like Simon
Teen who will be doing like allof my publicity and stuff.
They're really great, like I'vebeen following them for a while
now and they are really greatabout promoting even backlist
books.
So yeah, I'm excited.
I'm excited to be a part oftheir team.
I think it'd be great.
We'll see.
(35:17):
I don't have anything tocompare it to but again, like
anything I get I was, I would begreat.
Which is why, when I saw yourpost, I was like, oh, that's one
thing I can do Come this wayfor an event.
maybe we can do an eventtogether or something oh, I
would so much better to partnerup with somebody, because I hate
just like blabbering on and Ithink it's so much easier to do
(35:37):
it conversational style and liketalk with one another, you know
, um they were both YA fantasy.
Yeah, I was saying, we're bothYA yes, tell me about your book,
because I looked up your umblurb and I couldn't like on the
discord, like you haven't putthe description, you haven't
announced yet that's why youcouldn't find it.
J.D. Myall (35:59):
I know, so tell me about it.
It's called hearts gambit, it'swith wednesday books, which is
a division of mmillan Nice, andit's pitched as like Outlander
meets the Night Circus.
So it's these magical warringtime, traveling families, and
there's like a forbidden love.
Oh my God.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (36:18):
Okay, forbidden love is my very
favorite trope.
I love the angst of it.
Like, love it.
It's like any romance tro trip,like any romance book forbidden
love.
I'm like, yes, put me in there.
So it just made sense that waswhat I wrote too, so we have
that in common.
So mine's a forbidden romancealso.
J.D. Myall (36:40):
Yeah.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (36:40):
Yay, oh, my gosh, yeah.
So let's plan on that.
We will do an event together.
J.D. Myall (36:45):
I absolutely love that, definitely, definitely.
I can't wait, me too.
Tell me about your creativeprocess.
What's your writing process?
Look like.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (36:54):
Uh, so I do plot, um, but then I usually
abandoned my plot, at least likehalfway in Um.
Usually it ends where I expectit to end, but then the middle
route goes elsewhere.
Um, as my brain just continuesto work on it and like, as I'm
writing, I'll be like this isboring, what can I do?
That's something better, youknow.
So I might.
(37:14):
The first book that I wrote thisone I was kind of editing as I
went and I would go back andread the chapter a few times
before going up to the next one.
I've stopped doing that andit's like the future me gets
really annoyed at my past me,because then I'll go back and
read my rough draft and I'm like, why does it suck?
Because it's written so badly.
(37:34):
But I'm literally just tryingto get all the dialogue on the
page.
And so now, like right now,because I drafted half of the
new book, then I stopped fordevelopmental edits, drafted
half of the new book, then Istopped for developmental edits,
and now I'm going back and I'mtrying to like reread what I
wrote, just to remember thestory that I've written so far.
It's like, oh how, like, howdid I get a book deal?
(37:57):
It's so bad.
So it's just very rough and I'mgoing through and I'm trying to
fix things and I'm also justtrying to press forward so I can
finish actually writing it,trying to fix things and I'm
also just trying to pressforward so I can finish actually
writing it.
So I try to just push throughand keep writing without going
back to read, and then once Iget to the end I'll go back and
(38:18):
actually I'll wait, like theysay, I'll let it marinate for a
few weeks, and then I'll go backand start reading and I try to
read it twice through, read andrevise twice through, and then
I'll send it to critiquepartners and I'll be like I know
this sucks, but I just need tomake sure the story works before
I really start polishing it upand sending it through.
All of the pro-writing read,like you know, like things like
(38:41):
taking out all of the stickysentences, and I try to do as
much of that as I can, but thenI'll find like repetitive words
and stuff that your eyes justdon't catch as much.
Um, so that's kind of like.
So where did you find?
J.D. Myall (38:56):
your critique group, your critique partners.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (38:59):
Um, I found the original group through um
moms who write I think it issomething like that on Twitter.
I used to be on Twitter a lot.
I haven't used it in like ayear, but they would have like
the monthly, like Q and a, andthey were like, if you're
looking for a critique partner,write your.
(39:20):
This was again like way back in2021.
You know what's your book aboutand you know whatever.
And so I found a couple thereand they were wonderful.
One of them is no longer writing.
She runs a farm up in New Yorkand just running a business and
(39:42):
running a farm and having fourchildren Like she's taken a step
back.
And then the other one we stillare cheerleaders for one
another, but our writing stylesare so very different.
I think we've just kind of likegone separate ways.
So somehow I'm trying toremember through, I think
through one of my pitch groups,I found this other author who is
(40:05):
my favorite and also my leastfavorite critique partner, cause
she's so like it's like adagger to the heart, like she
does not hold, like she doesn'tpull any punches.
She will state very clearlythat's something like I don't
like this.
No, why would he say that?
Like she.
She doesn't try to make it nice, but she's always dead on.
(40:29):
So she like, even though ithurts to read her comments, she
says what has to be said and soI appreciate that.
It's funny, cause my best friendand her will be reading at the
same time and my best friendswill be like I love this, or
maybe you should reword this,and she'll have to turn off my
critique partner's comments,cause they make her angry, cause
(40:50):
she's she's so mean.
I'm like I know, but she's soright, like that's the thing,
like I can't let her go becauseshe always says what I need to.
You know, like oh yeah, she'sright.
And you know there's a coupleof things I'll be like no, I
keep that.
But most of the time I'm like,oh yeah, I gotta change that um,
when that happens.
I know, so it's.
(41:11):
You know, it's like one ofthose things where your heart's
palpitating, palpitating as likethe comments are coming through
, because I use google docs, solike I'll get the email that
she's made comments, and I'mlike shoring myself up, like
okay, I'm gonna read them.
But uh, she, yeah, so she'swonderful.
And then I have another one, um, the one that my agent
(41:33):
represents us both, and she alsowrites YA and she's going to be
a 2025 debut, so she's in thesame group with us.
Her name is Veronica Bain, uh,which I always reminds me of
Cassandra Clare.
Did you read the?
Wasn't there a Bane character?
Anyway, so, anyway, so, yes, sowe're critique partners now too
(41:55):
, which is great.
It's nice to have someone thatI can tell my agent like
Veronica's read it.
She liked it, so now you'lllike it, but it's good.
My agent was sending me to herintern, like not sending me, but
(42:17):
she would send my pages to herintern to read first, and my
intern started to give me, likekind of a small little edit
letter, and then my agent wouldread it too.
But she would be like here'sMolly's letter, you know, cause
she doesn't do the critiques.
And then now her intern is anagent, so she has her own
clients to work with.
So now I have a new critiquewriter.
It all works out, so, yeah, Ilove it.
Do you have some, too, that youlike?
J.D. Myall (42:38):
Yeah, I got a couple I met through Drexel, so I got
a couple that are newer.
And then I have some like fromforever, like Maggie Guile, she.
I got a couple that are newerand then I have some like from
forever.
Like Maggie Guile, she's aCanadian writer.
Yeah, me and her met in anonline critique group years ago
and we wrote a novel together.
Oh wow, that's great.
We were both very raw and youngin our writing journey.
(43:00):
So it wasn't very good.
But now that we're both furtheralong and she's had some books
out and I got a book coming outand stuff we want to revisit the
idea.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (43:08):
I was going to say come back to it.
Yeah, that would be so fun.
Oh my gosh, that's great.
Yeah, I have a few others thatI just remembered.
I was like oh yeah, because Ilike to like.
You don't want to always hit upthe same person Right and be
like can you read this one?
J.D. Myall (43:28):
Can you read this?
You ever need a critique, um,you know, hit me up, yeah or if
you want to send a copy when youget the book.
You know, yeah, comment on itor blurb it or share it or
something like that.
I don't know what my blurbwould mean, because I'm just
like you, brand new.
I know, I know it's not matter,but you know the offers there
for both of us.
People will be like shadyblurred my book.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (43:45):
Yeah, absolutely might not matter
today, but you know it will,More than willing to you know, I
know, oh my gosh, I just likehad like a flash forward of like
us and our pictures at like ourbook launch event that we did
together, and then, years later,like we'll meet up at a
convention and be like this wasus five years ago.
(44:05):
Look at us now.
J.D. Myall (44:07):
You know isn't that fun?
Yeah, definitely, definitelyfun.
So what's been the mostsurprising part about the
publishing journey to you so far?
Rebecca Dazenbaker (44:18):
oh, that is a good question.
I think um gosh, hmm, I thinkum gosh, I all of it and yet
none of it.
I don't know.
Like I I always tell my kids,like you know, even with like my
(44:43):
photography business, like whenI was building it up, like I
went to my husband when I wantedto take it full time Cause I
was doing it on the side and Iwas like I know this will happen
.
Like it's not a like I hope itwill happen.
Like I know this will happen,it's just a matter of getting
(45:03):
there.
And I told him the same thingwhen I started querying.
I was like I know this bookwill get published, I just don't
know when.
And like I just felt thatstrongly like that this story
was meant to be told.
As I don't know how crazy orwackadoo and I get in this
(45:26):
conversation, but like part ofmy like psyche is like okay,
like I'm telling this storybecause it had to be told, and
that's like part of me is likethinks I didn't actually write
it.
It just kind of like okay, allright.
J.D. Myall (45:38):
This is weird.
Sadiqa Johnson she's a New YorkTimes best-selling author.
Yeah, she's also my mentor atDrexel and I interviewed her
recently and she said somethingvery similar.
Yeah, she said she thinks that,basically, that novels are
almost like little embryos thatare waiting to be born.
Yeah, she's like the universeis giving you the story, but if
you don't write it, the universewill give it to somebody else
(45:59):
and you just gave me chills.
She's like you'll read aboutsomebody else doing your book
that you didn't know.
No connection.
No connection to.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (46:06):
So that's how I felt this whole time and I
guess part of it, I guess thesurprising part is like getting
on the other side of that andbeing like I was right, like I
mean literally like my websiteand like now, if you scroll to
the very bottom of it it sayshashtag chase your dreams.
Until I got the book deal, itwas hashtag it will happen, and
(46:29):
that was my query tracker.
Like username was it willhappen.
Because I was like I have tojust keep telling myself like
it's, like it's determinedalready, like this is going to
happen that wraps up today'scraft chat chronicles with jd
(46:58):
mayor.
Speaker 4 (46:58):
thanks for joining us .
If you liked the episode,please comment, subscribe and
share.
For show notes, writingworkshops and tips, head to
JDMeyercom.
That's JDMeyercom.
While you're there, join JD'smailing list for updates,
giveaways and more.
Got questions or want to shareyour thoughts?
(47:19):
Contact JDMeyercom.
Welcome to Craft Chat Chronicles, the go-to podcast
for tips on craftingbest-selling fiction.
Here at Craft Chat Chronicles,we bring you expert interviews,
insights and tips on writing,publishing and marketing.
Join the conversation andembark on a new chapter in your
(00:26):
writing journey.
For workshops, show notes andmore information, visit
jdmayalcom.
That's jdmayalcom.
J.D. Myall (00:40):
In season two, episode five of Craft Chat
Chronicles, we dive into Part 1of our two-part episode with
debut author Rebecca Dazenbaker.
Again in Season 2, episode 5 ofCraft Chat Chronicles, we dive
into the first part in atwo-part episode with debut
(01:01):
author Rebecca Dazenbaker.
Rebecca talks writing, craft,her publishing journey and a
universe of stories.
So listen and let's dive in andstart chatting.
It's nice to meet you.
It's nice to meet you too.
You're a whiz at social media.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (01:19):
Well.
J.D. Myall (01:20):
I was looking at your Instagram.
I was quite impressed.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (01:23):
Thank you.
People say that, but I feellike, uh, I'm like I don't.
I don't understand the wholeInstagram thing.
I find it really hard to maketraction there.
But I'm just trying, like.
I'm like I'm just going to make, I'm like going to make an
effort and then eventually it'llpan out.
But I enjoy making the goofyTikTok videos.
Um, I just find, like I usuallyam like right now you can't
(01:49):
tell, but I'm wearing pajamabottoms, so I'm usually like in
my pajamas all day.
So I'm like, oh, I got to makeeffort to like get dressed on
days that I create TikToks andstuff.
So it's like is today going tobe one of those days?
If not, like maybe I'll just doanother aesthetic video and let
that go, it's fine.
J.D. Myall (02:10):
What um?
Is there any software oranything that you use to help
with that?
Rebecca Dazenbaker (02:13):
Just CapCut.
Um, that kind of helps, though,you know, sometimes I can get
away with using the tick tockeditor and I'm not.
I think you can do a lot withthe Instagram editor too.
I just haven't created videoson that yet, so maybe someday
I'll give that one a try too.
But yeah, I went through, likeUnsplash and Pexels, to just
(02:36):
gather a bunch of like videosand photos that like fit my
aesthetic like the red, white,black theme for my book and I'm
like all right, I'm just savingall those.
And then it's really easy tofind templates on a CapCut and
you just literally click thephoto and it slides it in to
match up with the music and it'slike okay, great.
And then I'll add the captionand post it.
(02:57):
Those are easy.
Those take like 15, 20 minutesto create, whereas if I'm like
talking, I'm like then I have togo through and edit out all the
ums and the likes and the like.
I'll just keep recording andthen I'll start over saying what
I said, cause I messed it upand, as you can tell, I'm a bit
of a rambler too.
So I'll have to go through andlike I didn't need to say those
two minutes of nothing Like,I'll just be talking for, like,
(03:21):
I'll just be saying nonsense andI'm like, wait, I, it's just
like my writing, in fact I'lljust write, and then later I'm
like take all that out, thatthat didn't need to be there.
Why did I write that?
So?
But you just have to get it onpage, you know.
J.D. Myall (03:37):
Very true, very true .
You can't edit a blank page,exactly.
So tell me a little bit aboutyour writing journey, exactly.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (03:44):
So tell me a little bit about your writing
journey.
So I'm a professionalphotographer.
I saw that you do photographytoo, so I noticed that your
pictures are really great, bythe way, thank you so much so as
you are.
As I was looking through, I waslike, oh, she's a photographer
and so I was clicking on allyour photos and so I run my own
business.
I've been since 2013,.
(04:05):
I've been a full-timephotographer.
So during COVID I had to shutdown my business.
But right when I was startingmy photography business, I had
an idea for a YA novel.
So for those like 10 years upuntil COVID, I had been like
jotting down notes just aboutthe world building.
And when our governor I live inVirginia our governor shut down
(04:27):
all non-essential businesses, Ijust was going stir crazy.
My kids were both teenagers, sothey didn't need me to do
anything.
They were self-sufficient,making their own lunches and
stuff.
And so all this time that I'dspent every day running my
business, I now just had freefor and I didn't know for how
(04:47):
long.
So I was like well, I alwayssaid I'd write this novel if I
had the time.
So I took like a workshop oncreative live through with Lisa
Kron, wired for story, and it'slike a three-day workshop and it
like had like hands-onactivities and so I had my world
, but I didn't know what story Iwanted to tell.
(05:10):
So that's basically what I wentthrough with her and then I
just started writing and I waswriting I didn't, I was
literally just doing it formyself, for fun.
And after I had written acouple of chapters, my husband's
like maybe you should likestart to actually like write
this, like in paragraph form.
So cause I was like sending himand my best friend like every
(05:30):
chapter, like hey, look, I'mdoing this, it's fun, and I was
really writing just to curb thepanic attacks, um, from the
pandemic and I am not a personthat would typically have panic
attacks, but that was reallyterrifying, like everyone knows,
and so you know I would getlike the heart palpitations and
just like the nerves andeverything and just sudden
(05:52):
anxiety onset.
And so just escaping into thisworld really helped my mental
health and I just had fun withit.
I was writing for myself, I waswriting just to have fun and I
was writing the story that Iwould like to read.
I read a ton of YA, I read a tonof romance, so there's a lot of
romance tropes, there's a lotof YA themes in my stories, and
(06:17):
when I finished writing it andmaybe had read it through once,
I contacted a friend of mine whowas traditionally published and
I used to work with her and Ihad a corporate job before
photography and I was like, hey,can you just tell me about the
business?
I didn't know anything aboutthe publishing business or how
(06:37):
she got a book deal, and so shewalked through her publishing
journey with me and sheintroduced me to her agent,
which was, in hindsight,something that is very rare,
like people don't usually justintroduce you to their agent.
Her agent requested the full,which was very sweet, but within
(06:58):
a few days she was like I don'trep YA, but this is great, you
should keep sending it out.
And I had like people in mybook club who'd read it and they
loved it.
So I was like, yay, I'm goingto start querying and expecting
it to be like so fast, cause Ijust loved my book and everyone
had loved it so much.
And this one agent was like it'sgreat, keep sending it out.
(07:20):
And so I was like yay, and then, like rejection after rejection
started coming in and that wasjust like my my like heart did
not handle that well.
It was devastating for me.
So, between this was like 2020,still end of 2020, like
September to December, I mayberacked up like 60 rejections, no
(07:42):
partial requests or anything.
I wasn't getting any tractionand I just told my husband I was
like I can't do this, I don'twant to do this anymore.
And he was like, well, just,he's like, you can take a break,
just don't give up.
So I took like a one monthhiatus over the holidays and
then I started joining likeactual writing groups, pitch
groups, found legitimatecritique partners, other authors
(08:06):
, and figured out what I wasdoing wrong and there was a lot,
and so I made all this?
J.D. Myall (08:14):
Was it your query or was it your page?
It was everything.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (08:17):
The query letter wasn't right.
It was so long, it was like 500words and it basically was a
synopsis and it wasn't even inthe character's voice.
So, yeah, it was really dry.
And then I had a prologue,which was written from an
eight-year-old's point of view,which you don't do for YA, and
(08:39):
so it was just.
There were so many things, thewriting wasn't tight, there were
a lot of flashback chaptersthat didn't need to be there, so
, yeah, so it was a lot of justcleaning it up and making it
more exciting and stuff.
Um, so I started re-queering inlike April of 2021 and by the
end of May I had an agent.
(09:00):
So that part went fast.
It seems like it went fast, butit wasn't.
It was a lot of like revise,revise, revise, keep getting
more critiques, more critiques,like over those like four or
five months of revisions andthen like six months more
revisions, because it wasintended to originally be a two
book series or duology, and myagent was like take everything
(09:25):
you want to do in the sequel andput it in the first book, but
don't increase your word count.
So that took like another threemonths to do that huge revision
.
And then she was like, okay,that's great, but you basically
have one book and then a secondbook stuck at the end, so now
you have to incorporate it alltogether.
It's like, okay, I see whatyou're saying, I just don't want
(09:47):
to do the hard work, but I didit.
So now it's all like seamlesslyintegrated, and even more so
now that I've gone througheditorial developments, like
this one character who wasn'tgoing to be in this, who wasn't
going to be introduced until thesecond book, is now in the
second chapter.
So I've just kept moving him inmore and more as the revisions
(10:09):
have gone on.
Um, so now it's pretty seamless, but that's kind of in a
nutshell.
So I was on and this issomething Michelle Wolfson with
Wolfson literary Um, it's a verysmall boutique agency, but she
one of her biggest.
She's like several bestsellingauthors, but Kirsten White is
kind of what drew me to herbecause she's a really prolific
(10:31):
YA and now adult writer.
And Lauren Blakely sherepresents a lot of romance too.
So I was like, oh, ya andromance like that's me too.
So it just ended up beingperfect.
She was a really great fit.
So I feel very lucky and she'ssuper patient and she's also
very responsive, like if I sendher an email.
(10:52):
I'll hear back, usually within30 minutes.
So that's nice.
You're not just sitting theretwiddling your thumbs.
So she's great.
Mine was the opposite.
J.D. Myall (11:01):
Oh yeah, mine was.
It's me forever for her to putme on stuff because we had doing
revisions.
But then when I went on stuffit sold quick, but oh good we
were doing revisions for Ididn't think I was ever going to
sub.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (11:14):
We were doing so many.
Oh, that's gotta have been likeover a year of revisions.
J.D. Myall (11:19):
Wow, well, you know, after a while you start to
think well, maybe she justdoesn't like it and she doesn't
want to be.
You know she's being, you don'twant to tell me.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (11:27):
But I mean, in hindsight it's like, okay,
well, she knew what she wasdoing, because then it sold
right away.
And my, my agent is not aneditorial agent.
So like her comments were,literally take the second book
and put it in the first book,like that was all of the like
comments.
So I was like, okay, but but Ihave these wonderful critique
(11:48):
partners that I can like rely onnow.
Um, so that's great.
And then I think now, goingthrough the editorial process a
little bit I'm I've only gonethrough first round so far I
feel like that's going togreatly improve my writing.
Just to see what those commentswere, I was like, oh, it just
kind of like opens up a world ofI don't know the right word for
(12:11):
it, but it just like opened myeyes to, kind of, where my
writing was falling flat.
You know, like seeing someonepoint out things in that way,
I'm like, oh, okay, that makessense.
And so, and also like so farall of my revisions have been
like dial it back, dial it back,try to get the word count down.
(12:32):
You know, smaller, smaller,smaller, make it tighter.
And now the editor is like weneed to add in more of internal
dialogue and a little bit of thechoreography of the scene, and
so we know like we can visualizewhat people are doing in the
scene and all that stuff I'dbeen like taking out just to
make it lean.
So now it's kind of fun likeadding a lot of, a lot of that
(12:53):
back in Cause I love to hearwhat people are thinking and
visualize what they're doing too.
So it's all good.
Yeah, your story, the conceptsounds really cool, thank you.
Yeah, so I had that idea.
Yeah, so I had this idea.
Like I was driving past thecemetery and I was like, oh gosh
, I wonder if my former self wasburied there.
(13:16):
And maybe it wasn't even a girlwith curly hair it's all
straightened out right now butlike, maybe it was a boy or
maybe I was a totally like bornin a different nation, and like,
well, how cool would it be tofind out.
Like maybe we just don't havethe technology yet and maybe
someday we'll have thattechnology to literally connect
(13:36):
our souls from life to life.
So I just brought, like myphotography expertise.
I was like what if we couldphotograph souls and then they
could compare them like we dowith fingerprints, right, like
you have a little specificidentifier, and then you carry
that from life to life and, likeyou know, your DNA is
determined by your parents, soyour soul can really be born
(14:00):
into anybody, right Like.
So that's kind of like how thethought came about.
And then, like I said, I'vejust been world building from
then on.
I was like, well, how wouldthat change the world?
How would that change religion?
How would that change ournationalism?
How would that change currency?
You know?
So I, the more I thought aboutit, the more I was like people
(14:22):
will start judging you, not onthese superficial things that we
see through our DNA right now,but probably more of our actions
, especially our soul's actions.
And you can get penalized oryou can get certain advantages
based off of who you were inyour past.
(14:44):
So people come out of theirsoul identification.
They're either going to havetheir inheritance from their
past life Instead of passing itto your kids, you'll give it to
your next life and job offers,because you were a famous
mathematician and you have theNobel Prize, so you're going to
get all of these job offers orscholarships, um, and you know,
(15:08):
waiting for you when you comeout, or, if you were a criminal
and you didn't finish your lifesentence.
You have to go in and finishthat.
Um, you know because so yeah,so.
So there's that drama of it all.
And then I in this world, partof my magic system even though
it's not a fantasy like it kindof reads like a fantasy to me
(15:31):
anyway Um, my magic system isthat only a very small portion
of the population has soulmates.
So they can, they canscientifically identify them
because they have almostidentical soul, like Prince,
they're light rays or whateverthat are being photographed are
almost identical.
And then only a very smallportion of people have soulmates
(15:54):
.
So it's kind of this like thingwhere you're going in and
you're like, am I going to havea soulmate?
And you know that most peoplewon't.
And so my main characters, liketwin best friends, went in and
they got, they hit the lottery,they got everything, they got
the huge inheritance, they gotthe scholarship job offer, they
got soulmates.
(16:14):
So then she goes in and they'relike you're going to get it too
.
And, of course, like everythinggoes the opposite, because
that's what we do to ourcharacters.
J.D. Myall (16:26):
Yeah, love it, love it, love it.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (16:27):
Yeah, when is this slated to come out?
Right now it's slated for July1st of 2025.
So, um do you have a cover yetno, I've seen a rough draft and
I love my cover artists and I'msure you'll be able to.
Once it prints like you'll,you'll know who it is.
(16:49):
But he's amazing.
He's done Chloe Gong's covers.
He did Jennifer Lynn's, barnesthe Inheritance Game covers.
So when they told me who it was, I couldn't sleep that night.
I was so excited.
I was like are you?
kidding me.
So, yes, so I'm really excited.
Hopefully I'll have the successthat those books have had,
(17:09):
cause I'm like, oh my gosh, thatwould.
That's why I couldn't sleep.
I was like what?
Like I didn't get a hugeadvance.
So I'm like, if they're goingto invest that much in that
cover artist, like maybe thatmeans good things, maybe I'll
actually get some press for mybook.
But if not, like literally justso thrilled to have gotten this
far, like my idea, my, my likeconstant mantra was it will
(17:30):
happen, don't give up.
J.D. Myall (17:32):
Like you didn't get a small advance either, though
you did good.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (17:35):
Yeah, it wasn't.
It wasn't like six figures byany means, but it's.
You know it's split over twobooks.
I would say it's like average.
It's not small, it's not.
I would say it's an average fora big five, right?
Exactly For YA.
Yeah, I'm grateful.
J.D. Myall (17:55):
Tell me about your agent call and then we'll talk
about the author call.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (19:28):
Okay, so she had surprised me.
I mean, I got the full requestwhen I queried her.
She was my first and only fullrequest from a query letter.
I did have some from livepitching, but yes, so I've
gotten one and only one fullrequest from a query letter and
it was her, and it was with 30minutes of sending it.
(19:52):
And so later that day I sentthe full cause.
I had to stop crying first.
And so later that day I sentthe full cause.
I had to stop crying first.
And then, um 10 days later, shecalled me on the blue and it was
an unidentified number.
I thought it was spam at first,but something about the New
York, new York area code had mepicking up and she was like hi,
rebecca, this is MichelleWolfson.
(20:13):
And I like started, I was likelike I kind of knew it was
happening, but I didn't.
And she, you know, kind oftalked to me about my book and I
love it so much and I'vealready read it twice and my
daughter loves the idea becauseshe had talked about it with her
preteen daughter at the time.
Now she's a teenager and herdaughter was like you're going
(20:34):
to sign her right.
So she's like, so I feltobligated to call.
So she loves, apparently, tosurprise authors with the offer
call.
And then she scheduled afollow-up call so I could ask
all of my questions.
So she was like did you, yeah?
(20:57):
Yeah, so we had a follow-upcall.
I asked him my questions, Iasked to talk with one of her
other authors on her list andshe arranged that for us and she
won me over too.
I fell in love with that authorright off the bat, so that was
great.
What?
J.D. Myall (21:08):
kind of questions did you ask your agent before
you accepted the?
Rebecca Dazenbaker (21:10):
offer.
So it was like three years ago,so it's hard to say.
I could probably pull up thedocument, um it.
It was a lot of the standardstuff, cause I, I did all the
research.
You know, like I went to Google, I went to all my writer groups
like, who do I ask?
What should I ask?
And I think, like the one thatmost people were, that
(21:31):
recommended was to ask to talkwith another author that she
represents, asked to talk withanother author that she
represents, and there werethings like, you know, will you
um pitch like to the big five?
Um, and she, you know she saidyes, uh, you know, I, I I wanted
print versus EPUB, um, cause Iknow there's a lot of like
(21:53):
agents out there that mostly doEPUB now and I really want to,
just I want to hold it in myhands.
So I was like oh, I want to like.
So there are certain thingsthat I wanted and I was fine
with her not being an editorialagent again, because I found,
like, such wonderful critiquepartners so that we were just
like a nice little tight knitgroup now.
So, yeah, so I think it was allthe standard stuff, it wasn't
(22:18):
anything out of the norm.
I'm just really glad that I didconnect with one of her authors
.
She published last 2018, thenshe kind of stopped writing for
a while, but Michelle like neverdropped her.
She was like stay with me, youknow, like.
And then once her, once thisauthor's sons were off to
college, she started writingagain.
(22:39):
So they sort of like rekindledtheir professional relationship,
but they'd stayed friends thewhole time.
So I love that idea of like, ifthis book doesn't sell and that
was one of the questions that Iasked Michelle like, if this
book doesn't sell, like whathappens then?
And my fear was she'd be like,well, maybe I'm not the right
person for you, but she was likeoh well, then we'll just go on
(23:00):
to the next one.
You know, keep writing.
And I did like, once I went onsubmission, I started, I kept
writing.
So I have a couple of otherbooks waiting for homes now and
I'm and we haven't pitched whatmy second book is now.
So I'm like halfway throughwriting a third that we think
might be the one, because it'sanother speculative like this
(23:22):
one.
The other two are contemporaryYA, so we'll see.
So yeah, that's how it went.
Sorry, I am a rambler, so justshut me up if I talk too long.
So how?
J.D. Myall (23:36):
did the editor call though?
Rebecca Dazenbaker (23:38):
Okay, so that was also unique.
Four days before the offer came, my agent emailed me that one
of the editors was enjoying itand that's all she said, and
we'd had authors enjoy it beforeand nothing happened Again.
It had been like a 20 monththing.
So I literally thought nothingof it.
(24:00):
I was like, whatever, I hadsent Michelle my newest
manuscript over that weekend andso she called me on Monday or
Tuesday and I thought she wascalling to like she had read it.
She reads fast, obviously.
So I thought she was calling tolike she had read it.
She reads fast, obviously.
So I thought she was calling toread it.
So, as I do, I rambled for thefirst like 20 minutes of our
(24:24):
conversation.
We talked about her son goingoff to college and his dorm
mates and our Google calendarsand just everything busy we were
up to and vacations and stufflike that.
And then the conversation kindof lulled and she was like so we
got an offer on your book todayand I was like what you were
like, why didn't you lead withthat?
(24:46):
And it's funny because I'mfriends with another author she
represents who got her firstbook deal like two weeks after
me, so both of us got our debutbook deals like back to back.
And she said she went back toMichelle when I told her that
story and Michelle was like Idon't remember it like that.
And I was like no, it was 20minutes.
I have the call on and hisoffice is I'm pointing that way
(25:18):
but his office is over there.
And so I'm like on the phoneand I like walk over there and
the glass you know, he has likethese pained glass doors to the
office.
They're closed.
And I'm like I got a book dealand like meanwhile, it's like
Michelle's telling me about thedeal and I'm trying to like
write down the details and I'mlike telling him and he's like
what?
And I'm like I got a book deal.
And he was like calm down, Iwas like okay, and so anyway,
like I was just pacing the houseand everything, and she told me
(25:41):
the details and like what doyou think?
And I was like it's, it'samazing, just take it or
negotiate, like you've done thisforever, whatever.
So she was like, yeah, she'slike I think we can get better.
Um, I was like but she's likeyou, you want to?
(26:03):
I was like, absolutely yes, Iwill sign it right now, just
whatever.
So, anyway, she was, she waswonderful, um.
So I did not get, I didn't talkwith or email with my editor
until after the terms wereagreed to Um.
So I didn't have a call withher until I got my developmental
letter, and that was the firsttime we'd actually talked.
So we'd emailed a couple oftimes but I um Michelle, didn't
know what changes she wanted tomake.
We, it wasn't discussed.
So that was something that myagent said to me once my
(26:27):
development editor came at it.
Sorry, my edit letter came in.
She was like they bought thisas is, without requesting
changes, so you don't have to doanything.
But I was like, no, no, no, Ilove her ideas.
I'm going to give it a try.
I have literally never met anedit that I didn't love or fall
in love with.
The same held true with thisrevision.
I'm completely obsessed.
(26:49):
And so now I'm like reallynervous about what my second
letter is going to say, causeI'm like, oh, I hope I don't
have to change that much more,cause I so love the plot now,
like this story is the same.
The story has always been thesame, even as I've incorporated
all these changes, um, but theplot has made significant
changes here and I'm just like,wow, how did I write this?
(27:09):
Like it's just so, like it justblows my mind.
I'm like how does my brain worklike that?
I don't know.
Like if anyone asked me to tellthem the story without sitting
and writing it, like it justwould never have come out.
But I don't know, I'm juststill like in awe.
I'm like I don't know, it'sgreat, it's a fun feeling your,
your editor story.
J.D. Myall (27:28):
um was like other people I've talked to.
There was another girl who toldme that she didn't talk to her
editor until like after the deal.
Mine was the opposite.
I talked to her first.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (27:40):
Wow, yeah, I think that's pretty common.
And you kind of like becauseyou want to get an idea of the
working relationship, you know,like am I going to want to work
with this person?
But it was like I could tellfrom the first email exchange
because she wrote like words inall caps and there was like 12
(28:00):
exclamation points at the end ofthings and I was like, oh, okay
, we have the same energy.
Like I could just tell from herand like with Michelle, I like
have to like go and takeexclamation points out of my
emails after I draft them, likecalm down.
But with Nicole she's like oh,the exclamation points.
I'm like, yes, let's do it,we'll take it out of my novel
but we'll keep them in theemails.
J.D. Myall (28:20):
So yeah, that's exciting.
What are your plans as far aslaunching goes?
Rebecca Dazenbaker (28:28):
So I have a friend Well, it's like more of
like my husband's businesscolleague's wife who opened a
bookstore nearby, an indiebookstore which I'm in love with
.
So I already know I'm going topartner with them for my book
launch.
But it's a very small store andI have a lot.
You know we live in a reallylarge community here and I have
(28:49):
a lot of friends, so there's noway everyone's going to fit.
So we'll probably like rent outa space in my neighborhood
there's like a community center,right and just have the, the
bookstore, bring copies there.
I don't know, um, so that'slike one thing.
And then I'm hoping, um, to goback to my hometown I live, I
grew up like three hours Southand maybe do like a signing
there.
And, um, I have friends wholive in Portland, oregon, and so
(29:15):
they're like you have to comeout here and do one at oh shoot,
what's the big bookstore there?
My brain's gone to Powell's.
So they're like you have to do,you have to do a signing at
Powell's.
I was like I don't know ifPowell's will take a debut
author, but maybe I'll just belike hey, um, so, yeah, like
I've already talked with my kidsare both in high school, so I
already talked with their schoollibrarian to like I'd love to
(29:36):
come in, like talk to thewriting classes.
You know that sort of stuff.
Um, I don't know, like I'm sureit'll build more and more as
time goes on.
So the librarians they werelike, oh, we asked this one
author to come in and theyquoted us $20,000.
(29:57):
I was like, oh well, I will notcharge you $20,000.
Yeah, but now I'm thinking bigthoughts like can I charge
$20,000 at some point to go talkto a school?
Does he actually get that muchmoney?
Cause that's a lot.
They were like I think that hejust didn't want to do it, and
he was like, well, it'll be morethan my while for $20,000.
I was like, yeah, most thingswould be, I think.
(30:19):
So that's wild.
Anyway, I don't.
Yeah, no, I'll probably be like, just let me come in and talk
about my book.
What?
J.D. Myall (30:28):
are your social media plans?
Rebecca Dazenbaker (30:30):
I know you um, since you're the social
media, yeah, so, um, I meanpretty much for every phase I
try, I'm trying to like, pumpthings up.
I did just get character art afew days ago and so I have a
plan to roll that out, butthere's a lot.
J.D. Myall (30:45):
Did you make it or did the publisher do it?
Rebecca Dazenbaker (30:48):
No, neither I hired someone on Fiverr.
I did a lot of research becauseI love digital art, but I
didn't want someone who woulduse AI.
So I did a lot of research andI found someone whose catalog or
portfolio went backpre-generative AI, back to the
2016s, and I was like okay, sohe's legit and I love it.
(31:10):
There's just a lot going onright now, so things are slowed
down.
I just need to kind of getthrough the next couple of weeks
personally with things that aregoing on.
There's a funeral, there'sstuff going on.
So I was like well, that'sgoing to take a back burner and
then, once I have the energy tofocus on that, like I'll go on.
But the nice thing is we havelike 14.
(31:31):
I know you have closer to like16, 17 months to your launch, so
I have time right and I don'talso like keep slamming the same
content down my followers post,so I want to make sure I have
something new and different tosay each time.
(31:51):
Um, so that was like my last one.
I was like oh, I haven't talkedabout retitling my book.
So the last one I made was hereare the titles that I sent and
here's the one they selected.
Um, so I was like that'ssomething fun I can do and I
don't have to be on camera.
Um, so that was something newand different.
But you can only do so manylike book trailers till I was
like, uh, that's, you know, it'sjust not getting much traction.
(32:14):
Now, one thing that I'venoticed my Tik TOK views are
lame, my IG views are lame, butYouTube, like same content
posted on YouTube, does great.
So, I use Metricool, um, whichis a free social media planner,
um, to repost my content.
(32:35):
So I'll just download it fromTik TOK and then I'll repost it
to Facebook, ig, uh, pinterestand YouTube and um, the nice
thing like about YouTube andlike again, like YouTube.
Just for some reason the booktrailers do well there and then
on Pinterest.
(32:55):
The nice thing about Pinterestis the content only like, the
reach only grows, and I'venoticed that with my own
photography work.
Like photos that I posted fouryears ago get more views than
content I'm posting now.
So things like snowball withPinterest and you just have to
give it time and it marinatesand it just gets better and
(33:17):
better and better.
So the best time to post onPinterest was two years ago and
then it'll just keep going.
So that's a little like, uh,maybe a little unknown thing
that people don't know and thatI just learned through
photography.
Like I, most of the hits frommy photography site are from
Google and Pinterest.
Like, so I like love it, causeit just gives you a little bit
(33:41):
of that validation.
Um, yeah, so you can alwaysrepurpose stuff.
So, if it, if it bombs on TikTOK, which everything's been
doing lately because, um, it'smore about the Tik TOK store
these days than like sendingstuff to like.
I don't have a Tik TOK store yetCause I'm obviously not selling
books or anything.
(34:02):
I'm hoping to get some fun swag.
Um, like, there's thecrossroads symbol, like the
circle with the X in it is a bigsymbol in my book, so I'm
hoping to get like sometemporary tattoos or stickers
and, um, I'm actually probablygoing to get my very first, only
ever, tattoo.
But when I launched my book, or, leading up to my book, launch
(34:25):
um of the crossroads symbol,just to like memorialize my very
first novel.
Um, so I, anyway, so I there'slike a fun, a bunch of fun stuff
.
So maybe at some point I'llhave a tiktok store and my
content will start doing better,but for the most part now it's
just like.
Oh, it's like I just try not toworry about it.
(34:45):
I'm'm like 300 people is 300,you know 300 people who didn't
see it yesterday.
You know like I didn't reachyesterday.
J.D. Myall (34:51):
And the book's not out yet.
Once the book is out and instores and you have readers,
it's going to grow.
The numbers are going up.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (34:57):
Yeah, and I think you know I feel like Simon
Teen who will be doing like allof my publicity and stuff.
They're really great, like I'vebeen following them for a while
now and they are really greatabout promoting even backlist
books.
So yeah, I'm excited.
I'm excited to be a part oftheir team.
I think it'd be great.
We'll see.
(35:17):
I don't have anything tocompare it to but again, like
anything I get I was, I would begreat.
Which is why, when I saw yourpost, I was like, oh, that's one
thing I can do Come this wayfor an event.
maybe we can do an eventtogether or something oh, I
would so much better to partnerup with somebody, because I hate
just like blabbering on and Ithink it's so much easier to do
(35:37):
it conversational style and liketalk with one another, you know
, um they were both YA fantasy.
Yeah, I was saying, we're bothYA yes, tell me about your book,
because I looked up your umblurb and I couldn't like on the
discord, like you haven't putthe description, you haven't
announced yet that's why youcouldn't find it.
J.D. Myall (35:59):
I know, so tell me about it.
It's called hearts gambit, it'swith wednesday books, which is
a division of mmillan Nice, andit's pitched as like Outlander
meets the Night Circus.
So it's these magical warringtime, traveling families, and
there's like a forbidden love.
Oh my God.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (36:18):
Okay, forbidden love is my very
favorite trope.
I love the angst of it.
Like, love it.
It's like any romance tro trip,like any romance book forbidden
love.
I'm like, yes, put me in there.
So it just made sense that waswhat I wrote too, so we have
that in common.
So mine's a forbidden romancealso.
J.D. Myall (36:40):
Yeah.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (36:40):
Yay, oh, my gosh, yeah.
So let's plan on that.
We will do an event together.
J.D. Myall (36:45):
I absolutely love that, definitely, definitely.
I can't wait, me too.
Tell me about your creativeprocess.
What's your writing process?
Look like.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (36:54):
Uh, so I do plot, um, but then I usually
abandoned my plot, at least likehalfway in Um.
Usually it ends where I expectit to end, but then the middle
route goes elsewhere.
Um, as my brain just continuesto work on it and like, as I'm
writing, I'll be like this isboring, what can I do?
That's something better, youknow.
So I might.
(37:14):
The first book that I wrote thisone I was kind of editing as I
went and I would go back andread the chapter a few times
before going up to the next one.
I've stopped doing that andit's like the future me gets
really annoyed at my past me,because then I'll go back and
read my rough draft and I'm like, why does it suck?
Because it's written so badly.
(37:34):
But I'm literally just tryingto get all the dialogue on the
page.
And so now, like right now,because I drafted half of the
new book, then I stopped fordevelopmental edits, drafted
half of the new book, then Istopped for developmental edits,
and now I'm going back and I'mtrying to like reread what I
wrote, just to remember thestory that I've written so far.
It's like, oh how, like, howdid I get a book deal?
(37:57):
It's so bad.
So it's just very rough and I'mgoing through and I'm trying to
fix things and I'm also justtrying to press forward so I can
finish actually writing it,trying to fix things and I'm
also just trying to pressforward so I can finish actually
writing it.
So I try to just push throughand keep writing without going
back to read, and then once Iget to the end I'll go back and
(38:18):
actually I'll wait, like theysay, I'll let it marinate for a
few weeks, and then I'll go backand start reading and I try to
read it twice through, read andrevise twice through, and then
I'll send it to critiquepartners and I'll be like I know
this sucks, but I just need tomake sure the story works before
I really start polishing it upand sending it through.
All of the pro-writing read,like you know, like things like
(38:41):
taking out all of the stickysentences, and I try to do as
much of that as I can, but thenI'll find like repetitive words
and stuff that your eyes justdon't catch as much.
Um, so that's kind of like.
So where did you find?
J.D. Myall (38:56):
your critique group, your critique partners.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (38:59):
Um, I found the original group through um
moms who write I think it issomething like that on Twitter.
I used to be on Twitter a lot.
I haven't used it in like ayear, but they would have like
the monthly, like Q and a, andthey were like, if you're
looking for a critique partner,write your.
(39:20):
This was again like way back in2021.
You know what's your book aboutand you know whatever.
And so I found a couple thereand they were wonderful.
One of them is no longer writing.
She runs a farm up in New Yorkand just running a business and
(39:42):
running a farm and having fourchildren Like she's taken a step
back.
And then the other one we stillare cheerleaders for one
another, but our writing stylesare so very different.
I think we've just kind of likegone separate ways.
So somehow I'm trying toremember through, I think
through one of my pitch groups,I found this other author who is
(40:05):
my favorite and also my leastfavorite critique partner, cause
she's so like it's like adagger to the heart, like she
does not hold, like she doesn'tpull any punches.
She will state very clearlythat's something like I don't
like this.
No, why would he say that?
Like she.
She doesn't try to make it nice, but she's always dead on.
(40:29):
So she like, even though ithurts to read her comments, she
says what has to be said and soI appreciate that.
It's funny, cause my best friendand her will be reading at the
same time and my best friendswill be like I love this, or
maybe you should reword this,and she'll have to turn off my
critique partner's comments,cause they make her angry, cause
(40:50):
she's she's so mean.
I'm like I know, but she's soright, like that's the thing,
like I can't let her go becauseshe always says what I need to.
You know, like oh yeah, she'sright.
And you know there's a coupleof things I'll be like no, I
keep that.
But most of the time I'm like,oh yeah, I gotta change that um,
when that happens.
I know, so it's.
(41:11):
You know, it's like one ofthose things where your heart's
palpitating, palpitating as likethe comments are coming through
, because I use google docs, solike I'll get the email that
she's made comments, and I'mlike shoring myself up, like
okay, I'm gonna read them.
But uh, she, yeah, so she'swonderful.
And then I have another one, um, the one that my agent
(41:33):
represents us both, and she alsowrites YA and she's going to be
a 2025 debut, so she's in thesame group with us.
Her name is Veronica Bain, uh,which I always reminds me of
Cassandra Clare.
Did you read the?
Wasn't there a Bane character?
Anyway, so, anyway, so, yes, sowe're critique partners now too
(41:55):
, which is great.
It's nice to have someone thatI can tell my agent like
Veronica's read it.
She liked it, so now you'lllike it, but it's good.
My agent was sending me to herintern, like not sending me, but
(42:17):
she would send my pages to herintern to read first, and my
intern started to give me, likekind of a small little edit
letter, and then my agent wouldread it too.
But she would be like here'sMolly's letter, you know, cause
she doesn't do the critiques.
And then now her intern is anagent, so she has her own
clients to work with.
So now I have a new critiquewriter.
It all works out, so, yeah, Ilove it.
Do you have some, too, that youlike?
J.D. Myall (42:38):
Yeah, I got a couple I met through Drexel, so I got
a couple that are newer.
And then I have some like fromforever, like Maggie Guile, she.
I got a couple that are newerand then I have some like from
forever.
Like Maggie Guile, she's aCanadian writer.
Yeah, me and her met in anonline critique group years ago
and we wrote a novel together.
Oh wow, that's great.
We were both very raw and youngin our writing journey.
(43:00):
So it wasn't very good.
But now that we're both furtheralong and she's had some books
out and I got a book coming outand stuff we want to revisit the
idea.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (43:08):
I was going to say come back to it.
Yeah, that would be so fun.
Oh my gosh, that's great.
Yeah, I have a few others thatI just remembered.
I was like oh yeah, because Ilike to like.
You don't want to always hit upthe same person Right and be
like can you read this one?
J.D. Myall (43:28):
Can you read this?
You ever need a critique, um,you know, hit me up, yeah or if
you want to send a copy when youget the book.
You know, yeah, comment on itor blurb it or share it or
something like that.
I don't know what my blurbwould mean, because I'm just
like you, brand new.
I know, I know it's not matter,but you know the offers there
for both of us.
People will be like shadyblurred my book.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (43:45):
Yeah, absolutely might not matter
today, but you know it will,More than willing to you know, I
know, oh my gosh, I just likehad like a flash forward of like
us and our pictures at like ourbook launch event that we did
together, and then, years later,like we'll meet up at a
convention and be like this wasus five years ago.
(44:05):
Look at us now.
J.D. Myall (44:07):
You know isn't that fun?
Yeah, definitely, definitelyfun.
So what's been the mostsurprising part about the
publishing journey to you so far?
Rebecca Dazenbaker (44:18):
oh, that is a good question.
I think um gosh, hmm, I thinkum gosh, I all of it and yet
none of it.
I don't know.
Like I I always tell my kids,like you know, even with like my
(44:43):
photography business, like whenI was building it up, like I
went to my husband when I wantedto take it full time Cause I
was doing it on the side and Iwas like I know this will happen
.
Like it's not a like I hope itwill happen.
Like I know this will happen,it's just a matter of getting
(45:03):
there.
And I told him the same thingwhen I started querying.
I was like I know this bookwill get published, I just don't
know when.
And like I just felt thatstrongly like that this story
was meant to be told.
As I don't know how crazy orwackadoo and I get in this
(45:26):
conversation, but like part ofmy like psyche is like okay,
like I'm telling this storybecause it had to be told, and
that's like part of me is likethinks I didn't actually write
it.
It just kind of like okay, allright.
J.D. Myall (45:38):
This is weird.
Sadiqa Johnson she's a New YorkTimes best-selling author.
Yeah, she's also my mentor atDrexel and I interviewed her
recently and she said somethingvery similar.
Yeah, she said she thinks that,basically, that novels are
almost like little embryos thatare waiting to be born.
Yeah, she's like the universeis giving you the story, but if
you don't write it, the universewill give it to somebody else
(45:59):
and you just gave me chills.
She's like you'll read aboutsomebody else doing your book
that you didn't know.
No connection.
No connection to.
Rebecca Dazenbaker (46:06):
So that's how I felt this whole time and I
guess part of it, I guess thesurprising part is like getting
on the other side of that andbeing like I was right, like I
mean literally like my websiteand like now, if you scroll to
the very bottom of it it sayshashtag chase your dreams.
Until I got the book deal, itwas hashtag it will happen, and
(46:29):
that was my query tracker.
Like username was it willhappen.
Because I was like I have tojust keep telling myself like
it's, like it's determinedalready, like this is going to
happen that wraps up today'scraft chat chronicles with jd
(46:58):
mayor.
Speaker 4 (46:58):
thanks for joining us .
If you liked the episode,please comment, subscribe and
share.
For show notes, writingworkshops and tips, head to
JDMeyercom.
That's JDMeyercom.
While you're there, join JD'smailing list for updates,
giveaways and more.
Got questions or want to shareyour thoughts?
(47:19):
Contact JDMeyercom.
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