May 3, 2025 • 32 mins
A letter can change everything. For Amy Nielsen, it was a two-page note to her college-aged daughter explaining why curfews mattered—a window into Nielsen's tumultuous past as a homeless teen in 1980s Florida. That letter became the seed for "Worth It," her award-winning young adult novel about finding courage when everything around you is falling apart.
Her novel, which recently earned the Florida State Book Award's bronze medal, transforms her five-year struggle through homelessness and teenage pregnancy into a powerful fictional narrative set against the economic devastation of Central Florida's citrus freezes.
The result is a book that speaks directly to teens in crisis while offering guidance to friends and adults who want to help.
Nielsen's work extends to autism advocacy As the mother of an autistic son, she challenges harmful labels and misconceptions, emphasizing that non-speaking doesn't mean low-functioning and that autism may simply be "a normal part of the human genome."
The audiobook of "Worth It," narrated by Shealey Hannigan, recently named a finalist for Best Audiobook of 2024 by Indie Inc.
photos; courtesy of a.nielsen
“THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED OR VIEWS EXPRESSED BY GUESTS DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT OR REPRESENT THOSE OF THE HOST;
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Castro, Google Podcasts or wherever you stream your podcasts.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Unmuted with Papa Mutes.
Hi, welcome to Papa Muteseverybody.
Today my guest is Amy Nielsen.
Amy is a librarian, an authorand a literary agent.
Her new book, worth it is onsale now.
Set in Central Florida in thelate 80s, worth it is the story
of courage, redemption and thepower of becoming your own hero.
Amy is also a lover of allthings autism.
(00:22):
I'm thrilled to have her on.
Amy, welcome to Pop and Mute.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
So before we get to the book, I think some people
might think they know.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
But what does a literary agent do Sure Well for
authors that are looking toscore a traditional publishing
deal so they would like to bepublished with a publisher that
only accepts agented manuscripts.
Basically, a literary agent iskind of like that bridge.
So authors query me with theirquery letter, their synopsis,
their first five pages of theirmanuscript, if it's a novel or a
(00:56):
full, if it's a picture book,and then if it's something that
I rep and I feel passionate thatI can sell, then I sign them as
a client and then I am able toopen that door to publishers
that otherwise would be closedto unagented authors.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Now I mean are you getting a wide range of, like,
people that have never writtenbefore and or people that have?
I mean, how do you weed out?
I mean, do you just say youknow what?
This is just not good enough.
I mean, do you?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Typically, agents open for submissions in a window
period.
So, for example, the first timethat I opened for submissions,
I received probably almost 848hours.
Yes, now I had done a lot ofadvertising about what I was
looking for.
I was looking to rep picturebooks, I was looking to rep YA,
(01:46):
and most agents have what'scalled a manuscript wishlist.
If you Google the agent's nameand manuscript wishlist then
that will come up and you cansee specifically what they're
looking for.
So I am currently closed forsubmissions right now, but when
I do open back up, I will belooking for thrillers and
specifically, if you look at mymanuscript wishlist, you can
(02:08):
look at what kind of thrillersthat I will be looking for.
I'm about to probably sign twomore picture book authors in the
next week or so, so my picturebook slots will be pretty full,
but it's really helping be thatbridge from author to being
published.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Well, you're the company again, correctly if I'm
mispronouncing it, purcell.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yes, the Purcell agency.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Now, where did they go?
Did they go to that website?
Did they go to your website?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Well, you're going to go to query your.
If you're an author, youprobably have query tracker,
which is where you're tracking,where you're sending your
queries to.
So that would be where youwould go to follow like when I'm
going to be open and hopefully,maybe in May or June I'm going
to open back up.
I had I was open for forThriller queries a couple months
(03:00):
ago and I had some great onesand there was one I really
wanted and he got four offers ofrepresentation really wanted
and he got four offers ofrepresentation and so he went
with the agent that had asimilar vision for his work that
he did.
So that was the one that gotaway.
So I am still looking forsomething in that space
specifically.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So there's competition.
In other words, they're notjust coming to you, they're
bouncing around.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Absolutely, and there are a ton of resources on my
website so I have polishing yoursubmission packet before
querying.
I have some self-editing guidesthat I've created specifically
on the things that I've seen insubmissions that could be
improved.
So I'd highly recommend authorscheck that out and really go
through your submission beforeyou start querying it, because
(03:43):
typically you don't get a secondchance to get in front of an
agent's eyes.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Now are you I think you said 800 hours or what have
you?
You're reading all thatyourself.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
No, Well, what you're reading is first the query, and
I have on my website thespecific structure that a query
should be in.
It's a very simple template,and so the agent's going to read
that and see is this somethingthat I'm repping?
Do I have something alreadythat's very similar to this?
Is this something that I'm notthe best agent for?
(04:12):
So I'm not the best agent forhigh concept fantasy or sci-fi,
and you know.
So that's kind of like the firstplace that you look and that's
where a lot of agents can justgo ahead and give quick passes.
And, trust me, if you're anauthor and an agent isn't the
right agent for you, you want aquick pass so you can move on.
And then at that point then ifit's something I'm looking for,
then I would look at thoseopening pages, just see is the
(04:34):
story starting in the rightplace?
What's the quality of the craftof writing on a line level?
And so you can typically tellthat in like a page or two, and
if the first couple of pagesdraw you in, then you keep
reading and eventually,hopefully, it pulls me in enough
that I request the full fromyou.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
So let's get to your book.
Worth it?
Not your first book, correct?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Correct.
It's my first novel.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
First novel.
Okay, I mean, in the age of theinternet, people can just
Google that and get the idea.
But for the sake of thispodcast, what is it about?
What made you want to writethis?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Sure.
Well, it all goes back to aletter, ironically enough, and I
was thinking about this todayprior to chatting with you.
So this book is inspired by mylived experience in the late 80s
as a teen that was homeless,then living in poverty,
eventually pregnant and with thehopes of a future looking very
(05:32):
bleak.
And that did change, obviously.
And that baby that I had is nowa 37-year-old, board-certified
elder law attorney in the stateof Florida, and I had a 20-plus
year career as an educator, as amedia specialist and television
production teacher and now as aliterary agent.
But the genesis comes back tojust.
(05:53):
The genesis of any story to meis always so fascinating.
But I had never planned towrite this story.
My daughter was home fromcollege, she was 19.
It was 2007.
And she's like hey, mom, I'mgoing to go out with some
friends tonight.
And I'm like cool, see you atmidnight.
And she's like what?
And I'm like yeah, I'll see youat midnight.
(06:15):
And she was appalled that I hadthe audacity to impose a curfew
on her at 19.
And I said I can't sleep untilI know that you're home safe and
so you need to be home bymidnight.
And reluctantly she agreed.
But after that when she left Igot to thinking that there was
so much about my life that I hadnot shared with her Most of it,
(06:37):
because it wasn't ageappropriate at the time for her
to know some of the traumaticthings that her biological
father had been privy to in mylife.
And but I'm like it's time forher to know.
And so I wrote her a two pageletter kind of detailing some of
that, skimming over some of theugliest parts, but at least
hinting that they were there,because my goal was for her to
(07:00):
understand why I was such an aparent that cared and wanted to
know, wanted to put things inplace to keep my daughter safe,
because there was no one when Iwas 17, 18, 19 doing anything to
keep me safe.
And so I wrote that letter twopages, and then I put a cover
letter on it, cause I'm like Idon't want her to cold read this
and not have a clue.
She needs to have a decision,kind of like a content note and
(07:22):
a query.
So I actually still have thatletter.
It's right here.
I won't bother reading it toyou, but it reminds me of why I
wrote this.
And so I snuck it in herbackpack and the next day she
drove back to college and calledme, crying and saying I had no
idea, thank you for sharing thiswith me, and we've pretty much
been best friends ever since.
(07:44):
So after that I decided toexpand because the emotion that
she felt from that.
I thought maybe there are othergirls out there that need to
hear this type of message thatyou know, you can triumph over
challenge and you can change thecourse of your life.
You're not defined by thismoment in time.
And so I started it.
(08:06):
I started pinning it in mylibrary behind my circulation
desk as memoir, but it justwasn't landing for me as memoir
for many, many, many reasons.
So what I did and I call thisfictionalizing your past trauma
is that you know turn it into afictional story that you get to.
(08:27):
You know be, be behind thesteering wheel of what happens
to these characters, andespecially if the bad guy
doesn't get what they deserve,then you can make sure they do
how much of it is um, what's theword dramatizer, not dramatized
?
Speaker 1 (08:44):
um, I mean, it's about your story, so to speak,
but is there any uh added, uhdrama that just for the sake of
storytelling?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
absolutely so.
I am a big fan of the save thecat story structure.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
If you're not familiar with that, it's oh yeah
, I got it right there right alot of authors aren't, um.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
But once I started digging into the craft of
writing on a line level andstructurally, I really felt like
that was the best format for meto use the best structure.
So I started deconstructing thememoir I'm putting into that
and, organically, there werecharacters that had to disappear
, there were characters I had tocombine, there were elements of
(09:25):
story structure that weren'tpresent in my memoir because it
just didn't happen that way.
And one of the biggest thingsthat I did was in my real lived
experience I was in that.
Can you say bad words on thisshow?
I was in that hellhole for fiveyears and I didn't want that to
be my main character's journey.
(09:45):
I wanted her to come to therealization that she was worth
more, much quicker than I did inmy real life, and so I really
tightened the structure, whichhelped with the pacing etc.
And the story takes place inthe late 80s, after in Central
Florida, after the aftermath ofback to back citrus freezes, or
(10:06):
freezes that crippled the citrusindustry and sent this small
town into economic just you knowturmoil and that's true, and so
that's kind of the backdropthat this family begins to just
implode because you know theywent, they moved to this town to
be part of the booming citrusindustry and then now you know,
within a couple of years, it'sgone and so the whole town was
(10:29):
basically in turmoil.
But we really hyper focus onthis one girl's experience and
how, eventually, you know, she,she climbs out of that is like
how much is the emotion?
Every emotion is a hundredpercent real.
There are some characters that,like I said, that had to
disappear for story structure,and some characters that had
(10:50):
that I combined, et cetera.
But I think when you really honein on a story structure, it
helps you make those decisions.
And also, if you have a storythat you want to tell and you're
concerned about, memoir is atough sell.
I know I listened to yourinterview with Amanda Quick,
which was fascinating, um, andyou know, but most of us don't
(11:14):
have that big of a story to tell, even though it's a big to us,
and so without a huge platformor you know things like that, I
have one memoirs that I rep, butit's a tough sell to get memoir
out there.
Um, and also there are somelegalities involved that I did
not want to have to worry aboutso I could change character
(11:34):
names and places and you knowthat sort of thing and and
actually kind of fictionalizethis part of my life that I
don't regret because it made mewho I am today.
But I could wrap it up infiction and kind of put that
piece of my life a little bitdistant yeah now, what uh?
Speaker 1 (11:55):
what uh genre?
I mean young adult, or how howwould it fall under?
Speaker 2 (11:59):
I mean, anybody could read I'm assuming, yeah, it
would be young adult sub-genre.
You could classify it ashistorical issue driven, um, a
little bit of a thriller elementin there, uh, but but young
adult is definitely the agerange.
Most of the readers have beenadult and I'm excited, actually,
because next month I'm going tobe presenting in the hometown
(12:22):
where this story takes place,which I did fictionalize the
hometown, but it's still thehometown so that's going to be
super fun to kind of go backwhere where I grew up and where
I was a librarian in that publicschool for many, many, many
years, and so that's going to befun.
Because there is some, eventhough it is a story of a
(12:43):
challenging time in this younggirl's life, there are a lot of
positives and one of the thingsthat I really tried to highlight
was the people in the communitythat were encouraging, even
though this main character didnot believe a lot of their
encouraging words at the timeand it's sometimes it was
strangers drifting in and out ofher life giving her encouraging
(13:05):
words and eventually shebelieves them and so I.
There's back matter in the novel.
There's a, there's an author'snote to the teens in the room
and it's kind of geared towardthe teens that are in crisis and
don't wait as long as this maincharacter did to reach out to
someone for help.
And it's to the teens thataren't in crisis, that have
(13:25):
loving and supportive families,to how to be a good friend to
someone who needs you to be agood friend.
That may be a teen in crisis.
And then the biggest note isthe note to the adults in the
room and our responsibility aseducators, as parents, as
community members, to uplift themost vulnerable of us all, even
if that's just a kind word andsaying that you're worth more
(13:46):
than the situation that you'rein, and I have faith in you.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Now the town.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Can you tell us the town, or yeah, it's based on the
fictional town of Umatilla,florida, which is in central
Florida.
In the story I call it NorthLake.
Umatilla is called like theNorth Lake.
It is the, I think, mostnorthern city in Lake County,
florida and it is a very, very,very small town that was home to
(14:10):
a booming citrus industry inthe 70s and 80s and probably
even prior to that, and a citrusplant that most families had
someone that worked at, and somy family moved there to be part
of that industry.
My father had been in thechemical industry, which was
dangerous, and so we went to bepart of the citrus industry with
my grandparents and again,back-to-back freezes kind of
(14:33):
crippled that, and so our ownfamily was thrust into poverty,
like many other families in thatarea.
And so there is some historicalbackground information and I
don't try to weigh heavy intothat, as this is intended for a
young adult audience and I alsodon't weigh heavy into the pop
culture, so it feels a littlemore accessible to teen readers
(14:58):
and I've had a lot of parentsreach out to me and say this is
a book that I think every teenshould read, just because a lot
of the messages are so universal, especially even in, you know,
for teens today.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Sure, Now you actually recently I believe the
beginning of this month won anaward, right, Tell us about that
.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yes, I did the Florida State Book Award, which
is very exciting.
There's the sticker.
So I came in bronze in the youngadult category and there was a
ceremony in Tallahassee I got toattend and the book award is
sponsored by Florida StateUniversity and so recognizing,
you know, Florida literaturethat has excelled and made a
(15:41):
difference in people's lives,and so that was quite an honor
and you know to know that thatwork is out there.
I've also partnered with acouple of local nonprofits.
One is Hillsborough TeensConnect, which is a nonprofit
that has teen navigators thatanswer the phone to teens in
crisis and help point them toresources, and another is called
(16:03):
YA by the Bay.
That is a young adultliterature conference where we
present authors come from acrossthe country and agents as well,
and we are accessible to teensand we teach them how to become
the authors of their own lifethrough the stories that we have
written and workshops and thatwill be taking place in
September in Tampa Bay and it'sfree to teens and then we open
(16:26):
to the public one day as well.
I got to meet and hang out withRL Stein there the last time,
which was quite cool.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Wow, cool.
Now I know on your website, Ibelieve or maybe it's the
Purcell, I'm saying that right,you do book trailers.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yes, so I.
I was a media specialist, slashlibrarian for 20 years and one
of the other things that I didwas I taught television
production, and one of the oneof the assignments I would
always have my students do is ingroups, they would pick a book
and read together like a bookclub and then make a book
trailer for it.
So that's one of the thingsthat I've continued to do for
authors is help create booktrailers.
(17:03):
I really enjoy still dipping mytoes into the technology aspect
of what I used to do when I wasworking at the school, and so I
do those freelance for authorsOn my website.
I've got several examples and Ido of a.
A lot of people on Tik TOK aredoing an amazing trailers of
their own, but I do more of aYouTube style traditional type
(17:25):
trailer that you would see, asopposed to these other younger
creatives that you know aredoing such a great job over on
Tik TOK and book talk.
But but yeah, I love.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, I watched a couple and they're very good.
It's a great idea.
I mean I, yeah, good, it's agreat idea.
I mean, um, I, yeah, it's like.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
It's like I mean a movie trailer for a book, yeah,
basically, well, I think um, Ido a presentation on this as
well, on how to make, why youshould and how to make a book
trailer for your book.
I think it's on my website forfree.
You can watch it, but up to 80of internet consumption is video
, so if you are even a queryingauthor it, it can be an
excellent tool in your queryingtoolbox to have a link and an
(18:04):
email to an editor or on yourwebsite for a trailer that they
can watch.
Actually, the publisher that Iam published with watched my
trailer and then was interestedin reading my query and opening
pages and then was interested inreading my query and opening
pages.
So visuals can have a hugeimpact on you getting over
across that finish line.
A lot of people on Twitter domood boards and things like that
(18:27):
.
That's another good thing to do, but just giving a visual
aspect to your work can reallyhelp you across that finish line
.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Who is your publisher ?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Wild Ink Publishing.
They're amazing.
They're a small press and Ihave really enjoyed working with
Wild Ink so they've beenphenomenal.
So I published without an agentand then became an agent, so
there are many paths topublication.
And you mentioned that I'm alover of all things autism.
My youngest son is autistic andI, despite rhetoric going on
(19:03):
around about autism right now,wouldn't change a thing about
him if I could.
And I do have two bookspublished through Wild Inc as
well.
One is a picture book calledGoldilocks and the Three Bears,
understanding Autism SpectrumDisorder.
So, if you didn't know,goldilocks is autistic.
She has eloped from her home.
She doesn't understand socialnorms and goes into someone's
(19:23):
house without knocking.
She has sensory sensitivitiesto temperature, texture, taste.
So it took a lot of thequalities that a person on the
autism spectrum might exhibitand gave more of those to
Goldilocks.
And it also has a discussionguide to use with neurotypical
children to help them understandtheir autistic peers, friends
and neighbors, and also aglossary of terms, and I did
(19:44):
work with a special educationteacher to create that.
And then I have anothernonfiction about autism called
it Takes a Village how to Builda Support System for your
Exceptional Needs Family, andthat is basically a guide to
help families in the beginningstages of the diagnosis navigate
how to build a support systemand what that can look like.
(20:05):
Even if you feel like you don'thave a support system, it's a
step-by-step guide to help youbuild one, because there are
people out there that want to bea part of your support system.
You just may not have foundthem yet.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
So I mean, I'm sure there are a ton of to this
question, but what is one of themisconceptions that people that
don't deal with autistic people?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
I think and this is a timely example, I think the
difference between speaking andnon-speaking.
A lot of times non-speakingautistic individuals are labeled
as low functioning, when thatis absolutely not the truth.
Many of our non-speakers in theautism community are artists,
writers, musicians, veryintellectual, and many of our
speakers struggle the most withsocial, emotional, development,
(20:50):
sensory sensitivities, etc.
So I think that's a commonmisconception the phrase has
been used and I do not likefunctioning terms at all but
that high functioning autismignores my struggles while low
functioning autism ignores mystrengths.
And so I think you know,looking at the autistic
individual as a whole, my son is10, he is speaking.
(21:12):
There was a time that he wasnon speaking, but that really
didn't.
That wasn't the biggest issuethat we had.
The biggest issue was otherthings.
And he is doing great now afteryears and years and years and
years and years and years oftherapy and decisions and
special education and doing whatour providers told us to do and
(21:36):
listening to people that wetrusted.
You know, told us to do andlistening to the people that we
trusted and actually he just hada physical today and he was
struggling in a lot of areas.
Even autism can become, canaffect your physical body as
well in a lot of different ways.
And so last year he was havingsome issues with that and today
(21:56):
he got a clean bill of healthand he was so excited with that.
And today he got a clean billof health and he was so excited.
But and autism is?
I interviewed a woman from afortune 500 company who her goal
is to recruit autisticindividuals into their company,
and one of the things that sheand I discussed and she had done
a lot of research about autismand is an expert in the field is
(22:21):
that there is a growing theorythat being autistic is a normal
part of the human genome, sothat there are going to be,
naturally, people with differentdeveloped brains, and that it's
not a disease, that it is justa normal part of human
development, that some peoplewill be born on the spectrum and
(22:42):
some people won't, and thatdoesn't mean that it's not easy,
it doesn't mean that it's notdifficult, because it is, but my
son has brought nothing but joyinto our family.
Even in the most difficult ofmoments, there are those special
moments that just don't existoutside of that.
According to the DSM-5, which isthe Diagnostic and Statistic
(23:03):
Manual that diagnoses mentalhealth disorders.
Autism is marked by twospecific things.
One is a struggle in social orverbal and nonverbal
communication, and then there'smany criteria under that.
And then the other is atendency to have repetitive and
(23:23):
atypical behaviors, and thenthere's several things under
that and within each of thosetwo categories a child can be
level one, two or three, so youcan be a one in verbal
communication and a three thatyou don't have those repetitive
and atypical behaviors.
So it's different for everyone.
It's looking at the whole childand the whole family and what
(23:43):
that family needs as as, asopposed to some blanket, you
know descriptor that bucketskids into some list.
That really is not fair.
Like I said, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So um, back to your book.
Have you ever thought of it?
As I mean, I think a lot ofauthors may think of having it
made into a movie.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Well, I did just the book.
The audio book is now out andso that's kind of a theatrical
performance in itself.
I, the narrator, was fabulous,so if you're interested, I
highly recommend that you listento a portion of her narration.
I love audio books and actuallyI'm a finalist for an Indie Inc
(24:26):
Book Award for Best Audiobookof 2024.
So I find out in Septemberabout that.
But she did such a fabulous job.
But I think, yeah, I think allauthors you know hope that their
book is one day a movie, butI'm just honored that it's out
there in print.
I'm really excited that it'smore accessible to other people
because it is now also in anaudio book.
(24:48):
You can download it fromAudible and listen to a sample.
Again, the performance of thenarrator was just absolutely
stellar.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Who was it Her?
Speaker 2 (24:59):
name is Shaley Hannigan, so shout out to you,
shaylee, you did a fabulous job.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Nice, any other books in the works or in your mind at
least, that you know for you?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
to read.
Yes, actually, my colleagueTina Swartz, who is the founder
of Purcell Agency.
She and I have been doingwriting sprints on Thursdays
because as an agent yousometimes feel guilty, you know,
working on your own stuff asopposed to working on your
clients.
But it's also important to stayin that creative space, and so
we've been doing writing sprints.
So today we had a writingsprint so I worked for an hour
(25:31):
of my own work.
So my, my next novel is alsoissue driven if that's the term
that you kind of want to use forthese and it's also a girl
that's living in poverty.
It's loosely based on myfather's life growing up in the
projects of Southern Mississippi, but it's a female protagonist
and I'm really excited about it.
There's a found family ofbarbers that take this girl in,
(25:54):
and that's just been super fun.
So it's also got a little bitof a speculative element to it,
which is new for me.
There is a lake called a river,called the Singing River in
Pascagoula, mississippi, andthere's a little bit of a
folklore to that that I'mbringing into the to the novel
as well.
So that's been fun to do someresearch and kind of put myself
(26:16):
in the time period of when mydad was growing up, so super fun
put myself in the time periodof when my dad was growing up.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
So super fun, awesome Sounds great.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Do you have a favorite?
Speaker 1 (26:27):
book.
You know, I mean I'm sureyou've read millions.
Yes, you do.
You have a.
I mean a go to like, oh, you'vegot to read this book, not
something current, but like afavorite book.
Even if it's an old classic,you have a favorite book.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
This maybe makes me seem a little disturbed, but the
Awakening by Kate Chopin isprobably my favorite classic of
all time.
Well, my favorite young adultnovel that I've recently read is
written by a friend of mine.
It's called Old Palmetto Driveby SE Reid.
So good, I could not put itdown.
And it also takes place inFlorida, and she is also a
(26:57):
Florida Book Award winner for adifferent book, but it's so, so,
so good.
Just all the Florida vibes youwould want.
You know Four-Wheel Enthusiasm,everglades, and it's a sapphic
teen romance and I just lovedevery bit of it.
There's a little bit of athriller mystery element to it
as well, so really good Sweet.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Okay, great, I'm going to segue into a section
here and I'm going to give you acouple of choices.
You just tell me what yourpreference is, For instance
fiction or nonfiction.
I think I know the answer.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Fiction.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Boom, definitely Reading or writing.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Probably reading, Even though I love to write.
I do a lot more reading and Ifind joy helping improve other
people's work.
It's a lot harder.
It's a lot harder to createyour own words and help someone
else's get better understood um.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Should I whisper this dog or cat?
Speaker 2 (27:54):
absolutely dog.
You see her back there and shecute.
What's her name?
That's my sandy girl, so she'sa rescue pup and she has cute.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
What's her name?
Speaker 2 (27:58):
That's my Sandy girl.
So she's a rescue pup and shehas to be here because if she's
not, she'd be barking outsidethe door.
She's my little shadow.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yeah, she's chilling for sure Classic Pizza or pasta.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Oh, I heard you have an argument with a guest over
this, so I'm just going to doWell, you know the answer.
Then I'm going to say pasta.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Absolutely gotta go pasta I mean, I love pizza too,
but um beach or swimming pool um, I live in florida, but I'm
still gonna say swimming pool,because we boat a lot in the
ocean and if I can see thebottom I'm fine, but if I can't,
I am not getting in.
So I'd rather swim in a pooland boat in the ocean.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
All right, a little different spin.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Submarine or hot air balloon.
I'm a big old scaredy cat soI'd say neither if I can opt out
.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
That's a first on Papa Mews Opting out.
All right, no problem.
I mean, honestly, I'm going tohave to go hot air balloon
submarine.
I was in a submarine, oh wow,but not.
I mean, you know it was like amuseum, but it was a real
submarine.
I was like man, I'm notclaustrophobic but maybe I am.
It was weird.
(29:13):
Anyway, I mean really small.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Back when I was a child, there was 20,000 leagues
under the sea at Disney inOrlando.
It's not there anymore, but Iwas scared even going in that
ride um steak or lobster steak100.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Wow, snowstorm or rainstorm again.
Living in florida, I love ourrainstorms.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Okay, all right lunch date or dinner date?
I'm gonna go lunch date becausewhen my son's in school, my
husband and I can sneak out forlunch and not have to hire a
babysitter.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
There you go.
I thought I know the answeralready Audiobook or physical
book?
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Probably audio.
I don't know.
I love hearing performances.
I typically do both.
I'll have the book and theaudio book.
When I'm walking, I listen tothe audio.
When I'm in my house, I readthe book.
So I guess that would be kindof both.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
So, other than Google , where can the book be found?
I mean, is it in libraries orSome.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
I mean it depends If it's not in your local library
you can request it, butobviously on Amazon, uh, barnes
and Noble, um, you can go towilding, uh, publishing, wild
dash ink publishingcom, I thinkis the website.
You again, you can Google thatbut, my author website is www,
(30:35):
not Amy Nielsen.
N I E L S E N, authorcom andwriting resources for authors
that want to get across.
That finish line is probablywhere you're going to want to
start, but you can also see, Ido do some freelance editing.
I don't do fulls, I dofreelance editing for submission
packets.
So I'm talking about your query, your submission and like your
(30:57):
first 10 pages or full if it's apicture book, so I have that
service available as well.
As you know, I can coach peoplethrough making a book trailer
if that's something that theywant to do, and I highly
encourage you to do it.
I will be presenting thissummer at a conference on how
and why to make a book trailer.
So I just think that visualelement, like we talked about
(31:17):
earlier, is important for forreaders and for agents and
publishers to kind of see youknow what this would look like
if it's if, if we're watching itinstead of reading it.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
So Well, that sounds great.
I mean, go out there and getthis book.
I've been saving this for theend.
I'm sure it's worth it.
I said don't do it, don't do it, but I had to.
I had to list that out there.
Um, but, no, really, Iappreciate you taking time to
come on.
Uh, I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Thank you very much.
It was an honor to speak onyour podcast.
I've been a long-time listenerand listened to several of your
episodes, and so it was a joy tobe able to chat here, and
hopefully something that I'veshared will help another get
across the publishing line orsomeone that needs some
encouragement on how to becomeyour own hero by reading Worth
it.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Thank you very much.
You're listening to Unmutedwith Papa Mutes.
You're listening to Unmuted with Papa Mutes.
Hi, welcome to Papa Muteseverybody.
Today my guest is Amy Nielsen.
Amy is a librarian, an authorand a literary agent.
Her new book, worth it is onsale now.
Set in Central Florida in thelate 80s, worth it is the story
of courage, redemption and thepower of becoming your own hero.
Amy is also a lover of allthings autism.
(00:22):
I'm thrilled to have her on.
Amy, welcome to Pop and Mute.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
So before we get to the book, I think some people
might think they know.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
But what does a literary agent do Sure Well for
authors that are looking toscore a traditional publishing
deal so they would like to bepublished with a publisher that
only accepts agented manuscripts.
Basically, a literary agent iskind of like that bridge.
So authors query me with theirquery letter, their synopsis,
their first five pages of theirmanuscript, if it's a novel or a
(00:56):
full, if it's a picture book,and then if it's something that
I rep and I feel passionate thatI can sell, then I sign them as
a client and then I am able toopen that door to publishers
that otherwise would be closedto unagented authors.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Now I mean are you getting a wide range of, like,
people that have never writtenbefore and or people that have?
I mean, how do you weed out?
I mean, do you just say youknow what?
This is just not good enough.
I mean, do you?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Typically, agents open for submissions in a window
period.
So, for example, the first timethat I opened for submissions,
I received probably almost 848hours.
Yes, now I had done a lot ofadvertising about what I was
looking for.
I was looking to rep picturebooks, I was looking to rep YA,
(01:46):
and most agents have what'scalled a manuscript wishlist.
If you Google the agent's nameand manuscript wishlist then
that will come up and you cansee specifically what they're
looking for.
So I am currently closed forsubmissions right now, but when
I do open back up, I will belooking for thrillers and
specifically, if you look at mymanuscript wishlist, you can
(02:08):
look at what kind of thrillersthat I will be looking for.
I'm about to probably sign twomore picture book authors in the
next week or so, so my picturebook slots will be pretty full,
but it's really helping be thatbridge from author to being
published.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Well, you're the company again, correctly if I'm
mispronouncing it, purcell.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yes, the Purcell agency.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Now, where did they go?
Did they go to that website?
Did they go to your website?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Well, you're going to go to query your.
If you're an author, youprobably have query tracker,
which is where you're tracking,where you're sending your
queries to.
So that would be where youwould go to follow like when I'm
going to be open and hopefully,maybe in May or June I'm going
to open back up.
I had I was open for forThriller queries a couple months
(03:00):
ago and I had some great onesand there was one I really
wanted and he got four offers ofrepresentation really wanted
and he got four offers ofrepresentation and so he went
with the agent that had asimilar vision for his work that
he did.
So that was the one that gotaway.
So I am still looking forsomething in that space
specifically.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So there's competition.
In other words, they're notjust coming to you, they're
bouncing around.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Absolutely, and there are a ton of resources on my
website so I have polishing yoursubmission packet before
querying.
I have some self-editing guidesthat I've created specifically
on the things that I've seen insubmissions that could be
improved.
So I'd highly recommend authorscheck that out and really go
through your submission beforeyou start querying it, because
(03:43):
typically you don't get a secondchance to get in front of an
agent's eyes.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Now are you I think you said 800 hours or what have
you?
You're reading all thatyourself.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
No, Well, what you're reading is first the query, and
I have on my website thespecific structure that a query
should be in.
It's a very simple template,and so the agent's going to read
that and see is this somethingthat I'm repping?
Do I have something alreadythat's very similar to this?
Is this something that I'm notthe best agent for?
(04:12):
So I'm not the best agent forhigh concept fantasy or sci-fi,
and you know.
So that's kind of like the firstplace that you look and that's
where a lot of agents can justgo ahead and give quick passes.
And, trust me, if you're anauthor and an agent isn't the
right agent for you, you want aquick pass so you can move on.
And then at that point then ifit's something I'm looking for,
then I would look at thoseopening pages, just see is the
(04:34):
story starting in the rightplace?
What's the quality of the craftof writing on a line level?
And so you can typically tellthat in like a page or two, and
if the first couple of pagesdraw you in, then you keep
reading and eventually,hopefully, it pulls me in enough
that I request the full fromyou.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
So let's get to your book.
Worth it?
Not your first book, correct?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Correct.
It's my first novel.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
First novel.
Okay, I mean, in the age of theinternet, people can just
Google that and get the idea.
But for the sake of thispodcast, what is it about?
What made you want to writethis?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Sure.
Well, it all goes back to aletter, ironically enough, and I
was thinking about this todayprior to chatting with you.
So this book is inspired by mylived experience in the late 80s
as a teen that was homeless,then living in poverty,
eventually pregnant and with thehopes of a future looking very
(05:32):
bleak.
And that did change, obviously.
And that baby that I had is nowa 37-year-old, board-certified
elder law attorney in the stateof Florida, and I had a 20-plus
year career as an educator, as amedia specialist and television
production teacher and now as aliterary agent.
But the genesis comes back tojust.
(05:53):
The genesis of any story to meis always so fascinating.
But I had never planned towrite this story.
My daughter was home fromcollege, she was 19.
It was 2007.
And she's like hey, mom, I'mgoing to go out with some
friends tonight.
And I'm like cool, see you atmidnight.
And she's like what?
And I'm like yeah, I'll see youat midnight.
(06:15):
And she was appalled that I hadthe audacity to impose a curfew
on her at 19.
And I said I can't sleep untilI know that you're home safe and
so you need to be home bymidnight.
And reluctantly she agreed.
But after that when she left Igot to thinking that there was
so much about my life that I hadnot shared with her Most of it,
(06:37):
because it wasn't ageappropriate at the time for her
to know some of the traumaticthings that her biological
father had been privy to in mylife.
And but I'm like it's time forher to know.
And so I wrote her a two pageletter kind of detailing some of
that, skimming over some of theugliest parts, but at least
hinting that they were there,because my goal was for her to
(07:00):
understand why I was such an aparent that cared and wanted to
know, wanted to put things inplace to keep my daughter safe,
because there was no one when Iwas 17, 18, 19 doing anything to
keep me safe.
And so I wrote that letter twopages, and then I put a cover
letter on it, cause I'm like Idon't want her to cold read this
and not have a clue.
She needs to have a decision,kind of like a content note and
(07:22):
a query.
So I actually still have thatletter.
It's right here.
I won't bother reading it toyou, but it reminds me of why I
wrote this.
And so I snuck it in herbackpack and the next day she
drove back to college and calledme, crying and saying I had no
idea, thank you for sharing thiswith me, and we've pretty much
been best friends ever since.
(07:44):
So after that I decided toexpand because the emotion that
she felt from that.
I thought maybe there are othergirls out there that need to
hear this type of message thatyou know, you can triumph over
challenge and you can change thecourse of your life.
You're not defined by thismoment in time.
And so I started it.
(08:06):
I started pinning it in mylibrary behind my circulation
desk as memoir, but it justwasn't landing for me as memoir
for many, many, many reasons.
So what I did and I call thisfictionalizing your past trauma
is that you know turn it into afictional story that you get to.
(08:27):
You know be, be behind thesteering wheel of what happens
to these characters, andespecially if the bad guy
doesn't get what they deserve,then you can make sure they do
how much of it is um, what's theword dramatizer, not dramatized
?
Speaker 1 (08:44):
um, I mean, it's about your story, so to speak,
but is there any uh added, uhdrama that just for the sake of
storytelling?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
absolutely so.
I am a big fan of the save thecat story structure.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
If you're not familiar with that, it's oh yeah
, I got it right there right alot of authors aren't, um.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
But once I started digging into the craft of
writing on a line level andstructurally, I really felt like
that was the best format for meto use the best structure.
So I started deconstructing thememoir I'm putting into that
and, organically, there werecharacters that had to disappear
, there were characters I had tocombine, there were elements of
(09:25):
story structure that weren'tpresent in my memoir because it
just didn't happen that way.
And one of the biggest thingsthat I did was in my real lived
experience I was in that.
Can you say bad words on thisshow?
I was in that hellhole for fiveyears and I didn't want that to
be my main character's journey.
(09:45):
I wanted her to come to therealization that she was worth
more, much quicker than I did inmy real life, and so I really
tightened the structure, whichhelped with the pacing etc.
And the story takes place inthe late 80s, after in Central
Florida, after the aftermath ofback to back citrus freezes, or
(10:06):
freezes that crippled the citrusindustry and sent this small
town into economic just you knowturmoil and that's true, and so
that's kind of the backdropthat this family begins to just
implode because you know theywent, they moved to this town to
be part of the booming citrusindustry and then now you know,
within a couple of years, it'sgone and so the whole town was
(10:29):
basically in turmoil.
But we really hyper focus onthis one girl's experience and
how, eventually, you know, she,she climbs out of that is like
how much is the emotion?
Every emotion is a hundredpercent real.
There are some characters that,like I said, that had to
disappear for story structure,and some characters that had
(10:50):
that I combined, et cetera.
But I think when you really honein on a story structure, it
helps you make those decisions.
And also, if you have a storythat you want to tell and you're
concerned about, memoir is atough sell.
I know I listened to yourinterview with Amanda Quick,
which was fascinating, um, andyou know, but most of us don't
(11:14):
have that big of a story to tell, even though it's a big to us,
and so without a huge platformor you know things like that, I
have one memoirs that I rep, butit's a tough sell to get memoir
out there.
Um, and also there are somelegalities involved that I did
not want to have to worry aboutso I could change character
(11:34):
names and places and you knowthat sort of thing and and
actually kind of fictionalizethis part of my life that I
don't regret because it made mewho I am today.
But I could wrap it up infiction and kind of put that
piece of my life a little bitdistant yeah now, what uh?
Speaker 1 (11:55):
what uh genre?
I mean young adult, or how howwould it fall under?
Speaker 2 (11:59):
I mean, anybody could read I'm assuming, yeah, it
would be young adult sub-genre.
You could classify it ashistorical issue driven, um, a
little bit of a thriller elementin there, uh, but but young
adult is definitely the agerange.
Most of the readers have beenadult and I'm excited, actually,
because next month I'm going tobe presenting in the hometown
(12:22):
where this story takes place,which I did fictionalize the
hometown, but it's still thehometown so that's going to be
super fun to kind of go backwhere where I grew up and where
I was a librarian in that publicschool for many, many, many
years, and so that's going to befun.
Because there is some, eventhough it is a story of a
(12:43):
challenging time in this younggirl's life, there are a lot of
positives and one of the thingsthat I really tried to highlight
was the people in the communitythat were encouraging, even
though this main character didnot believe a lot of their
encouraging words at the timeand it's sometimes it was
strangers drifting in and out ofher life giving her encouraging
(13:05):
words and eventually shebelieves them and so I.
There's back matter in the novel.
There's a, there's an author'snote to the teens in the room
and it's kind of geared towardthe teens that are in crisis and
don't wait as long as this maincharacter did to reach out to
someone for help.
And it's to the teens thataren't in crisis, that have
(13:25):
loving and supportive families,to how to be a good friend to
someone who needs you to be agood friend.
That may be a teen in crisis.
And then the biggest note isthe note to the adults in the
room and our responsibility aseducators, as parents, as
community members, to uplift themost vulnerable of us all, even
if that's just a kind word andsaying that you're worth more
(13:46):
than the situation that you'rein, and I have faith in you.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Now the town.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Can you tell us the town, or yeah, it's based on the
fictional town of Umatilla,florida, which is in central
Florida.
In the story I call it NorthLake.
Umatilla is called like theNorth Lake.
It is the, I think, mostnorthern city in Lake County,
florida and it is a very, very,very small town that was home to
(14:10):
a booming citrus industry inthe 70s and 80s and probably
even prior to that, and a citrusplant that most families had
someone that worked at, and somy family moved there to be part
of that industry.
My father had been in thechemical industry, which was
dangerous, and so we went to bepart of the citrus industry with
my grandparents and again,back-to-back freezes kind of
(14:33):
crippled that, and so our ownfamily was thrust into poverty,
like many other families in thatarea.
And so there is some historicalbackground information and I
don't try to weigh heavy intothat, as this is intended for a
young adult audience and I alsodon't weigh heavy into the pop
culture, so it feels a littlemore accessible to teen readers
(14:58):
and I've had a lot of parentsreach out to me and say this is
a book that I think every teenshould read, just because a lot
of the messages are so universal, especially even in, you know,
for teens today.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Sure, Now you actually recently I believe the
beginning of this month won anaward, right, Tell us about that
.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yes, I did the Florida State Book Award, which
is very exciting.
There's the sticker.
So I came in bronze in the youngadult category and there was a
ceremony in Tallahassee I got toattend and the book award is
sponsored by Florida StateUniversity and so recognizing,
you know, Florida literaturethat has excelled and made a
(15:41):
difference in people's lives,and so that was quite an honor
and you know to know that thatwork is out there.
I've also partnered with acouple of local nonprofits.
One is Hillsborough TeensConnect, which is a nonprofit
that has teen navigators thatanswer the phone to teens in
crisis and help point them toresources, and another is called
(16:03):
YA by the Bay.
That is a young adultliterature conference where we
present authors come from acrossthe country and agents as well,
and we are accessible to teensand we teach them how to become
the authors of their own lifethrough the stories that we have
written and workshops and thatwill be taking place in
September in Tampa Bay and it'sfree to teens and then we open
(16:26):
to the public one day as well.
I got to meet and hang out withRL Stein there the last time,
which was quite cool.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Wow, cool.
Now I know on your website, Ibelieve or maybe it's the
Purcell, I'm saying that right,you do book trailers.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yes, so I.
I was a media specialist, slashlibrarian for 20 years and one
of the other things that I didwas I taught television
production, and one of the oneof the assignments I would
always have my students do is ingroups, they would pick a book
and read together like a bookclub and then make a book
trailer for it.
So that's one of the thingsthat I've continued to do for
authors is help create booktrailers.
(17:03):
I really enjoy still dipping mytoes into the technology aspect
of what I used to do when I wasworking at the school, and so I
do those freelance for authorsOn my website.
I've got several examples and Ido of a.
A lot of people on Tik TOK aredoing an amazing trailers of
their own, but I do more of aYouTube style traditional type
(17:25):
trailer that you would see, asopposed to these other younger
creatives that you know aredoing such a great job over on
Tik TOK and book talk.
But but yeah, I love.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, I watched a couple and they're very good.
It's a great idea.
I mean I, yeah, good, it's agreat idea.
I mean, um, I, yeah, it's like.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
It's like I mean a movie trailer for a book, yeah,
basically, well, I think um, Ido a presentation on this as
well, on how to make, why youshould and how to make a book
trailer for your book.
I think it's on my website forfree.
You can watch it, but up to 80of internet consumption is video
, so if you are even a queryingauthor it, it can be an
excellent tool in your queryingtoolbox to have a link and an
(18:04):
email to an editor or on yourwebsite for a trailer that they
can watch.
Actually, the publisher that Iam published with watched my
trailer and then was interestedin reading my query and opening
pages and then was interested inreading my query and opening
pages.
So visuals can have a hugeimpact on you getting over
across that finish line.
A lot of people on Twitter domood boards and things like that
(18:27):
.
That's another good thing to do, but just giving a visual
aspect to your work can reallyhelp you across that finish line
.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Who is your publisher ?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Wild Ink Publishing.
They're amazing.
They're a small press and Ihave really enjoyed working with
Wild Ink so they've beenphenomenal.
So I published without an agentand then became an agent, so
there are many paths topublication.
And you mentioned that I'm alover of all things autism.
My youngest son is autistic andI, despite rhetoric going on
(19:03):
around about autism right now,wouldn't change a thing about
him if I could.
And I do have two bookspublished through Wild Inc as
well.
One is a picture book calledGoldilocks and the Three Bears,
understanding Autism SpectrumDisorder.
So, if you didn't know,goldilocks is autistic.
She has eloped from her home.
She doesn't understand socialnorms and goes into someone's
(19:23):
house without knocking.
She has sensory sensitivitiesto temperature, texture, taste.
So it took a lot of thequalities that a person on the
autism spectrum might exhibitand gave more of those to
Goldilocks.
And it also has a discussionguide to use with neurotypical
children to help them understandtheir autistic peers, friends
and neighbors, and also aglossary of terms, and I did
(19:44):
work with a special educationteacher to create that.
And then I have anothernonfiction about autism called
it Takes a Village how to Builda Support System for your
Exceptional Needs Family, andthat is basically a guide to
help families in the beginningstages of the diagnosis navigate
how to build a support systemand what that can look like.
(20:05):
Even if you feel like you don'thave a support system, it's a
step-by-step guide to help youbuild one, because there are
people out there that want to bea part of your support system.
You just may not have foundthem yet.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
So I mean, I'm sure there are a ton of to this
question, but what is one of themisconceptions that people that
don't deal with autistic people?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
I think and this is a timely example, I think the
difference between speaking andnon-speaking.
A lot of times non-speakingautistic individuals are labeled
as low functioning, when thatis absolutely not the truth.
Many of our non-speakers in theautism community are artists,
writers, musicians, veryintellectual, and many of our
speakers struggle the most withsocial, emotional, development,
(20:50):
sensory sensitivities, etc.
So I think that's a commonmisconception the phrase has
been used and I do not likefunctioning terms at all but
that high functioning autismignores my struggles while low
functioning autism ignores mystrengths.
And so I think you know,looking at the autistic
individual as a whole, my son is10, he is speaking.
(21:12):
There was a time that he wasnon speaking, but that really
didn't.
That wasn't the biggest issuethat we had.
The biggest issue was otherthings.
And he is doing great now afteryears and years and years and
years and years and years oftherapy and decisions and
special education and doing whatour providers told us to do and
(21:36):
listening to people that wetrusted.
You know, told us to do andlistening to the people that we
trusted and actually he just hada physical today and he was
struggling in a lot of areas.
Even autism can become, canaffect your physical body as
well in a lot of different ways.
And so last year he was havingsome issues with that and today
(21:56):
he got a clean bill of healthand he was so excited with that.
And today he got a clean billof health and he was so excited.
But and autism is?
I interviewed a woman from afortune 500 company who her goal
is to recruit autisticindividuals into their company,
and one of the things that sheand I discussed and she had done
a lot of research about autismand is an expert in the field is
(22:21):
that there is a growing theorythat being autistic is a normal
part of the human genome, sothat there are going to be,
naturally, people with differentdeveloped brains, and that it's
not a disease, that it is justa normal part of human
development, that some peoplewill be born on the spectrum and
(22:42):
some people won't, and thatdoesn't mean that it's not easy,
it doesn't mean that it's notdifficult, because it is, but my
son has brought nothing but joyinto our family.
Even in the most difficult ofmoments, there are those special
moments that just don't existoutside of that.
According to the DSM-5, which isthe Diagnostic and Statistic
(23:03):
Manual that diagnoses mentalhealth disorders.
Autism is marked by twospecific things.
One is a struggle in social orverbal and nonverbal
communication, and then there'smany criteria under that.
And then the other is atendency to have repetitive and
(23:23):
atypical behaviors, and thenthere's several things under
that and within each of thosetwo categories a child can be
level one, two or three, so youcan be a one in verbal
communication and a three thatyou don't have those repetitive
and atypical behaviors.
So it's different for everyone.
It's looking at the whole childand the whole family and what
(23:43):
that family needs as as, asopposed to some blanket, you
know descriptor that bucketskids into some list.
That really is not fair.
Like I said, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So um, back to your book.
Have you ever thought of it?
As I mean, I think a lot ofauthors may think of having it
made into a movie.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Well, I did just the book.
The audio book is now out andso that's kind of a theatrical
performance in itself.
I, the narrator, was fabulous,so if you're interested, I
highly recommend that you listento a portion of her narration.
I love audio books and actuallyI'm a finalist for an Indie Inc
(24:26):
Book Award for Best Audiobookof 2024.
So I find out in Septemberabout that.
But she did such a fabulous job.
But I think, yeah, I think allauthors you know hope that their
book is one day a movie, butI'm just honored that it's out
there in print.
I'm really excited that it'smore accessible to other people
because it is now also in anaudio book.
(24:48):
You can download it fromAudible and listen to a sample.
Again, the performance of thenarrator was just absolutely
stellar.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Who was it Her?
Speaker 2 (24:59):
name is Shaley Hannigan, so shout out to you,
shaylee, you did a fabulous job.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Nice, any other books in the works or in your mind at
least, that you know for you?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
to read.
Yes, actually, my colleagueTina Swartz, who is the founder
of Purcell Agency.
She and I have been doingwriting sprints on Thursdays
because as an agent yousometimes feel guilty, you know,
working on your own stuff asopposed to working on your
clients.
But it's also important to stayin that creative space, and so
we've been doing writing sprints.
So today we had a writingsprint so I worked for an hour
(25:31):
of my own work.
So my, my next novel is alsoissue driven if that's the term
that you kind of want to use forthese and it's also a girl
that's living in poverty.
It's loosely based on myfather's life growing up in the
projects of Southern Mississippi, but it's a female protagonist
and I'm really excited about it.
There's a found family ofbarbers that take this girl in,
(25:54):
and that's just been super fun.
So it's also got a little bitof a speculative element to it,
which is new for me.
There is a lake called a river,called the Singing River in
Pascagoula, mississippi, andthere's a little bit of a
folklore to that that I'mbringing into the to the novel
as well.
So that's been fun to do someresearch and kind of put myself
(26:16):
in the time period of when mydad was growing up, so super fun
put myself in the time periodof when my dad was growing up.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
So super fun, awesome Sounds great.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Do you have a favorite?
Speaker 1 (26:27):
book.
You know, I mean I'm sureyou've read millions.
Yes, you do.
You have a.
I mean a go to like, oh, you'vegot to read this book, not
something current, but like afavorite book.
Even if it's an old classic,you have a favorite book.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
This maybe makes me seem a little disturbed, but the
Awakening by Kate Chopin isprobably my favorite classic of
all time.
Well, my favorite young adultnovel that I've recently read is
written by a friend of mine.
It's called Old Palmetto Driveby SE Reid.
So good, I could not put itdown.
And it also takes place inFlorida, and she is also a
(26:57):
Florida Book Award winner for adifferent book, but it's so, so,
so good.
Just all the Florida vibes youwould want.
You know Four-Wheel Enthusiasm,everglades, and it's a sapphic
teen romance and I just lovedevery bit of it.
There's a little bit of athriller mystery element to it
as well, so really good Sweet.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Okay, great, I'm going to segue into a section
here and I'm going to give you acouple of choices.
You just tell me what yourpreference is, For instance
fiction or nonfiction.
I think I know the answer.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Fiction.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Boom, definitely Reading or writing.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Probably reading, Even though I love to write.
I do a lot more reading and Ifind joy helping improve other
people's work.
It's a lot harder.
It's a lot harder to createyour own words and help someone
else's get better understood um.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Should I whisper this dog or cat?
Speaker 2 (27:54):
absolutely dog.
You see her back there and shecute.
What's her name?
That's my sandy girl, so she'sa rescue pup and she has cute.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
What's her name?
Speaker 2 (27:58):
That's my Sandy girl.
So she's a rescue pup and shehas to be here because if she's
not, she'd be barking outsidethe door.
She's my little shadow.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yeah, she's chilling for sure Classic Pizza or pasta.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Oh, I heard you have an argument with a guest over
this, so I'm just going to doWell, you know the answer.
Then I'm going to say pasta.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Absolutely gotta go pasta I mean, I love pizza too,
but um beach or swimming pool um, I live in florida, but I'm
still gonna say swimming pool,because we boat a lot in the
ocean and if I can see thebottom I'm fine, but if I can't,
I am not getting in.
So I'd rather swim in a pooland boat in the ocean.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
All right, a little different spin.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Submarine or hot air balloon.
I'm a big old scaredy cat soI'd say neither if I can opt out
.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
That's a first on Papa Mews Opting out.
All right, no problem.
I mean, honestly, I'm going tohave to go hot air balloon
submarine.
I was in a submarine, oh wow,but not.
I mean, you know it was like amuseum, but it was a real
submarine.
I was like man, I'm notclaustrophobic but maybe I am.
It was weird.
(29:13):
Anyway, I mean really small.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Back when I was a child, there was 20,000 leagues
under the sea at Disney inOrlando.
It's not there anymore, but Iwas scared even going in that
ride um steak or lobster steak100.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Wow, snowstorm or rainstorm again.
Living in florida, I love ourrainstorms.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Okay, all right lunch date or dinner date?
I'm gonna go lunch date becausewhen my son's in school, my
husband and I can sneak out forlunch and not have to hire a
babysitter.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
There you go.
I thought I know the answeralready Audiobook or physical
book?
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Probably audio.
I don't know.
I love hearing performances.
I typically do both.
I'll have the book and theaudio book.
When I'm walking, I listen tothe audio.
When I'm in my house, I readthe book.
So I guess that would be kindof both.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
So, other than Google , where can the book be found?
I mean, is it in libraries orSome.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
I mean it depends If it's not in your local library
you can request it, butobviously on Amazon, uh, barnes
and Noble, um, you can go towilding, uh, publishing, wild
dash ink publishingcom, I thinkis the website.
You again, you can Google thatbut, my author website is www,
(30:35):
not Amy Nielsen.
N I E L S E N, authorcom andwriting resources for authors
that want to get across.
That finish line is probablywhere you're going to want to
start, but you can also see, Ido do some freelance editing.
I don't do fulls, I dofreelance editing for submission
packets.
So I'm talking about your query, your submission and like your
(30:57):
first 10 pages or full if it's apicture book, so I have that
service available as well.
As you know, I can coach peoplethrough making a book trailer
if that's something that theywant to do, and I highly
encourage you to do it.
I will be presenting thissummer at a conference on how
and why to make a book trailer.
So I just think that visualelement, like we talked about
(31:17):
earlier, is important for forreaders and for agents and
publishers to kind of see youknow what this would look like
if it's if, if we're watching itinstead of reading it.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
So Well, that sounds great.
I mean, go out there and getthis book.
I've been saving this for theend.
I'm sure it's worth it.
I said don't do it, don't do it, but I had to.
I had to list that out there.
Um, but, no, really, Iappreciate you taking time to
come on.
Uh, I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Thank you very much.
It was an honor to speak onyour podcast.
I've been a long-time listenerand listened to several of your
episodes, and so it was a joy tobe able to chat here, and
hopefully something that I'veshared will help another get
across the publishing line orsomeone that needs some
encouragement on how to becomeyour own hero by reading Worth
it.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Thank you very much.
You're listening to Unmutedwith Papa Mutes.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!