Writers With Wrinkles
Writers With Wrinkles
Beth McMullen and Lisa Schmid
10 Years of Rejection, 40 Books Later (Corrected Audio!)
44 minutes Posted Aug 3, 2026 at 7:00 pm.
– Welcome Wendelin Van Draanen & the Ghosted Cover Reveal
– The Book Festival Disaster Both Authors Survived
– 40 Books in 30 Years: How Many Is That, Really?
– How Long It Actually Takes to Write a Novel
– The Sammy Keyes Origin Story: 4 Books Before a Yes
– Meeting the Editor Who Finally Said Yes
– Growing Up With Sammy: The Month-Per-Book Structure
– Writing Flipped in Secret Between Sammy Keyes Deadlines
– From Shredder Man to Rob Reiner: Hollywood Comes Calling
– The Call From Rob Reiner About Flipped
– Fighting for (and Losing) the Kiss at the End of Flipped
– Thirty Years With One Editor: Why She Never Left Knopf
– The Limousine Advice She Ignored
– Hope in the Mail: Writing the Book on Persistence
– Closing Thoughts & Ghosted Pre-Order
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Note: If you downloaded this episode before 8/3 and experienced audio issues, please delete the download and hit re-download to grab the clean audio file! Wendelin Van Draanen spent 10 years collecting rejections before anyone said yes to her Sammy Keyes mystery series — she just kept writing the next one anyway. Now, 40 books and 30 years later, she's still with the same editor who finally did. If you've ever wondered whether to keep pitching a project nobody wants yet, or whether staying ...