Get Yourself a Mentor ... But You Can't Have Mine!
Newsletter Issue #64
I still have every email Jaime Parker Stickle has ever sent me, beginning with her first email to me on May 8, 2019. That was the day I realized I hadn’t been assigned a mentor for my MFA program and badly needed one—I had questions! I reached out to the program director, and he responded quickly: “So, Leanne, now that you’re practically done with the quarter, may I introduce you to your brand new mentor, Jaime.” The director had put out an urgent call for someone to mentor a new student, and Jaime had stepped up, immediately and without hesitation. As I’ve since learned, that is so Jaime.
Jaime was generous from the very beginning, not only with her time, but with her heart and her spirit. “I’m happy to answer any questions you have,” she wrote in her first email to me, “and I’m happy to listen to anything you need to get off your chest/cry/yell/or scream with glee about.” Jaime has been listening to me get things off my chest, cry, yell, and scream with glee about things for going on six years now.
I truly don’t know what I would have done without her. My first residency, she took me under her wing and let me hang out with her anywhere and everywhere she went. She gave me her phone number. She invited me to have breakfasts, lunches, and dinners with her and her friends while I slowly made friends with the students in my own cohort. She offered me advice, tips, and tricks (“Bring layers. While it is HOT outside, inside they keep it ARCTIC. I mean COLD”). She was right. They don’t call the UC Riverside Palm Desert Low-Residency MFA “The Hottest MFA” for nothing—the highs in Palm Springs in June are anywhere from 102 to 112 degrees or so. But thanks to Jaime, I brought sweaters to wear indoors, where it was freezing!
May 8th will be the six-year anniversary of my mentor/mentee relationship with Jaime. I still look up to her and ask for her advice. But over the intervening years, we’ve become more than mentor and mentee—we’ve become friends. I’ve watched with pride as Jaime graduated a year ahead of me and went out into the world. Jaime is the hardest-working woman in show business, in writing, in podcasting … you name it. In the relatively short time I’ve known her, Jaime has:
Launched three successful podcasts (Make That Paper, the true crime podcast The Girl With the Same Name, and recently Soul Cards and Connection);
Written screenplays (including an adaptation of Deanne Stillman’s Twentynine Palms: A True Story of Murder, Marines, and the Mojave which is currently out on submission);
Become a college professor teaching L.A. Media Studies, Podcasting, and Creative Writing;
Worked her butt off writing, rewriting, and editing her first novel;
Secured a badass literary agent; and
Landed a publishing deal with Thomas and Mercer for her debut novel, a thriller called Vicious Cycle that comes out in October of this year.
Jaime is currently hard at work on her second novel. And yet, she always seems to have plenty of time for me, for her family, and for all of her friends. She always answers my texts. She calls to check on me if we haven’t spoken in a while. When I asked her to come up to San Luis Obispo in November to speak about podcasting, she didn’t hesitate to say yes. I’ve met very few people who are this busy and who still manage to value and protect their relationships with such energy and devotion. She’s been a good friend to me, and she’s inspired me to try to be a better friend to others. I was blessed on that day six years ago when our MFA program director put out the call and Jaime answered.
“A former reporter gets a new spin on life in this gripping debut
from author Jaime Parker Stickle, whose psychological roller-coaster
ride set in sunny Los Angeles tackles motherhood and murder.”
—Logline for Vicious Cycle
Why am I sharing all of this with you? For two reasons, really. First, I’m super proud of Jaime, and I want you to preorder a copy of her book. I had the opportunity to read it during the revision process, and I’m so excited for all of you to read it, too. But second, thinking about Jaime got me thinking about the value of having a mentor, being a mentor, and making friends with other writers. I haven’t been able to get that thought out of my head lately, and so when I sat down to write last night, I decided I wanted to tell you about my friend and mentor Jaime.
Get yourself a friend like Jaime. Be a friend like Jaime. Gather your tribe. And your squad. You’ll be so glad you did, and your life and your writing and your career will be all the better for it.
XOXO
Leanne
P.S. Preorders are a great way to support writers because they generate advance buzz and let bookstores and libraries know how many copies to order. If you’d like to preorder Jaime’s book, it’s available everywhere, including Amazon and Bookshop.org. And if you’re in the neighborhood, you can come to SLO on November 11th and ask her to sign it!
“I don’t think you have time to waste not writing because
you are afraid you won’t be good enough at it ….”
—Anne Lamott
NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
RETREAT BY KRYSTEN RITTER WITH LINDSAY JAMIESON
My friend Lindsay Jamieson collaborated with Krysten Ritter on her New York Times bestselling novel Retreat! You may know Ritter as the Marvel character Jessica Jones from the Netflix TV series of the same name or as Jesse Pinkham’s ill-fated girlfriend Jane from Breaking Bad. “Lindsay elevated the project so much,” Ritter told the LA Times. “[S]he had big ideas and helped make it bigger and better than I could have done on my own. She’s also so fast and so smart, and our tastes really clicked.” You may know Lindsay as a superstar author, screenwriter, and editor in her own right who happened to be my dear friend Anna’s mentor at UCR Palm Desert. Big congratulations, Lindsay!
WRITING WHILE YOU WAIT: How publishing short pieces can help build an author platform and a loyal fan base before you get a book deal.
Like it or not, every writer has a brand. This session will teach you how to find your readers, build your fan base, and create your writing portfolio with book reviews, short stories, and essays. We’ll discuss the ins and outs of submitting your work, from finding the right markets for your work to technology to good manners.
Note: This session is part of the SLO NightWriters Spring Half-Day Writing Workshop on May 3rd. The session will be followed by Brenna Humphreys’ session on Building a Better Critique Group, a generative writing session, and a workshopping session. The cost is $25 for SLO NightWriters members and $50 for nonmembers and includes coffee and a contentinental breakfast with patries from Pardon My French bakery! For more information and to register, visit SLONightWriters.org. I hope you’ll join us!
GOLDEN QUILL WRITING CONTEST
The Golden Quill Writing Contest is now open for entries in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The contest is a fundraiser for SLO NightWriters, a nonprofit organization with a mission of nurturing the writing community. They’ve got great judges for Fiction: Juliet McDaniel, the author of Mr. and Mrs. American Pie, the novel upon which the hit Apple+ TV series Palm Royale is based; Nonfiction: Deanne Stillman, the author of Blood Brothers, Desert Reckoning, Mustang, Twentynine Palms, and American Confidential; and Poetry: Caleb Nichols, the current San Luis Obispo County Poet Laureate and author of Teems///\\Recedes. And they’ve got great prizes! The winners in each category will receive a cash prize (1st place: $350, 2nd place: $150, and 3rd place: $50), as well as publication in the 2025 issue of The NightWriter Review.
CENTRAL COAST WRITERS’ CONFERENCE
Please join me at the Central Coast Writers’ Conference, September 26th & 27th, in sunny San Luis Obispo, California! I’ll be on a panel with my friends Brenna Humphreys and M. Golda Turner, where we’ll discuss how finding your readers and your tribe will level up your writing career. I’ll also be presenting two sessions: one on creating your author brand and building your platform with publishing credits and one on funding your writing career with grants, fellowships, and residencies.
“Cram your head with characters and stories. Abuse your library privileges.
Never stop looking at the world, and never stop reading to find out
what sense other people have made of it. If people give you a hard time
and tell you to get your nose out of a book, tell them you’re working.
Tell them it’s research. Tell them to pipe down and leave you alone.”
—Jennifer Weiner
SOME THINGS FOR READERS
Mother-Daughter Relationships: How Close Is Too Close?
(Megan Cahn for jenny)
Fences and Neighbors: A writer and real estate agent grieves her neighborhood in the wake of a California wildfire
(Betty-Jo Tilley for Opposite of Nihilism)
Twelve Bible Stories in Need of Revision
(Paul Crenshaw for Melt With Me)
The Danger of Befriending Celebrities
(Michael Musto for Oldster)
The Secret Language We Share with Our Children
(Chantal Braganza for The Walrus)
“I haven’t had trouble with writer’s block. I think it’s because my process involves writing very badly. My first drafts are filled with lurching, clichéd writing, outright flailing around. Writing that doesn’t have a good voice or any voice. But then there will be good moments. It seems writer’s block is often a dislike of writing badly and waiting for writing better to happen.”
—Jennifer Eagan
SOME THINGS FOR WRITERS
5 Tips on Pursuing Your Writing While Holding Down a 9-to-5 Job
(Caroline Wolff for Writer’s Digest)
6 Tips for Writing a Book When Your Life Is Full to Bursting
(Sally Chaffin Brooks for Writer’s Digest)
What Does It Mean to Be a “Good Author” When You Publish a Book?
(Maris Kreizman for Lit Hub)
University of Missouri Libraries Prices and Wages by Decade
Do you want to know how much a blacksmith made in San Francisco in 1874? Or how much a gallon of gas cost in 1975? I found this cool resource that lists the prices of things (even by state) and wages for various occupations (even by state, race, and sex) for every decade from Colonial Times to the present!
“Sometimes when I’m stuck, I really do need that cup of tea, or that
chocolate, or a break, or a walk, but in most cases what I actually
need to do is make myself keep writing until it flows again.”
—Liane Moriarty
SOME THINGS TO MAKE YOU SMILE
Leanne Phillips
Writer | Book Coach | Editor
leannephillips.com
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