Jessica Tom shares the story of writing her debut novel Food Whore while maintaining a full-time job, how she discovered her One Thing was fiction writing + food, and how you can discover yours.
Jessica is the author Food Whore: A Novel of Dining and Deceit, launched October 2015 and acquired by DreamWorks two months later. Jessica graduated from Yale University and lives in Brooklyn.
Episode Highlights
• 1:58 – The importance of bringing your full personality to the table (Jessica explains that the older she got, the more she realized being “weird” is an asset)
• 4:45 – How to get clear about what you want to do faster and avoid the paralysis of the gifted
• 7:52 – Jessica digs into the top 3 things to understand if you want to write professionally
• 9:00 – How Jessica discovered her Thing was fiction writing and food – and how you can discover yours
• 9:30 – How Jessica wrote her debut novel Food Whore as a side hustle while maintaining a full time job
10:25 – How she used her day job to hone her writing, branding and PR skills; all things essential to launching her book.
• 14:00 – Why authors today must take the reigns for marketing their book.
• 20:58 – Literary agents want to find good writers, but you have to make it easy for them – here’s how
• 24:56 – Why being more exact with the words we use can make us happier
• 26:00 – What you need to know before getting on a TV show
• 35:00 – No overnight success: Food Whore launches October 2015 and gets picked up by DreamWorks in December (6 years, rounds of rejections and three rewrites later)
• Related: Get my free 22-page e-book: Natural Attraction: 9 Rules to Attract the Right Man by Being Yourself with No Games or Gimmicks
1. Favorite book for women?
- Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office by Dr. Lois Frankel
2. Favorite self-care hack?
- Watching “The Great British Bake Off”
3. Best piece of advice and who gave it to you?
- “Whatever you write, your true self is going to come out. Don’t even bother trying to be someone else.” (Amy Bloom – her writing professor at Yale)
4. Female CEO or thought leader you’re into right now?
5. One piece of advice you’d give your 5 years younger self?
- “Keep your eye on the prize and hard work pays off”
Resources and People Mentioned
• Jessica’s website, Twitter and Instagram
• Publishers Marketplace
