Joni Pope

Wooo! Congratulations! 🎉

Hey, they said they weren’t going to update the game anymore and…changed their minds? 😱 I don’t care, I’m going to dust off my island and get ready for it, yay! 😉❤️

This looks like Pokémon meets Animal Crossing…shut up and take my money! 😍

That sounds like fun! 🤩 My daughter has watched it like six times already 😂

I just watched K-Pop Demon Hunters and enjoyed it way more than I thought I would! 😜😉😃

I’d love to friend any current or future students in the program 😊 Add me, private message me, it would be great to hear from you!

I will still be working towards querying, etc, but my priority for a while will be school and improving in my craft and confidence 💪🏻😜

So…after spending several years contemplating going to grad school, I researched my options, degrees, and programs. I got accepted into my #1 choice, Hamline MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults!!!!! 🎉 If all goes well, I will start in January and I’m excited! (Also nervous and scared, lol!)

I spent a few days writing a query letter for one of my books and I’m decently pleased with my progress. Not sure I will actually query again anytime soon but it’s nice to keep thinking in that direction 😊

Why should I write better when a machine can do it for me? Because actually no one can do it for you, because your voice is unique among all the people on earth. Siri never petted a horse's neck. Alexa has never been ghosted by the captain of the football team. But you have lived, your heart is beating, you have suffered, and you have something important to say. It's a human's job, to use words, and whatever job you give to a machine, that part of your brain goes dark. Maybe it's worth it when it comes to remembering phone numbers and directions, but when that part of your brain that uses words goes dark, that's a vast area that's very close to your soul. Don't let some internet platform convince you that what you have to say and create isn't worthwhile. Words are the echo of your soul. Honing that echo matters.

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

I was accepted into a grad school program!!!!!! 🥹😄❤️

More details next week… 😉

#BookSky

Quote: “Healing is so hard because it’s a constant battle between your inner child, who’s scared and just wants safety, your inner teenager, who’s angry and just wants justice, and your adult self, who is tired and just wants peace. Be gentle with yourself.”

Not sure who to credit this quote to but it hits true ❤️‍🩹

I’m good, thanks! I kinda stepped back from social media this year but I’m trying to be more active here 😊

After putting up with pain in my foot so a few weeks, I finally went to the doctor and learned I have a stress fracture. He wants me to lay off exercise for at least 4-6 weeks, which is super irritating…but…it might translate into more writing if I make good use of my time 🤔

Yay, I’m so happy for you. This sounds so cool, congratulations! 🎉😄🤩

All writing makes me happy, but the nitty gritty work of getting stories fit for querying or submission can be draining. It’s nice to have a side project that’s just for fun, I don’t have to worry about making it perfect or publishable

I have a writing project that I’ve been working on for over two years that I tinker with when I lack inspiration for anything else. I don’t ever plan to publish or let anyone else see, but it’s my go-to when I need reminding that writing makes me happy. It’s a useful project to have 😊

#readers

Current writing projects:
•an essay and creative work for an application (more on this later if anything comes of it)
•revising a YA sci-fi to maybe query
•rewriting a MG historical fiction I wrote a few years ago into a novel in verse

So yeah. I’m quiet on social media, but keeping busy-ish 😊✍🏻📝

My dog bit my face last night. I’ve got a few tiny scratches, nothing serious. And while I take full responsibility for putting my face too close to him and unintentionally setting him off, I’m still mad at him no matter how cute he is 😢

I attended a Two-Day MFA workshop given by four faculty members for Hamline’s MFAC and it was worth every penny I paid for it! 😊

I’m still alive!

I’m still writing (but took a pause in querying for my mental health…in fact I’m considering other options…will discuss later if it becomes a thing)

I’m going to try posting here more instead of the-place-formally-known-as-Twitter, because it’s a literal hellscape 😳

Finally heard back from my full request. It was a rejection. A form rejection on a full. I'm not going to comment because I get agents have lives but... *sigh*...it's just the sad last nail in that coffin. I'm already in the process of trying to decide what to query next

a picture of a woman with the words " you 're off to the pit of despair " ALT: a picture of a woman with the words " you 're off to the pit of despair "

But querying straight up sucks. Like is really the worst (and I’ve been on sub twice, I’ll take that any day over querying). It’s like having your soul sucked away by that torture machine in The Princess Bride.

The good news is I’ve worked on my writing every week day for the past two and a half weeks, so things are being done (mostly revising an old MS so my daughter can read it…which still counts, by the way!) and I’m happy with that.

I nudged that agent two weeks ago (because they said to do so after three months, it had had been more than four at that point) and haven’t heard back. I mean, there’s still a tiny shred of hope, but let’s be real, it’s time to move on.

I sent my last query in January (even then, I was pretty much already done with it for this manuscript, the last real batch went out in November). All queries are now closed, either with no response or rejection. I only have one open full request left I still haven’t heard back from…

MG Hub Pitch Party 2025 MG Hub Pitch Party 2025 The Middle Grade Hub (MG Hub - (https://bsky.app/profile/middlegradehub.bsky.social) is hosting its third annual pitch party! The Pitch Party Unlike other pitch parties, this...

Excited to announce our 3rd annual MGHub Off-Social-Media pitching event for all ages of kidlit: PB / CB / MG / YA Click to learn more… #mglit #kidlit #pitch

Thank you! 🥰

My querying and writing is going absolutely nowhere. I have no intention of quitting, that would only make me more unhappy. What I really need is a writing critique group to join. My last group kinda died. Is there anyone out there in a group with room for another writer? I write MG and YA ☺️