Teacher’s Novel Idea Could Become a Reality

It was the perfect pitch—at least according to the authors who judged ’s event last month.

language arts teacher Jessica Wisniewski impressed the authors of “The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published” with her pitch for her novel, “Mojo Fingers: How desperate times call for seventh-grade superheroes,” winning the right to meet a literary agent—and a chance at being published.

Wisniewski wrote the book, a tale of a middle-school misfit overcoming bullies to discover her own special powers, during National Novel Writing Month in 2009. It was part of a classroom assignment to help students improve their writing skills.

Known affectionately as “Nanowrimo,” the annual effort challenges writers across the country to crank out a novel in just 30 days.

“I invite my students every year to take part in it,” Wisniewski said. Each day, students set a goal for themselves to write a specific number of words.

“As they were writing theirs, I was writing mine at home at night,” she said. Wisniewski and her students would then share what they’d written with each other and offer feedback on what they'd read.

“We’d read each other’s work,” she said. “We’d share with each other, and it was essentially a big writers’ group.”

That November, Wisniewski finished an early draft of what was then a 50,000-word novel. She didn’t know then that it would lead to anything beyond encouraging her students to write.

But this fall, she and her sister each got an e-mail from Anderson’s about the Jan. 6 “Pitchapalooza.”

“(My sister) said, ‘You really should go,’” Wisniewski said.

Wisniewski ended up being one of 300 budding authors to show up for the event, manuscripts in hand. She was chosen in a lottery as one of 25 writers to present a one-minute pitch to "The Book Doctors" Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, authors of "The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published," and several other professionals.

“I had 60 seconds to sell my book and tell them what it was about,” she said. “They thought it was the best, so I was pleased about that.”

But her luck didn’t end there. Her pitch ended up being chosen as the best of the bunch. Wisniewski has plans to meet an agent later this year to talk about potentially getting “Mojo Fingers” published.

The novel has already won the approval of perhaps the toughest critics out there: real-life middle school students. As she shared each chapter with her sixth-grade language arts students, the youngsters clamored for more.

“My students said, ‘Can we read the whole thing?’” Wisniewski said.

The novel is about a seventh-grader who discovers a unique gift as she struggles to fit in with her peers.

“‘Mojo Fingers’ is about a girl who is going through a stage in her life that many kids can relate to,” Wisniewski said. “She discovers her mojo … She faces down her fears, she defies her bullies and meets a group of new friends. Her talent is to give people their power.”

Wisniewski said while her characters are pure fiction, some are named after students who cheered her on as she worked on the novel.

“Some of their names appear in the book,” she said, laughing. “It was promised.”

Now, Wisniewski is preparing to meet with an agent.

“I’m doing my homework to find the right agency,” she said.  “I’m trying to keep my excitement to a minimum.

“It’s a long, long road ahead,” Wisniewski added. “This is only the first step toward getting (my) name out there in the publishing world and finding a publisher who will take me on.”

Even so, Wisniewski can’t help but be surprised by her success so far.

“I had no idea that it would go this far,” Wisniewski said. “I just wanted to be able to say, ‘I finished a book.’”

If the novel is published, it isn’t likely to be the end of Wisniewski’s literary journey.

The teacher-turned-author said “Mojo Fingers” has the potential to become a young adult novel series.

“That is my hope,” she said. “It’s a rich set of characters (who) just scream out for a sequel.”

But the next installment of the “Mojo Fingers” story will have to wait—at least until the end of the school year.

“Being a teacher does not lend itself well to lots of free time,” Wisniewski said, laughing.

“Mojo Fingers” is Wisniewski’s first novel, but it’s not her first try at writing. The teacher’s work has appeared in the Middle School Journal, and several of her plays have been produced.

To follow along with Wisniewski’s story—and find out whether she succeeds in getting her novel published—check out her website, www.mojofingers.com.

“That’s where I’m blogging about my experience of trying to get published,” she said.