20 QUESTIONS with JESSICA FAUST
Twenty things you (probably) didn’t know about Book Ends Literary Agency Owner/Agent, Jessica Faust
1. My first job was… as a clerk in a Hallmark store where I learned the value of a simple card and how to wrap the perfect gift.
2. If I wasn’t an agent, I would likely be… well I’m not sure “I would likely be,” but I dream of being a recipe creator. I’d love to spend hours in my kitchen creating and re-creating recipes that I could build into a cookbook or use to help restaurants create menus.
3. I collect… recipes.
4. My favorite word is… Uff-da (it’s the Minnesota Swede in me).
5. I’m a big fan of… dark chocolate, dark beer, cold, snowy winters, the MN Vikings, hockey, Sarah Addison Allen, Top Chef and Prince.
6. The best advice I have ever been given was…I’m not sure it was advice per se, but I’ll never forget telling my dad that I had won something that I had really wanted. His response was to say, “of course you did. You always get what you want.” Those words have always stuck with me. If I really, truly want something, I will make it happen and achieve that goal.
7. I have always wanted to… own a restaurant, a microbrewery/restaurant to be specific.
8. The best thing I have ever read is… I could think about this forever and there’s no way I’d ever come up with the answer to that.
9. People often tell me that I… am a pit bull which I take as the highest form of flattery since they are truly the sweetest, kindest and most loving dogs I know (which I’m pretty sure is the exact opposite of what people mean when they call me that).
10. My favorite quote is… “Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History” –Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
11. I find inspiration in… children. They have such amazing confidence that they can truly be and do anything they want.
12. The best thing about being an agent is… being able to watch and experience an author’s creative process and sometimes even becoming a small part of it by making editorial suggestions or brainstorming new ideas or directions.
13. I spend way too much time… on Pinterest.
14. The funniest person in my cell phone is… well hopefully there’s no one actually living in cell phone because that would be creepy.
15. It really bothers me when… people tell me I can’t do something. Because I’m always pretty sure I can.
16. The worst thing about being an agent is… the rejection, experiencing rejection either when publishers pass on a project that we truly believe in or readers don’t seem to find or connect with a book we love.
17. One mistake that most aspiring writers make is… not believing in themselves.
18. If I knew the apocalypse were coming in 24 hours, I’d… Stock up. I’m an optimist and I know I can survive anything. Then I’d gather my family together, open expensive bottles of wine and cook an incredible meal. I’d invite anyone over who would dare come and celebrate life with food, family, friends and probably some dancing.
19. The three websites I visit most often are…Facebook, Barnes & Noble, Door to Door Organics.
20. You’d be surprised to know that I… didn’t read my first romance until it was part of the application process for my job with Berkley Publishing.
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