Halfway through the first draft, I stayed at a hotel for three nights to see if I could speed up my process. It was my first ever writing retreat, and I completely, wholly plunged into Vera’s world. I laughed at Vera’s antics, I cried when Sana finally picked up her paintbrush, I cheered when Julia and Oliver repaired their friendship. It was the most magical three nights I’ve experienced (don’t tell my husband this!) and typing the words “The end” was, once again, a lolsob moment.
So there you have it, Vera’s roller-coaster journey. There were so many instances where it could’ve—should’ve—been derailed, but the enthusiasm and dedication of everyone I work with saw it through to the end. I am so unbelievably lucky to be able to work with people who not only tolerate my whims, but actively encourage them and go out of their way to help make the magic happen.
Thank you to Tilly Latimer, who was the first one to push me into writing Vera’s pitch. Thank you to Katelyn Detweiler, my unicorn-wizard agent who makes my ridiculous dreams come true. Thank you to Cindy Hwang, who as you can see is an editor who is so enthusiastic, so kind, so generous, and so flexible that it seems almost impossible that she’s real. If I were to see an editor as amazing as Cindy in a TV show, I would roll my eyes and say, “Editors are never that awesome!” But she is!
I’m so lucky to be working with my team at Berkley. Angela Kim, Jin Yu, Erin Galloway, Dache’ Rogers, and Danielle Keir are the people who brought Dial A for Aunties to life, and I’m so fortunate to be able to work with them on Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers.
Thank you as always to the other people at Jill Grinberg Literary Management—Denise Page, Sam Farkas, and Sophia Seidner for handling all the tricky stuff in publishing.
As I write this, my film agents Mary Pender and Olivia Fanaro of UTA are about to send Vera out into the world. If you hear any exciting film-related news about Vera in the coming weeks, it’ll all be down to Mary’s and Olivia’s hard work.
I wouldn’t be able to do this without my writing friends. Laurie Elizabeth Flynn woke up super early to be able to do writing sprints with me while I was holed up in a hotel room. My menagerie friends—SL Huang, Elaine Aliment, Rob Livermore, Toria Hegedus, Emma Maree, Maddox Hahn, Mel Melcer, and Lani Frank are my chosen family. To my other incredibly sweet writing friends—Nicole Lesperance, Kate Dylan, Grace Shim, Sajni Patel, and May Cobb, thank you so much for listening to me whine nonstop throughout this entire process.
My husband, Mike, is the most encouraging, supportive husband one could hope for. He held down the fort while I stayed at a hotel and assured me repeatedly not to worry about anything, and to stay an extra night if the words were flowing. He’s never once made me feel guilty for putting so much importance on my writing, and for that I will be eternally grateful.
And to my parents, of course, for giving me so much material to work with. Lol! I swear half of Vera’s antics come from them. Hehe. Thank you so much for letting me draw inspiration from you, and especially to my mom, thank you for always being so ready to do videos to help me promote my books!
Thank you to my wonderful readers for coming with me on this wild journey. It goes without saying that none of this would be possible without you.
Photo by Donny Wu
Jesse Q. Sutanto is the award-winning, bestselling author of adult, young adult, and children’s middle-grade books. She has a master’s degree in creative writing from Oxford University, though she hasn’t found a way of saying that without sounding obnoxious. The film rights to her women’s fiction title Dial A for Aunties was bought by Netflix in a competitive bidding war. Her adult books include Dial A for Aunties, Four Aunties and a Wedding, and Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. Her young adult books include Well, That Was Unexpected, The Obsession, and The New Girl. Her middle-grade books include Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit.
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