A year ago, a guy from South Philadelphia came up to me after my talk at the 2025 Willamette Writers Conference.

His name was George E. Keller, and he'd come to the conference with one goal, and one goal only: to finish his book.

George had been working on his memoir for fourteen years. And he had material—wowwww did he have material.

George had Bookzilla.

He knew his superpower—he can tell stories for hours on end. And he knew his weakness—he's dyslexic, and "not much of a writer." So he did something genius. For almost a year, he hired someone to listen to him tell stories. They met weekly and recorded those sessions, then he hired someone to transcribe them.

But he knew that 40+ hours of transcribed stories did not a book make.

So we sat down to talk about his goals. He gave me Bookzilla, and we came up with a plan.

(Yes, I read all of Bookzilla. George likes to point out that I'm the only person who ever has. "I wrote it and I haven't read it," he said.)

The stories were all there. What he didn't have was a throughline. A Story Map.

After the conference, we started working earnestly on his memoir, Gimme Shelter. Within a year, he had a finished manuscript.

This fall, George went back to the 2026 Willamette Writers Conference as an author.

Here's how he described it:

"I went back with a different posture. In year one I went as a writer with a big story. In year two I came back an author. That was huge. In one year, man."

He spent this year's conference pitching his manuscript, but he'd already decided to publish the book himself if he didn't get any interest there (memoir's a tough genre right now, for real).

So, we did. And today, he's sending published copies of his book to radio stations and reviewers.

And they love it! One of his early readers told him reading Gimme Shelter sounded like she was sitting there having a conversation with him. (I'm extremely proud of that!)

I've been thinking about that "different posture" he walked into the Willamette Writers Conference with ever since.

Because George didn't spend that year becoming a different person. He's still the same storyteller who talks instead of types. What changed is that he found someone to help him shape his stories into a manuscript.

So let me ask you what I'd ask George if we were meeting today.

Where do you want your book to be in six months?

• Still as a big idea in your head?
• A messy first draft?
• A finished manuscript—or published book—you're starting to share?

Hit reply and tell me your vision. I'll read every answer, and I'd love to cheer you on.

If you want to hear the whole story from George himself (he tells it better than I do), it's here:

​Writing Gimme Shelter with George E. Keller.

Talk soon,

Jessie

P.S. Speaking of where your book could be next year: my biggest sale of the year starts Monday, November 23. One new deal a day, Monday through Friday, for nonfiction authors at every stage.

If you've been thinking about working with me, mark your calendar.

And if you want to be first in line, join the early bird list here to get a brand new set of Story Oracle cards free with any purchase!

P.P.S. George pivoted from traditional publishing to self-publishing. I talked him through his options, but if you are curious about what decisions go into that process, let me point you to this great video about publishing paths from my friend Tara R. Alemany from Emerald Lake Books.