👋 Somebody out there that needs to hear your story. Don't be afaird to tell it.
It's Monday. I'm here for you.
Hi, Friend! It's me - Jen Glantz.
The most incredible things in my life have happened because of the internet.
Bridesmaid for Hire started because I posted an ad on Craigslist and it went viral.
I met one of my very best friends in 2011 because I was a fan of her blog and emailed her saying hello.
Adam and I met him thanks to a dating app called Hinge.
I could go and on. But so many good things have entered my life because of actions I’ve taken on my phone or computer.
Last week, a really fun thing happened because I was spending too much time scrolling news websites and came across a story about a guy named Joe Cote.
He’s a high school teacher in Massachusetts. Without the power of the internet, we might never have entered each other’s lives.
In 2020, Joe Cote posted a thrilling short story on Reddit for no reason at all other than he was trying to get better at writing. He figured he’d share this story, get some feedback, and move on with his life. Beside, he liked his life as a middle school teacher. For fun, he played music. But his curiosity pulled him toward writing. So he gave it a try.
A few years later, he got a phone call from Hollywood. They wanted to turn this Reddit story into a movie with Sydney Sweeney.
This is the kind of story I go nuts over.
I’ve always believed that life is too short to follow paths that are straight and traditional. Extraordinary things can happen in our life when we figure out odd ways to make them happen.
Joe wasn’t searching for fame or fortune, not even a movie deal. He wanted to be a writer, so he wrote. By sharing his writing on Reddit, it fast-tracked him toward goals bigger than he ever imagined. He will soon write books. He might even sell more movies. All because of an “accident” or what I like to think of it as a life-changing gem.
I wrote about Joe in my Odd Jobs newsletter. Somehow he saw it and commented:
I decided to be bold and fearless. I decided to ask if he’d chat with me. I wanted to hear more about what the heck happened to him and how his life is now.
On Thursday, we chatted for around 20-minutes. I was so moved by our chat that I wanted to share a transcript of our call (abbreviated here). I hope you squeeze some inspo from Joe Cote to not rely on old school ways for new school dreams. More than that, to just start doing what you want to do, without any intentions other than starting. It could lead to the finish line faster than you think.
Let’s dive into this:
Joe: It really is funny, I didn't expect to see anything new. Obviously, when this whole thing first happened, those first few weeks were a whirlwind. I went from some regular guy going to work, and then all of a sudden, I'm doing radio interviews, and other articles are coming out. When I saw yours, I was like, this was just written a couple of days ago. This is probably just some random website using one of the other articles. Then I read it and thought, that was super nice. I have to comment. I have to tell her this was great.
Jen: I really appreciate that. I don't know how I originally found the story, but I was so captivated. I'm somebody who doesn't really agree with one path in life to get to your goals. If it's OK with you, I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions that I could share with people.
Joe: Yeah, definitely. I hope it's something new that wasn't already written about.
Jen: That's kind of my goal. When you originally posted the story, what was your intention?
Joe: Honestly, it was just to be part of a writing community. I've always liked writing and been decent at it. But my focus used to be music. I started to try to write more seriously. I posted on Reddit and said, let's just try to get some feedback and see if we can be part of a little writing community. And holy crap, here we are.
Jen: Did you ever have intentions of writing books, movie scripts?
Joe: Yeah, by that point in 2020, for sure. I thought, I'm going to shift gears from music to writing. I'd read Gillian Flynn's novels. That was really the kickstart for me. I read them in backwards order. I read Gone Girl, Dark Places, then Sharp Objects and was completely blown away. I thought, that's what I want to do. The way I felt reading those books - I want to make other people feel that way.
Jen: Did you take any classes, or did you just keep trying to write?
Joe: Just the creative writing classes I had to take in school. I never went to school for it.
Jen: Why Reddit versus going down the traditional path of writing the book, pitching the agents?
Joe: I did not think I was ready. It just felt like a decent first step. I definitely did not think I was ready to publish anything for real. My plan was to keep writing short stories. I had an idea for a novel that I kept putting off. Between each short story, I'm reading up on writing, listening to podcasts, talking to other writers, trying to practice the craft and build confidence.
Jen: You post a story. It doesn't blow up right away. In between the time it blows up, are you writing more?
Joe: I did write something longer that I posted on Reddit. It didn't come close to having the same number of views. It was like the next step to trying that novel. You go from a 7,000-word story to one that was 16,000 or 17,000. I was still reading up on writing, still practicing, still listening to podcasts. I was doing a lot of writing with my middle school students. I wrote a whole murder mystery choose-your-own-adventure story for school.
Jen: Obviously, once this blows up, your life changes. How has all the attention been so far?
Joe: It's been great. It's been awesome seeing the support from unexpected people. I've had old friends from high school, former students message me. It was admittedly overwhelming. I was doing radio interviews for a huge radio station in Boston. It was nerve-wracking each time, but once it starts, it wasn't so bad. It's like someone plucked a daydream out of my brain and put it into reality.
Jen: Is it weird or good to have this happen, but still be able to go back to your real life?
Joe: It is strange. When I got the call that the deal was being finalized with Warner Brothers, I'd just come home from a long day at school. It's surreal. It's a hard thing to talk about. How do I talk about this to people? But now everyone knows. Walking down the halls at school, I've heard students whispering about it. I still have students raise their hand and ask, "is it true what I'm hearing?"
Jen: That's so cool. There's got to be a book deal that comes from this, right? What do you think is going to come next? Will you stay grounded in what you're doing now or make writing your full career?
Joe: The plan is ultimately to be writing full time. I'm taking the first step to making that happen. I've been talking to publishers. I don't think it'll happen anytime soon. I plan on being back in school next year. My teacher friends keep joking, "are you going to LA?" It'll be hard to not be working with children. It's what I've been doing my whole life. But it's a literal dream come true. I will be writing full time eventually.
Jen: People reading this will admire that you have a full time job. How did you find the time and discipline to write?
Joe: One thing I learned from Savannah Gilboe's podcast was that you can't always just write when you feel inspired, which is what I was doing. It's true - if you only do it then, you won't get as far as you could. I had to start treating it like homework. Figure out your time, whether morning or night. Just do it, even if you're not feeling inspired. If you get only two sentences today, it's two more than yesterday.
Jen: What advice do you have for people who find your journey incredible?
Joe: I guess I would say to do it for you. I did this for me, whether or not it was going to blow up. I did it because I loved it. It's easy for me to say now because this did happen. Don't be afraid to share it out. I would say there's somebody out there that needs to hear your story. We all have many to tell. There's somebody waiting for it. Don't be afraid to tell it.
Jen: God, I really love that. It's so unreal to talk to you. I never thought I'd ever hear from you.
Joe: I couldn't believe it. I read it and thought, this is awesome. I need her to know that she's great.
Jen: Well, thank you so much.
Take care of yourself this week (ilysm),
Jen Glantz
Hello dear May! May it bring us all a dose of sunshine we’ve been craving since the start of the year.
Book: I’m obsessed with Elizabeth Greenwood’s books. I’ve shared them before and I’m super excited to share her newest one — Everyday Intuition. It’s about finding and trusting our inner voice. It’s powerful and perfect. I’m so excited for you to read this one!
Something Special: I’ve been spending some quality time at this really cool store in Brooklyn, Catbird. They have really beautiful bespoke jewelry. I go there for the forever bracelets (where they zap a bracelet on you). If you’re looking to gift something soecial to someone, or yourself, they offered me this code to use for 15% off your purchase (yay!!): CBFRIENDBK.
Song: I’ve listened to this song a million times this week it is so fun.
Most-Worn Item Of the Week: I have a lot of mismatched items in my closet and it made me realize that there’s one staple that i’m missing — that I could really benefit from. A black blazer! I grabbed this one last week and already wore it twice — once in a casual setting and once for a work event.
Recent Monday Pick-Me-Ups:
Most clicked items:
Ilia Foundation — life changing!
Bala bangles — workout anywhere!
Thank you for reading this week’s pick-me-up. I adore you! I’ll be back in your inbox on Monday. Until then, hit reply and say helllloooo!
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