Thread by @DavidPepper

THREAD

True story: in 2013, I was so frustrated w gerrymandering in Ohio and no one knowing a thing about it, I decided to write a novel about it.

I’d never written fiction but thought it might inform people beyond insiders.

To be ironic, I called it “The People’s House.”

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But I quickly figured out that that was the world’s worst novel idea, so I spiced it up.

I added a Russian oligarch who figured out how poisonous gerrymandering was to US politics, and decided to interfere w elections in the few swing districts so he could flip Congress.

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I basically typed away early morning and late at night.

I had very young kids at home, and my day job was chair of the @OHDems , where of course we set a long-term goal of trying to end gerrymandering here, among other things.

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But for a number of years, I just kept writing. A few hours a week

When I finally finished it, and someone explained the publishing process to me, I sent it out to agent after agent. Like a college kid applying for jobs, I was rejected by every single one.

Sometimes harshly

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But friends & family liked it so I ended up self-publishing

After, I still got positive feedback from new readers

Then out of the blue, the @WSJ reviewed it as the “sleeper” for “political thriller of the year”

I sent that to a few of the agents :)

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wsj.com/amp/articles/a…

It then turned out, due to my effort to spice up the plot, to be eerily similar to what later happened in 2016, so the book exploded, getting national coverage & at one point rising to #18 on Amazon.

Here’s my PBS interview.

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pbs.org/newshour/amp/s…

.@POLITICOMag called it the “thriller that predicted the Russia scandal.”

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politico.com/magazine/story…

One Twitter-stalker was convinced I was a Russian spy. The only person I’ve ever blocked

But no, I was mainly trying to write a novel about gerrymandering that needed to be more exciting

Anyway, the success of that 1st book that arose from my frustration at gerrymandering…

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has led to four more novels, two published by @PutnamBooks — including A Simple Choice, coming out this summer

And this week, of course, thanks to massive Ohio voter awareness and frustration w gerrymandering, and the work of so many at @OHDems and countless partners…

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we finally struck a blow to the poison of rigged districts in this great state.

To be clear, it’s a first step.

I have no doubt a major battle (or more remain) so we still have lot of work still to do.

But it’s a big, big step.

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All of this is to say that Forest Gump’s mom was right: “life is like a box a chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

But it also affirms what Churchill said: “if you’re in hell, keep going.”

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Keep going. Keep trying new things. Don’t let obstacles stop you.

And as Ferris Bueller said, as I think back about randomly deciding to write that first book, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

END