Waiting Room

Everyone at school knows Andrew Jennings. Missing an arm. Openly gay. But when he meets star athlete Ryan Sullivan in therapy, can friendship lead to more?

When Andrew ‘Jacky’ Jennings ends up in therapy after an English assignment gone wrong, he doesn’t expect to find his high school’s star athlete, Ryan Sullivan, sitting in the same waiting room. After all, he and Ryan couldn’t be more different: football captain, future valedictorian, and all-around nice guy, Ryan is the school’s golden boy, while Andrew is known for his permanent snarl, being openly gay, and losing his left arm (along with his father and sister) in a car accident. But when Andrew learns they actually have a lot in common, he’s surprised to see past the enigma that is Ryan Sullivan and his seemingly perfect life. And as the two boys begin to connect over their shared grief, depression, and teenage angst, they might just discover a little pocket of happiness for themselves — if they’re willing to fight for it.

Waiting is now a part of Paid Stories over at Wattpad!

Writing Process

(August 2015 – March 2017)

Waiting Room began as a fanfiction posted on Archive of Our Own. After I received comments like “It’s one of those stories that is original fiction with the character names put on” and the overwhelmingly positive response to it, I decided to try to turn it into an original fic. And when I took the first five pages of the newly edited draft to a writers conference, the editor said she was already shipping the two main characters – so here we are!

Wattpad

I started posting the revised Waiting Room up on Wattpad in June of 2018. I posted 3 times a week (Monday-Wednesday-Friday), breaking up the chapters by POV switches. It reached #1 in the LGBT genre and currently has over 1 million reads!

In part because of the success of Waiting Room, I was invited to join the Wattpad Stars program in September 2019. Wattpad Stars are considered for many opportunities within Wattpad, including Paid Stories, Wattpad Studios, and Wattpad Books. A few months later, the team at Wattpad offered me the opportunity for Waiting Room to be a part of Paid Stories.

Soundtrack

Waiting Room has a lot of serious moments, so this soundtrack is very quiet and melancholy.

The 1975 – Me
Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah
Flyleaf – Circle
Carina Round – For Everything a Reason
Alice in Chains – Nutshell
Beck – Turn Away
Michael Stipe with Radiohead – Leave
Koda – Staying
Ben Howard – Oats in the Water

Drafts

Draft 1 (Fanfiction Draft, complete, 105,747 words, March 2017): The original draft, posted on Archive of Our Own [since removed].

Draft 2 (First Final Draft, complete, 104,575 words, December 2017): Names altered, some scenes deleted.

Draft 3 (Gutted Draft/Wattpad draft, complete, currently at 89,987 words, February 2019): Cutting out a lot of extra words and a few extraneous scenes.

Draft 4 (Wattpad revisions draft, complete, 90,295 words, June 2020): Changed Andrew/Jacky’s eulogy assignment from a school shooting to suicide.