✨Danila Botha and Nicola Solvinic on learning from other writers (and genres) and trusting the process (and yourself!)✨
Danila and Nicola talk about overcoming writer's block and recognizing that sometimes you're not blocked, you're "percolating", and we share some great opportunities you don't want to miss!
Hello dearest friends!
Spring just keeps getting springier and there’s nothing like it to get those creative juices flowing. We hope you’ve all got ideas popping up everywhere like weeds—and that you remember to go outside once in a while to help keep that creative well full (but then get your bum back in your chair and get to work. Those books we can’t wait to see from you aren’t going to write themselves)!
Speaking of spring…How is the writing process like building a nest? No, that’s not the set-up for a joke, it’s part of a wise bit of writing advice from debut author Nicola Solvinic that feels especially timely right now. We’ve also got some words of wisdom in this issue from short-story writer Danila Botha on why writing what you’re passionate about—not what others tell you will sell—can be the secret to success. More of this please! Also in this issue, we’ve got the return of The Great Beta Reader Match-Up, a chance to win a signed copy of Chelsea Devantez’ dynamic memoir-in-essays, and details on how to join Carly’s masterclass “The Author’s Publishing Playbook” (trust us, you won’t want to miss ANY of these opportunities).
Finally, don’t forget that, as a paid member, you can access our weekly Books with Hooks query feedback through Substack! We post every Thursday after our episode airs. Be sure to go through those critiques for invaluable wisdom from our lovely podcast hosts! 😍✨ Below is the feedback from our most recent episode:
❤️ The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team
Q&A with author Danila Botha 😍🌟
Danila Botha is a Canadian fiction writer based in Toronto, Canada. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, she studied Creative Writing at York University in Toronto, and at Humber's School for Writers. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from University of Guelph. Danila’s first collection of short stories, Got No Secrets, was published in 2010 and praised by the Globe and Mail, the Chronicle Herald and the Cape Town Times. Her debut novel, Too Much on the Inside, which was published in 2015, was shortlisted for the 2016 ReLit award, and won a Book Excellence Award for Contemporary Novel. It was optioned for film by Pelee Entertainment in 2023.
Danila’s third collection of short stories, Things That Cause Inappropriate Happiness, was published this April and stories from the collection have been widely published in Canadian publications.
TSNOTYAW: Do you have a go-to mantra or pep talk for the days when writing feels hard?
Danila Botha: I try to remind myself that it's normal for writing to feel hard sometimes, and I try to either figure out why this particular scene or section is hard, what about it isn't working, or I move onto a different paragraph or section and come back to it when I have a little more distance. I also sometimes dive more deeply into research, whether that's reading creative non-fiction for research, or for example, reading other literary fiction or short fiction. I find it so generative and inspiring to read other people's work (I write short stories, for example and I have nine bookshelves and counting with nothing but short fiction). Sometimes I reread work I love to remind myself of technique or craft or just the feeling of being transported by the absolute magic of someone's writing. Above all, I try to remind myself to be patient. Sometimes a story needs many drafts, or a chapter in a novel needs a lot of rewriting to work, but that's just part of the process.
TSNOTYAW: Were you ever close to giving up on writing and, if so, what stopped you?
DB: To be honest, I've definitely felt frustrated, or temporarily crushed by rejection, which happens at all levels of one's career. Sometimes there are people who don't love or like or understand a story or a novel, but these experiences are thankfully balanced by readers or editors or writers or publishers who really do, and who are enthusiastic and supportive. I always think—though it's hard to see it in the moment—that these things can provide such perspective and appreciation for the moments when things do work out. If every writer is willing to persevere enough, the things we want and dream of do happen. I've definitely been frustrated with myself also for not being able to execute an idea, or pull something off convincingly, from when I was a younger student in writing workshops to any kind of professional rejection. But thankfully it's never felt so strong that I've reconsidered being a writer. Being a writer is such a big part of who I am, how I think and express myself. Even with the challenges, I enjoy writing so much, and I love talking about writing, and reading. Most of the time, I feel incredibly privileged to be able to do this.
TSNOTYAW: How do you ensure you have enough time to write amidst so many obligations competing for your time?
DB: Great question. You have to make the time, there's no substitute for it. I allocate certain days and time for teaching and marking, and certain days and times for writing. I have to have a schedule otherwise I do fall behind. I love writing, especially writing short fiction so much. I start to feel a lack of balance if I'm not writing enough. I also love research and I love drawing and painting. I've been working on my first graphic novel, and I always sketch and draw panels for every piece of writing I do, to work out description and location and body language and those kinds of things. I make sure that I make time for the whole process, including rereading and close editing as much as I can.
TSNOTYAW: What's one writing "rule" or commonly followed piece of advice that you decidedly break?
DB: I was told since the beginning of my career that short fiction doesn't sell, that it's considered less serious than novel writing, that I should get it out of the way so I can focus on writing novels. I do enjoy writing novels, but short fiction is my first and truest love. I really believe that what writers are most passionate about, and most willing to work on, can be their best and most commercial work. They're just so immensely enjoyable as a form—the brevity, the concision, the challenge of the economy of form. We also live in a country that has produced some of the best short fiction writers in the world—from Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood to David Bezmosgis, Lisa Moore, Heather O'Neill, Rawi Hage, Anosh Irani, Alexander Mcleod, Rebecca Rosenblum, Tea Mutonji, Zalika Reid Benta, Carleigh Baker, Souvankham Thammavongsa, Ivan Coyote, Ayelet Tsabari, Madeleine Thein, Leesa Dean, to name just a few. I remember being shocked at the good reviews that my first book, Got No Secrets, received, my expectations were so low. And then when I finished my second collection, For All the Men (and Some of the Women) I've Known, I was advised to shelve it until I'd written another novel. I just knew in my gut that this was wrong—and I'm so grateful to have been right. That book went on to be a finalist for the Trillium Book Award, The Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature and ReLit. It had multiple printings, which I'd never experienced. I'm still so grateful today. It gave me confidence when writing my new collection, Things that Cause Inappropriate Happiness. I think of myself as primarily a short fiction writer first now, and I'm grateful because it's truly what I love to write most.
TSNOTYAW: Writer’s block: myth or unfortunate reality? If you experience it, how do you overcome it?
DB: It definitely can be real, unfortunately. One sentence at a time, one paragraph at a time. Alison Pick has this wonderful quote where she says, "remember that every book you've ever read that you've loved started with a bad first draft" and I love that so much. Just giving myself permission to write without, or with less judgement. Just getting it on paper, realizing that I can edit work later. Just appreciating the process- and remembering what I love about writing.
TSNOTYAW: What is something you’ve learned about yourself later in your writing career that would have surprised your younger self?
DB: Earlier in my career, I never considered writing about certain subjects because I worried that they weren't considered literary. For example, Denis Johnson and Raymond Carver and Cheever were huge influences, (as was Heather O'Neill's early work) and so I felt like I had a precedent for writing about addiction and grit, and discomfort in one's own skin, for example. But it wasn't until later that I got deeply into other Jewish writers like Etgar Keret, Nathan Englander and David Bezmosgis (and more recently, writers like Sidura Ludwig, Kathy Friedman, Chava Rosenfarb among many others), and started wanting to write about different aspects of the Jewish experience. It comes up a lot in Things that Cause Inappropriate Happiness—from a character who realizes that she's attracted to her female best friend and tries to reconcile that with her Orthodox upbringing (Soulmates), to a writing student who overdoses and meets an adult Anne Frank (Like An Alligator Eyeing a Small Fish), to stories that deal with the intergenerational trauma of the Holocaust (Dark an Lilac Fairies, Able to Pass, Proteksiye and Mazel), casual antisemitism (When You Play with Fire) and an artist with rheumatoid arthritis who travels back to her teenage years, guided by a vision of Leonard Cohen (Things that Cause Inappropriate Happiness). I never, ever imagined when I was younger that I would write about these things, or go so deeply into them. I hope that as we get older and more experienced, our confidence grows, in terms of what we want to write and how we approach it (my younger writer self would definitely have been shocked by all of this. I hope she would have liked it though).
You can purchase Things That Cause Inappropriate Happiness on our Bookshop.org affiliate page here. Buying books through this link supports a local indie bookstore, as well as The Shit No One Tells You About Writing 📚❤️
Author Q&A with Nicola Solvinic✨🧐
Nicola Solvinic has a master's degree in criminology and has worked in and around criminal justice for more than a decade at local, state, and federal levels. She lives in the Midwestern United States with her husband and cats, where she is surrounded by a secret garden full of beehives. Her debut novel, The Hunter’s Daughter, is out today 🎉
TSNOTYAW: Do you have a go-to mantra or pep talk for the days when writing feels hard?
Nicola Solvinic: A friend just sent a video that’s a time-lapse of birds building a nest in a nest box, laying eggs, the eggs hatching, and the birds fledging. It’s taken over the course of a couple months. She said that this is what the writing process is like, and I agree. There are a whole lot of invisible things that go into writing a book, and sometimes when I feel like things are going nowhere, I have to remind myself that things are percolating. The work is happening, whether I can see it or not.
TSNOTYAW: Were you ever close to giving up on writing and, if so, what stopped you?
NS: I definitely was very close to giving it up. I didn’t think I was qualified, to be honest! I don’t have an MFA, and I can’t tell you what a dangling participle is. I could never diagram a sentence to save my life in high school. But I thought that it was worth trying—it wouldn’t cost me anything other than time. And I’m really glad I tried it.
TSNOTYAW: What would you say you’ve done right to build a strong and supportive writing network?
NS: I think the important thing for me was to have friends in a variety of genres. Every genre has something to teach, and when I get stuck, I get help from an entirely different perspective. And when a friend gets stuck, I can often direct her to someone who’s an expert in what she’s struggling with. The writers I’ve met so far have been such kind, generous people, and I’m grateful to have connected with folks who understand how difficult it can be to conjure up a book out of thin air.
TSNOTYAW: What one piece of advice (craft- or publishing industry-related) has always resonated with you?
NS: Writers are often encouraged to write what they know. I think I resisted that for a while. But I now feel like when I write about things that I’ve got some experience with, the story rings true and the writing flows more effortlessly. That’s not to say that I don’t get stuck and have to consult an expert about something like embalming procedures or medical treatments. But being in a familiar milieu helps the process.
TSNOTYAW: How do you ensure you have enough time to write amidst so many obligations competing for your time?
NS: The trick for me is finding a time when I won’t have interruptions, which usually winds up being late at night. I have to really commit to touching the manuscript every day and keeping in contact with it. I really have to block out the time on my calendar and make sure I get some undisturbed space.
TSNOTYAW: What's one writing "rule" or commonly followed piece of advice that you decidedly break?
NS: One of the common pieces of advice is to try writing in coffee shops, and that never worked for me. Too many distractions! I get too caught up in what coffee I want to order, worrying about if I’m taking up too much space for too long a period of time, listening in on other peoples’ conversations…I’m much more focused at home.
TSNOTYAW: What do you wish you had known about writing before you published your debut?
NS: It's not all about you! You write the story, but the readers, the audiences have to be ready to read what you write and that will change over time. Keep writing and getting better at what you want to do and when the world can appreciate your story, you'll be ready.
TSNOTYAW: Writer’s block: myth or unfortunate reality? If you experience it, how do you overcome it?
NS: I think it definitely happens! At least, it happens to me. I think there’s a fine line to be walked. On the one hand, I try to be gentle with myself and prepare favorable conditions for writing. On the other, there’s often no way to defeat writer’s block except just doing the thing. So…I light that scented candle, make sure I have good snacks, and commit to writing a thousand words. By the time I’m halfway through, it’s usually vanished and I’m back in the story again.
You can purchase The Hunter’s Daughter on our Bookshop.org affiliate page here. Buying books through this link supports a local indie bookstore, as well as The Shit No One Tells You About Writing 📚❤️
Giveaway 😍🌟
Win a signed copy of I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This by Chelsea Devantez.
A dynamic memoir-in-essays by comedian, screenwriter, and podcaster Chelsea Devantez, detailing her tumultuous upbringing and uproarious career path into Hollywood.
There are things Chelsea Devantez probably shouldn’t be telling you. Many of them are in this book: some are embarrassing (like her three-year spell of celibacy that she tried to break with a guide of seduction tips). Some are confessional (getting sentenced to the “hell hill” at Mormon church camp). Some are TMI (a series of outrageous doctor visits that ended with one doctor misdiagnosing her as “pregnant.” Whoopsies!)
Then there are things Chelsea really shouldn’t be telling you: like the time her biggest family secret got publicly outed, or about the drive-by shootings and the precipitating domestic violence she survived. Yet through the ups and downs, it’s the women in Chelsea’s life who kept her going—from the lowest points of her childhood when she and her mom had only $100 left to their name, all the way to her career highs as the Emmy-nominated Head Writer for The Problem with Jon Stewart and sensational podcaster deemed “the memoir whisperer” by her fans.
In I Shouldn't Be Telling You This, Chelsea centers each story around a different woman who shaped her life, taking us on a tour of friends and strangers, fictional characters and celebrities, heroes and villains who will destroy any Netflix algorithm for a “strong female lead.” Reading this book will feel kinda like that moment at a party when your friend beckons you close, sloshes her martini around, and covertly whispers, “I really shouldn’t say this, but…”
To enter, click below!
Registration closes on the 31st of May.
Winners will be notified directly.
Be part of Carly’s masterclass 😍📝
Carly’s class includes 10+ hours of writing and publishing video lessons you have lifetime access to, monthly Q&A sessions, and fresh content every quarter. Did we mention there’s an app, too? You can keep learning on the go. Don’t miss a minute of Carly’s top career advice for aspiring, emerging and published writers. Get the writing career you’ve always dreamed of.
The Great Beta Reader Match Up is Back 😍🌟
Are you looking for beta readers, some of whom might potentially become writing group members down the line?
Are you wanting to be matched up with those writing in a similar genre and/or time zone, so they can critique your work as you critique theirs at the same time?
Your manuscript doesn't have to be complete to sign up for this 3000-word review!
Registrations are open from now until the 2nd of June with the match emails going out on the 3rd of June!
For more information and to register, click below!
And that’s it for now! We’ll be back next week with more ✨ Keep your chins up and your butts in those chairs!
❤️ The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team
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Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra are literary agents at P.S. Literary Agency, but their work in this newsletter is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly and CeCe in this newsletter are solely that of themselves and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency.