✨Don't Waste Your Time Chasing Perfection and Other Wise Writing Words to Live By ✨
Today's issue (and this week's podcast) are absolutely jam-packed! Get comfy and get reading!
Happy Friday, writing friends!
It’s end of the month bonus time again and we’ve got an absolute shit-ton of advice and insights for you, so let’s dive right in!
“I wanted perfection from the get-go and when I didn't achieve it, I thought this was proof that I wasn't a good writer.”
If this sounds familiar, you are (clearly) not alone. Which is really too bad, because it means a there are a lot of writers out there letting this kind of thinking put the brakes on pursuing their writing dreams. Karen Dukess, author of Welcome to Murder Week, used to be one of them, but in today’s fantastic Q&A she shares how she managed to get past the pursuit of perfection (and you can, too!).
Meanwhile, over on the pod, we’ve got a special edition of📕Books with Hooks🪝for you this week, featuring guest querier Kate Visser. Kate joins our hosts to hear their feedback on her YA, dark academia, romantic fantasy query, Stage of Shadows, which includes a discussion of the challenges of balancing ambitious concepts with reader engagement, as well as abstract and concrete curiosity in storytelling, and the need for the protagonist’s character arc to evolve throughout the narrative.
This month’s bonus episode features interviews with three authors who all have a special connection to The 💩—first up, Carly interviews her client Anna Mitchael about the innovative structure of her latest book (They Will Tell You the World is Yours), the story of a woman’s life told in vignettes. Then, Bianca embraces a full circle moment with 📕Books with Hooks🪝alum and debut novelist, Noreen Nanja (The Summers Between Us), after which CeCe interviews her client, Laura Leffler, about her big swing of a premise in Tell Them You Lied. Did Laura knock it out of the park? Tune in to find out!
We’ve also got the fabulous Emilie Sommer back to share her thoughts in response to your comp requests, and our hosts return with their monthly Q&A video where they answer YOUR questions about all things writing and publishing—check it out below!
Finally, Bianca is sharing even more special author guests who will be in attendance at her upcoming (and officially sold out!) launch. Keep reading to find out about the debut novelists joining her on the 9th, and don’t forget the deadline for Bianca’s two amazing contests is fast approaching—you’ve still got time, but not much (until June 3 at midnight, to be exact)!
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! ❤️
The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team
P.S. Still not sure about upgrading to paid? Check out our Tuesday Teaser below to see what you’re missing!
This Week’s Podcast✨🎙️✨
In this special episode of 📕Books with Hooks (listen to it here or watch it on YouTube!), author Kate Visser joins hosts Bianca, Carly and CeCe to share insights about her query letter for her YA fantasy novel, Stage of Shadows. Carly and CeCe dissect the strengths and weaknesses of Kate’s pitch, particularly focusing on character arcs, world-building, and the complexities of dual POV narratives—and more!
“Something we don't explicitly say on the podcast, but if you were to pay attention to all our notes, and really dig, the root of everything we say is: We should always know, based on the query letter, what the protagonist's place in the world is… That is so essential to what [they are] going to be up against.”
— CeCe
May Bonus Episode!
In the first part of this month’s bonus episode, Carly Watters interviews her client Anna Mitchael to discuss her writing journey and the art of storytelling through vignettes (the unique format of Anna's latest book). They discuss the importance of building relationships in the writing community, the complexities of personal triggers, the emotional toll of writing, and the pressures that come with publishing— among other things.
You can purchase The Will Tell You The World is Yours 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 📚❤️
In part two of May’s bonus episode, Bianca embraces a full circle moment with Noreen Nanja, a podcast listener who previously submitted to Books with Hooks! They discuss her debut novel, The Summers Between Us, which explores themes of identity, belonging, and the complexities of love. Noreen reflects on the challenges of writing a dual timeline narrative, the significance of trigger warnings, and the evolution of her characters.
You can purchase The Summers Between Us on our Bookshop.org affiliate page here. 📚❤️
In part three of May’s bonus episode, CeCe interviews her client, Laura Leffler. Laura discusses her journey as a writer, exploring her origins, the creation of her debut novel Tell Them You Lied, and the challenges she faced, particularly regarding the sensitive topic of 9/11. CeCe and Laura discuss the intricacies of the publishing process, including the evolution of her manuscript, and the importance of feedback in shaping her work.
You can purchase Tell Them You Lied on our Bookshop.org affiliate page here. 📚❤️
Talk about a heavy hitting episode! Listen to it here or watch it on YouTube!
Want to Hear More About Laura Leffler and the Book that Would “Never” Sell?
Got questions after listening to CeCe and Laura on the pod? You’re in luck, because the conversation continues next month at Barnes & Noble on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. CeCe will be moderating, and she and Laura will be spilling even MORE tea on all the behind-the-scenes that went into this book. There will also be time for a no-holds-barred audience Q&A! For more info, check out the Barnes & Noble events page or RSVP here.
Join CeCe & Bestselling Author Andrea Bartz for a Substack Live on Monday! 🤩
The TSNOTYAW team is doing our first ever Substack Live next week, and we couldn’t be more excited that it’s with Reese’s Book Club and New York Times bestselling author Andrea Bartz (whose latest, The Last Ferry Out, is out now!).
CeCe and Andrea will talk about writing believable characters, packing scenes with tension, and so much more, and there are amazing prizes (like signed copies and query critiques!) to be won, too!
If you don’t want to miss out, make sure you have the Substack app (you’ll watch it from there, much like an Instagram Live) and that you have notifications enabled—this will ensure you get a reminder from Substack on Monday when it’s time to join.
See you Monday!
Author Q&A with Karen Dukess!
Karen Dukess is the author of The Last Book Party and Welcome to Murder Week. She has been a newspaper reporter in Florida, a magazine publisher in Russia, and a speechwriter on gender equality for the United Nations. She has a degree in Russian studies from Brown University and a master’s in journalism from Columbia University. She lives outside of New York City and in Truro on Cape Cod, where she interviews some of today’s most acclaimed writers as host of the Castle Hill Author Talks for the Truro Center for the Arts.
TSNOTYAW: Do you have a go-to mantra or pep talk for the days when writing feels hard?
Karen Dukess: When the writing isn't flowing, I try to remind myself to let go a little bit and let my subconscious do its thing. For me, trying to buckle down and think up ideas never works as well as letting go and writing freely to see what bubbles up. Sometimes, though, the key is to get my butt out of the chair; going for a walk or a swim usually does the trick. Being outdoors and moving by body usually changes my mood and gets ideas churning again.
What one piece of advice (craft- or publishing industry-related) has always resonated with you?
The best advice I've ever gotten came from the leader of my first serious writing group. When I confessed that I had no idea where I was going with a work in progress, he said "Let the story reveal itself." I'd been a journalist before turning to fiction and this seemed like strange advice to me. Shouldn't I know what I wanted to say before saying it? I learned that I could write my way to clarity, that I didn't have to figure it all out first. And that work in progress, which seemed so aimless to me, grew into my debut novel, The Last Book Party.
How important do you think it is for writers to be on social media?
I think social media is a great way to expand your network, build a community of writers and readers, and spread the news about your work to people who might embrace it. I've made a lot of friends via social media, some I now know "in real life" and some who are online friends but friends nonetheless. In fact, Welcome to Murder Week would not exist if one of my virtual writer friends hadn't gone to England and posted such gorgeous photographs of her visit to the Peak District that I decided I had to go there too. It was that trip, following nearly the same itinerary, that inspired my novel. I knew I wanted to send a group of Americans on a trip to the Peak District and eventually I hit upon the idea of having them go there to solve a fake village murder mystery.
How did you get your literary agent? What was the querying process like for you?
I was very lucky in that I had two friends who worked in publishing and recommended agents to reach out to. One of them, Doug Stewart at Sterling Lord Literistic, seemed like a particularly good fit, so I sent him my query and he asked me to send the full manuscript. (This is the benefit of connections; you jump to the top of the pile). However, after sending the manuscript, I realized I'd jumped the gun a little and that the draft wasn't fully finished. I was so naive, I think I even wrote in the query letter "to be complete at 70,000 words" when the draft was well short of that. Not surprisingly, the agent said he liked the manuscript but that "it didn't seem finished." But he offered to meet with me to discuss how he thought I should best complete it. I jumped at this chance and when we met found that we were totally in synch as to what the novel needed. He didn't offer to represent me at that time but said that if I could do all the things we discussed, there was a good chance he'd take me on. I spent about six weeks finishing and revising the novel and sent it back to him. He emailed me the next day with the best-ever message: "I devoured this. Let's talk Monday." And we sold the novel at auction a few weeks later. I feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to meet Doug. We all think so much about getting an agent to like us, but it's so important to feel comfortable with our agent and know that it's a good match. I had such a great feeling about Doug right away and am so glad I took his advice in revising the novel and trying with him again.
What is something you’ve learned about yourself later in your writing career that would have surprised your younger self?
I've learned that I actually have a pretty thick skin. When I was younger, I was so deeply insecure about my writing and had such a fierce inner critic that I not only rarely shared my writing with anyone, but I rarely finished anything. A long-ago roommate once told me that I wrote the most beautiful opening paragraphs —her point being that I never continued them! And she was right—I wanted perfection from the get-go and when I didn't achieve it, I thought this was proof that I wasn't a good writer. Over time, I've learned to be less critical of myself and also not to expect that everyone will love what I write. I know a lot of writers who get very upset when they get a two or even three star review, and though I don't like bad reviews, they don't devastate me. As long as my work finds its readers, I'm OK with some people not liking what I write. This confidence has been incredibly freeing. When I was writing Welcome to Murder Week, my aim was to have fun with the writing. I really leaned into my own quirky sense of humor. I had no idea if others would be as amused as I was by my fictional English village and the cast of characters I assembled to solve a fake mystery. It's been incredibly gratifying to discover the many like-minded readers who've embraced this story.
Do you have any regrets about your journey so far? Do you wish you had done anything differently?
That's a tough one. In some ways, I regret how long it took me to understand that writing is hard work and that even the best writers struggle and have self-doubt. For decades, I stopped myself from pursuing fiction seriously because I thought that my difficulties with it meant that I wasn't good enough. Only by sharing with other writers in writing groups and classes and reading scads of interviews with published authors did I learn that everyone struggles and sometimes feels totally lost on the way to finishing a novel. But the reason I can't wholeheartedly consider this a regret is that by writing seriously only after age 50, I had a lot more life experience and material. I was in a writing class a few years back and a much younger fellow student read some of my work and said "how do you come up with all this stuff? How do you know these things?" And I told her, "I've lived a life."
You can purchase Welcome to Murder Week 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 📚❤️
Our Hosts Answer Your Burning Questions!
In this Q&A segment, Bianca, Carly, and CeCe discuss the importance of prior publications, the challenges of international submissions, and the significance of setting realistic career goals. The conversation also touches on the complexities of parting ways with an agent, the intricacies of writing multi-timeline novels, and the decision-making process behind choosing the right point of view in romance and women's fiction.
Tuesday Teaser 😉
Paid members will find Carly and CeCe’s written critiques of the 📕Books with Hooks🪝 query discussed on this week’s podcast in next Tuesday’s newsletter, along with this month’s bonus episode guest (and podcast listener!) Noreen Nanja’s successful query letter for The Summers Between Us.
We’ve also got a hilariously insightful (insightfully hilarious?) essay by Mark Stevens, author of No Lie Lasts Forever; a video by Ordinary Love author Marie Rutkoski on the importance of planting questions in your readers’ minds, breaking down how she did it using examples from her latest; and double the wisdom and advice in our Q&A with Alison Hammer and Bradeigh Godfrey, writing BFFs who publish under the pen name Ali Brady (their latest, Battle of the Bookstores, is out next week!).
Not yet a member? For just $8USD a month or $80USD a year you get:
an exclusive newsletter on Tuesdays featuring bonus author Q&As and other exclusive content from industry experts
access to Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra’s written notes on queries from the podcast’s Books With Hooks feature
monthly bonus podcast episodes, AND
regular Ask Me Anythings / Q&As with Carly, CeCe, and Bianca Marais.
If that doesn’t kickstart your writing journey, we don’t know what will!
Celebrating Bianca’s Launch and Emerging Authors’ Wins!
In ten sleeps, Bianca launches her latest novel, A Most Puzzling Murder, at The Young People’s Theatre in downtown Toronto in this not-to-be-missed literary soiree of the season! The tickets are all officially sold out (!!) but that won’t stop us from continuing to promote all the authors who’ll be there!
Considering what a fierce champion Bianca is of emerging authors, she’s especially excited to be celebrating with, and highlighting the work of, authors whose novels have yet to be released, because there’s nothing she loves more than a debut author’s deal announcement!
Joining her at the event will be Lavanya Lakshmi!
And Elizabeth Urso!
And Emily Ohanjanians!
If you’ll be there on the night, don’t miss the deadline for entering these two awesome contests by midnight ET on the 3rd of June:
A flash fiction contest – a story told in 1500 words or less.
A query package contest – your query letter and five opening pages.
The best entry in each category will be invited up on stage on the night to accept their award, and they’ll be welcomed onto the podcast and published in our newsletter. You can enter as many times as you like in each category.
Entries can be emailed to tsnotyaw.contest@gmail.com Please note, you can only enter these contests if you’ve got a ticket to attend the event.
We’ll also do two draws on the night for two 10 000-word critiques, one done by Bianca and one done by CeCe.
There are prizes you’re going to want to win!
That’s all for this week’s news! If you enjoyed it, why not share the love? 🥰
Tune in again next week for more invaluable wisdom from our wonderful hosts! Until then, happy writing! 😍
❤️ The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team
Our work takes place on land now known as Toronto and Ottawa and we acknowledge that these are the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat Peoples as well as the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation. Toronto is covered under Treaty 13 and the Williams Treaties. We respect and affirm the inherent and Treaty Rights of all Indigenous Peoples across this land and acknowledge the historical oppression of lands, cultures, languages, and the original Peoples in what we now know as Canada. We invite you to learn more about the land you inhabit, the history of that land, and how to actively be part of a better future going forward together at Native Land or Whose Land.
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.
“Let the story reveal itself” is one of my favorite pieces of advice to give as an editor and story coach who is also a writer myself. It’s a crazy kind of magic to see time and time again, with every author I work with, that stories really are like living entities we are entrusted with. Most of the time they know exactly how they need to be told, we just have to allow ourselves to be vessels for the process.