✨"Go Forth in Fear, and Do it Scared" with London Sperry; and Query Critiques Inside! ✨

Plus, Molly Harper and Allison Raskin show why they're bestsellers with this week's amazing essays; and Carly Watters shares her breakout book worksheet

Happy Tuesday, writing friends!

Last week was 📕Books with Hooks 🪝week on the podcast, and you know what that means…(but in case you don’t, it means you can find Carly and CeCe’s written query critiques below).

Odds are good you’ve heard some version of “It’s not bravery if you’re not scared to do it” before, but have you thought about it in the context of writing? Sitting down to write might not be as dangerous as, say, jumping out of an airplane, but why, then, does every writer at one point or another find themselves resisting when it’s time to apply butt to chair? Resistance equals fear, and fear of failure is one of the biggest roadblocks to writing success that any writer can face. In today’s Q&A, debut author London Sperry (Passion Project) shares how she gets through feeling overwhelmed by the task in front of her, along with her mantra: “Go forth in fear, and do it scared.” (Editor’s note: A fine candidate for a future tattoo if ever there was one.)

Next, we’ve got not one but two (!) fantastic essays from two bestselling authors. First up, USA Today bestselling author Molly Harper (A Proposal To Die For) offers her insights on how to weave together the necessary story beats when blending two genres together. In Molly’s case it's murder mystery and romance, but she explains the thought process behind the story beat choices she makes in such a way that we think you can easily translate her ideas to help with whatever story you’re working on.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that emerging authors have a tendency to mine their own lives for inspiration when they sit down to write. And why not? That story about the time as a kid when you [insert favourite anecdote here] absolutely slays at dinner parties. But there are all kinds of differences between what makes a story compelling to someone who knows the teller and what makes for an engaging read, and figuring out those differences—and how to work around them—is not necessarily intuitive. Fortunately for you, our second essay today is by New York Times bestselling author Allison Raskin (Save the Date) who has pretty much written the book on how to successfully turn your real life into compelling fiction (or, at least, she has written a book that amply demonstrates her abilities to do precisely that, and in her essay today shares her secrets so that you can do it, too!).

Finally, as a follow-up to her essay in our Friday edition (How To Stand Out as a Debut Author), our co-host Carly Watters shares a worksheet to help walk you through how to identify what your book needs in order to earn a coveted spot on the “breakout” shelf. There’s no magic wand for that, alas, but there are things you can do to help you and your words stand out, and we’re happy to be sharing them with you today!

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! ❤️

❤️ The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team