✨“I HATE THIS THIS IS TERRIBLE I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO WRITE” and Other Thoughts You Weren't Expecting From a NYT Bestselling Author! ✨
Plus, podcast listener Jessica Guerrieri returns, Mary Alice Monroe shares how not to write "meh" books, and more details of Bianca's almost sold out launch revealed!
Happy Friday, writing friends!
Have you ever read about a book that sounded so perfect you just KNEW you were going love it? The premise, the setting, the characters, all of it? But then you read it and it was…just okay? In today’s video, bestseller Mary Alice Monroe (Where the Rivers Merge) shares her thoughts on sticking the landing (the spot where a lot of books let their readers down), and how the seeds of the most satisfying conclusions are planted in the inciting incident (hint: focussing on your protagonist’s inner and outer goals is key).
Jessica Guerrieri is back again. And we don’t just mean following her excellent essay from our May 6th issue—a few years ago, Jessica was on the podcast for📕Books with Hooks🪝 , where our hosts critiqued her query and Carly offered her advice that led to massive edits (for example, going from three POVs to one)…as well as her subsequent book deal for Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea! Jessica’s back, this time as a published author, to talk to Bianca all about her journey to publication, sharing insights (including the “Before” and “After” of her query letter) that are sure to be helpful to anyone else out there working towards their own “Yes!”
We’ve got another NYT bestselling author with us this week, and this one also happens to have been a Reese’s Book Club pick! Keep reading for our Q&A with Andrea Bartz, author of The Last Ferry Out (available now!). Andrea is always so generous with her writing insights on her socials, so it’s no surprise that there’s lots to love in her answers (including her admission that the she often feels just as shitty about her writing as the rest of us do about ours). And querying writers will be particularly pleased to learn that Andrea’s got a whole collection of successful queries letters from big name authors over on her Substack (a very cursory glance found Angie Kim, Christina Clancy, and Chandler Baker!).
‼️‼️‼️ICYMI: New York Times bestselling author Riley Sager is going to be answering YOUR questions in our June 10th issue! If you’ve got a burning question about writing craft that you’re dying to get Riley’s insights on, send it to us asap care of AskAnAuthor.TheShitAboutWriting@gmail.com — the five best questions will be sent to Riley, who will answer them in an upcoming Tuesday edition. (If your question is selected and you’re not a paid subscriber, we’ll unlock that day’s newsletter just for you, and we’ve been told there might be a little something extra in store for those five thoughtful questioners…😉) ‼️‼️‼️
Last but not least, Bianca’s launch for A Most Puzzling Murder is fast approaching, and today she’s sharing EVEN MORE authors who will be there, along with a sneak peek at what’s going in the goody bags for June 9th.
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✨🎙️✨
This week, Bianca Marais interviews Jessica Guerrieri, author of 'Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.' They discuss Jessica's journey from teaching special education to becoming a published author, her experiences with addiction recovery, and the evolution of her debut novel. The two also talk about the intricacies of writing, the importance of feedback, and the challenges of navigating the publishing world. Jessica shares her insights on the writing process, the significance of point of view, and the role of beta readers in shaping her work. Finally, Jessica shares her journey to landing an agent and securing a two-book deal, offering valuable advice for aspiring writers.
Listen to it here or watch it on YouTube!
“The amount of rejection is unbelievable in this industry, but there was no point at which I was going to give up. There was no point. There's going to be defeat and setback and that's part of it, but overwhelmingly—and just as the tone in my story—it ends with a sense of hope, and that's really important to me too.”
-Jessica Guerrieri
More information about Jessica can be found on her website. She’s also on Instagram!
You can purchase Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea 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 📚❤️
Mary Alice Monroe and the 'Moment of Aha' in This Week’s Video
Mary Alice Monroe has joined us this week with valuable insights on the importance of climax and resolution to writing novels that satisfy readers. She discusses the significance of the inciting incident, and how to build towards a climactic moment that resonates emotionally with readers.
Mary Alice Monroe is the New York Times bestselling author of over 30 books, including her forthcoming novel, Where The Rivers Merge.
More than 7.5 million copies of her books have been published worldwide, and she’s earned numerous accolades and awards, including induction into the South Carolina Academy of Authors’ Hall of Fame.
You can purchase Where the Rivers Merge on our Bookshop.org affiliate page here. 📚❤️
Author Q&A with Andrea Bartz
Andrea Bartz is a journalist and the New York Times-bestselling author of Reese’s Book Club pick We Were Never Here, The Spare Room, The Lost Night, The Herd, and her latest, The Last Ferry Out. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire, Vogue, and many other outlets, and she's held editorial positions at Glamour, Psychology Today, and Self, among other publications.
She lives in Brooklyn and the Hudson Valley.
TSNOTYAW: Do you have a go-to mantra or pep talk for the days when writing feels hard?
Andrea Bartz: “Just twenty minutes.” When I’m drafting a book, I use the Pomodoro Method to stay productive: 20 minutes of writing followed by a 5-minute break. (Equally important: I toss my phone in another room. Too much temptation!) The first minute is hard, but once my fingers start moving, it gets easier and easier, and the words pile up. It’s amazing how much you can get done in a few concentrated writing sprints.
What would you say you’ve done right to build a strong and supportive writing network?
I try to focus on how I can help others—not because it means people “owe” me favors, but because it’s the right thing to do. As much as I can, I blurb debuts, moderate launches, pull together resources that will, I hope, help all of us in the author trenches (such as my public compendium of successful query letters), and just generally try to approach the industry from the assumption that other authors are my friends and allies, not my competition (I mean, we don’t negotiate our own advances; when someone I know gets a seven-figure deal, I’m jealous, sure, but also thrilled for them). Generous people find each other, and I feel so lucky to have a supportive author network that’s really rooting for me.
I also try to make friends up and down the career ladder: people in my cohort, in the very same stage of their career, but also people with more and less experience. Folks on both ends give me perspective; someone on their twentieth book will know things I don’t, while someone working on their debut can remind me how much I’ve learned and how very much I have to be thankful for. If you’ve got mentors, mentees, and peers—you’re in good shape.
What is the most challenging part of being a successful author? And how do you mitigate its effects?
I wasn’t fully prepared for the isolation of being a full-time author. My partner, a data scientist, works from home as well, but 99% of the time, we’re in different rooms with the doors shut. I’m an extrovert and I loved the collaborative, super-social environment of a magazine office, so I can go a little stir-crazy when I’m alone for too long. Exercise is so important for mental health in general, and workout classes in particular really boost my mood and energy level (in a way that using the Elliptical can’t). I’m forced to go outside, see the sun, and be around other people. That’s huge when you work from home!
A few times a month, I’ll meet a writer friend for a work date, which is usually a catch-up lunch followed by a few hours of working. I know I won’t be quite as productive during our date, so I save certain tasks for cafe days, like updating my website or sending invoices. I try to schedule dinners or drinks several nights a week, so I have something to look forward to when I’m done writing. And every once in a while I just say ‘screw it’ and head to a museum or movie or park or botanical garden in the middle of a workday. What’s the point of being self-employed if you never give yourself a break?
Writer’s block: myth or unfortunate reality? If you experience it, how do you overcome it?
I think it’s mostly a myth—surgeons have days when they don’t feel like doing surgery, musicians have days when they don’t feel like making music, plumbers have days when they don’t feel like fixing plumbing, and authors have days when they don’t feel like writing. Writing is, unfortunately, the only way to have a completed manuscript, so if that’s the goal, you have to silence the voice screaming NONONONONO and get to work.
How? Well, I mentioned the Pomodoro method, which definitely helps when I’m stuck—when the twenty-minute writing sprint begins, sometimes the first minute is just me typing I HATE THIS THIS IS TERRIBLE I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO WRITE. But once you get going, real words start to flow. Another tip, if you’re stuck on a plot problem, is to write it in a notebook right before bed. Your subconscious will work on it as you sleep, and the next morning you’ll find you’re much closer to having the answer. (My sleeping mind surprised the hell out of me with a connection I'd inadvertently cued up in The Last Ferry Out!) I remind myself that I almost never feel like writing, and yet I’ve completed six books. You can’t wait until you get the urge to write. You just have to sit down and write!
What do you wish you had known about writing before you published your debut?
I always thought that once I hit certain external markers—a celebrity book club pick, the NYT bestseller list—I’d felt like I’d “made it” and it would all be smooth sailing from there. The advances would be fat, the royalty checks would be regular, and I wouldn’t have to deal with impostor syndrome or stress about my career again.
I could not have been more wrong.
The Last Ferry Out is my fifth novel, and I’m still incredibly anxious about how it will do. If anything, it was harder to get my Book 6 idea approved because the bar is higher—less, “Let’s throw it against the wall and see if it sticks,” more, “We want to feel confident your readers will find and love this.” Higher expectations and stakes, a larger margin for disappointment, a narrower definition of “meets expectations.” This job is always scary! Unless you’re, like, Colleen Hoover (but what do I know, maybe for her too)!
It was actually liberating to realize the goalposts were gonna keep moving and all I could do was keep writing the absolute best book possible, again and again and again. I need to feel proud of it and I must explore topics I care about and find ways to enjoy the work. Because I can’t control the outcomes, and even if I could miraculously hit those external benchmarks every time, I’d just find new things to stress about. This is meant to sound empowering, not demoralizing, by the way…I’d give 2019 Andi a pep talk about not focusing on those notions of “success” and instead enjoying the ride.
How did you get your literary agent? What was the querying process like for you?
I worked on The Lost Night for about two years before querying. When I felt it was in good shape, I started by researching literary agents who were accepting queries. (This is all going to sound very familiar to your readers!) I used Publishers Marketplace’s Dealmakers database to find the agents of authors whose work was similar to mine. I searched for specific terms like “female psychological thrillers” on AgentQuery, and I browsed through the then-Twitter hashtag #MSWL (Manuscript Wish List) to see what agents were looking for.
I queried about 30 agents and had three offers of representation within about a month. I interviewed them all and signed with the agent I’m still working with today, almost a decade letter. I think the reason I had a fairly smooth process is that I spent months perfecting my query letter…I let so many people read it and give me feedback, and I didn’t start querying until everyone who took a look at it wanted to know more. As I mentioned, I put together a roundup of successful query letters on my Substack, and it includes the before-and-after of my query: the first draft and the one I eventually sent out. How's that for proof it dramatically changed? You only get one chance to query an agent (and, by proxy, their entire agency!)—don't rush!
If you could travel back in time and meet your past self in the year after the publication of your debut, what words of encouragement and/or warning would you give yourself?
It’s the same advice I’m always giving to all writers, everywhere: Keep writing, keep writing, keep writing. My buzzy sophomore mystery, The Herd (set in a bougie all-female co-working space a la The Wing) came out in late March 2020—the very week bookstores closed and the mail system went kaput. It sold badly and I wanted to crawl into a hole and give up on the entire publishing enterprise (lockdown blues didn’t help). But I kept chugging away on my next manuscript, We Were Never Here—which became a Reese’s Book Club pick and an instant NYT bestseller.
People sometimes say “you’re only as good as your last book” in this industry, but I don’t think it’s true; I think you’re only as good as your next book. If you keep having big ideas and delivering on them, eventually the right one will hit at the right time. But if you throw in the towel? The end of your career is all but guaranteed.
You can purchase The Last Ferry Out on our Bookshop.org affiliate page here. 📚❤️
Tuesday Teaser 😉
In next week’s newsletter exclusively for our paid members, we’ve got an essay from Bailey Hannah (Change of Hart) on how to use intimacy to show character growth, including her five tips for creating characters that feel real; bestselling author Alexis Daria (Along Came Amor) shares how she ditched what she was “supposed to be” working on in order to rediscover her love of writing (and reading!) in our Q&A; and Lindsay Zier-Vogel (The Fun Times Brigade) shares practical advice on how to get paid for your writing, even if you haven’t published a novel yet, in an essay on grant writing.
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
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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!
Just a Few More Weeks Until the Literary Night of the Year!
Join Bianca on the 9th of June from 6-10pm ET as she 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!
It’s not a party without friends, and Bianca will have a LOT of them there to help her celebrate, including Carly and CeCe for the hosts’ first ever in real life event together!!
In each week’s Friday newsletter, we’ll also be announcing additional special guests, not to mention the incredible contests we’ll be hosting, as well as the awesome prizes up for grabs.
This week, we’re excited to announce that special guests Noreen Nanja (author of The Summers Between Us), Heather Dixon (author of At The Ocean’s Edge), H&A Christensen (authors of Stealing John Hancock), Brianne Sommerville (author of What She Left Behind), Sydney Leigh (author of Peril in Pink) and Erin Pepler (author of Send Me Into the Woods Alone) will be joining in the fun too!
Make sure to check out these authors’ fabulous titles on our Bookshop.org page!
We’re also excited about the two contests we’re hosting for those of you who will be joining us on the night:
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.
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!
CAD $45+tax gets you an unassigned seat in the theatre, access to all the fun, a signed copy of A Most Puzzling Murder, a goodie bag, and snacks before and after the main event.
Shout out to the awesome Walton Wood Farm for being a sponsor for the event! Everyone attending will get a Week From Hell mini sampler in their goodie bag. Yay! Because, as writers, we need to take care of their hands. And because we know all too well what a writing Week from Hell feels like!
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.