May Cobb Makes Time to Write, and Katherine Wood Makes Us Starry-Eyed

Plus, course offerings, the Great Beta Reader Match-Up, and two new written query letter critiques from Carly and CeCe

Dear friends of The Sh*t,

We’ve got another great exclusive newsletter for you this week, particularly if you’ve ever fantasized about hearing the title of your book read out as the winner of the best adapted screenplay during the Oscars (because your perfect, agonized over WIP title not only made it onto the cover of your published novel intact, but also miraculously survived the adaptation process! Or, better still, it wins at the Emmys, because we all know no two-hour movie can do justice to a novel the way a limited series can. And while you’re at it, give yourself a golden statue for adapting it yourself. I mean, if you’re going to dream, dream big! Amirite?! 😉).

To feed that dream this week, we’ve got a great video from Katherine Wood (whose Ladykiller is out today), sharing insights into the book-to-screen adaptation process that she knows more than a thing or two about, having been a screenwriter, director and producer. So tune in, sit back, and let your imagination run wild picking out your red-carpet outfit.👗🎥🍿

We’ve also got two more brand-new written critiques of never-before-aired queries from our listeners, as well as our weekly Q&A, this time featuring award-winning suspense author May Cobb whose latest, The Hollywood Assistant, is out now. May adds to the body of evidence supporting the assertion that 15 minutes (many times over, obvy) is all you need to achieve writing success (you might recall our recent Q&A with Date Week author Ted Fox, who shared how he managed to overcome feeling daunted by the enormity of trying to carve out time to write an entire novel by breaking it down into bite-sized, 15-minute to one-hour increments).

The dream of on-screen glory may be a lofty one, but in the meantime we can all latch onto the very sound advice this newsletter offers each week for actually getting our novels finished and on the road to publication. Because, ultimately, isn’t that REALLY what we all most dream about? That our words, so precious to us, connect deeply with even just one reader? (Millions would be nice, too, of course…)

Until then…Happy reading (and viewing)!

❤️ The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team