✨Query Critiques Inside! Plus, Cracking the Mystery Writing Case with Ande Pliego; and the Hack that Keeps Elizabeth A. Tucker's Creativity Firing! 🔥🔥🔥 ✨

Plus, tips from Swati Hegde to help you build a rejection-proof mindset; and the Great Beta Reader Match-Up continues!

Happy Tuesday, writing friends!

Last week was 📕Books with Hooks 🪝week on the podcast, so you can find Carly and CeCe’s written query critiques below! But that’s not all! We’ve got another great issue for our paid members this week, offering inspiration to keep you going, and concrete, practical advice to help you reach your destination.

We are super-excited about today’s first offering—an essay from Ande Pliego (author of You Are Fatally Invited, out now!) on her step-by-step mystery writing process. Recognizing that “few things let the air out of a whodunnit’s tires like an obvious killer,” Ande shares three things that can give your twists away, as well as other concrete advice aimed at a “turn[ing] readers into conspiracy theorists about your characters.” Given that nearly every reader at Ande’s first author event for the book was (erroneously) convinced they knew who the killer was, we think her ideas are more than worth your time! Bonus: Her tips for things like plotting reveals and ensuring each of your characters serves a purpose are equally applicable to all genres! (Editor’s note: if there’s a better descriptor for random side characters than “The Jar Jar Binks of mysteries,” I have yet to see it). 😂🙌🏼🔍

Next, we’ve got a Q&A with debut novelist Elizabeth Tucker (whose The Pale Flesh of Wood is out today), which includes her hack for ensuring she has both the time and motivation to write every day. It’s genius in its simplicity and the kind of thing that literally everyone can try for themselves. And if taking time from your obligations to write makes you feel guilty, Elizabeth’s reminder that we “have exactly one life on this fine planet” might just the nudge you need to get over it. ❤️

One of the biggest paradoxes of this writing life is that is that it takes a great deal of sensitivity to write a truly great book, but publishing is an industry seemingly designed to kick💩out of the sensitive soul. And even if you’re insides aren’t entirely squishy, rejection is still no picnic. So we think this week’s video from Swati Hegde, author of Can’t Help Faking in Love (out now!), in which she shares her top tips for building a rejection-proof mindset, is one everyone should watch (plus, Swati’s not just a published author, but also as a certified life and success coach, so we’re pretty sure she knows a thing or two on the topic!). 🙌🏼

Finally, we’re also sharing an unmissable opportunity to get your questions about all things writing and publishing answered, and registration continues for the Great Beta Reader Match-Up—now with 100% more fairy smut! 🐉🧚🏼‍♂️💘

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

❤️ The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team