✨Take A Creative Leap with Renée M. Sgroi's "Smooshes," Then Stick the Landing with the Help of Elizabeth DeLozier's Practical Advice✨

Plus, Carly and CeCe's written query critiques, and the countdown to Deep Dive registration continues...

Happy Tuesday, writing friends!

Hope you all had a great weekend and are ready for a fresh batch of insights and advice! Today’s issue is the perfect balance of the inspiring and the practical—just what you need to kick off a successful writing week!

First up we have an essay from poet and teacher of creativity, Renée M. Sgroi (whose latest collection, In a Tension of Leaves and Binding, is out now). And, yes, you read that right. Not teacher of “creative writing,” but creativity, full-stop. (Editor’s note: Who knew this was a thing? Does anyone else feel like their high school guidance counselor really skipped over the good stuff back in the day?). Fiction writers can learn a lot from poets, particularly when it comes to taking creative leaps. If your line level writing is falling flat, there are worse things you could do than read some poetry. And what if it’s all just a little too predictable? That might where “the smooshes” come in. What exactly are these smooshes of which we speak? We’ll leave that to Renée to explain, but will say she makes a solid case for taking creative leaps in our writing. 🦘😉✍🏾

Also in this issue, we’ve got a video from self-professed “history nerd” Elizabeth DeLozier (whose historical fiction debut, Eleanore of Avignon, is out today). Historical fiction continues to be HUGELY popular with both readers and writers, and Elizabeth has loads of helpful insights for anyone tackling what can be a daunting genre to attempt to master. Elizabeth shares practical advice to help hist fic writers avoid falling so far down research rabbit holes they forget to write, and offers tips on the types of details you should include to make your historical setting feel authentic—and more. (Bonus: Much—maybe even most—of her advice is just as applicable to other genres. So we encourage everyone to tune in, not just writers of historical fiction!) 🎥💻

Looking for insights into what makes a query click with agents? Don’t forget our Tuesday newsletter is the new(ish) home of Carly and CeCe’s written 📕Books with Hooks🪝feedback. Every other week you can find the queries that were critiqued on the previous week’s episode of the podcast here. ✍🏼

Happy reading!

❤️ The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team