✨The Payoffs and Pitfalls of Risk-Taking Writing; and Tiffany Yates Martin on Dealing with "Doubt Demons"✨
Plus, where in the world is CeCe Lyra (going to be in November)? 🤔✈️😉
Happy Friday, talented pals!
Everyone’s looking for a way to make their writing stand out from the crowd, right? And while this is true for all writers, it can feel especially urgent for anyone still in the early stages of their journey to publication. There’s no single “secret” to getting the attention of agents or editors, but certainly taking risks with your work is one way to do it—just look at books like Lincoln in the Bardo and Daisy Jones & the Six. Both swung for the fences in terms of their approaches to narrative structure and POV, and both were met with critical and commercial success—that’s the dream, right? 🤩🥇💰
If you answered “yes” to the above, you should really make time to listen to this week’s podcast (and if you didn’t…are you sure you’re in the right place??). It’s📕Books with Hooks🪝week on the show, and Bianca, Carly and CeCe discuss the opening pages and queries for two manuscripts that that take some interesting risks. Do they succeed? Are they the next Interior Chinatown? You’ll have to tune in to find out…🎧😊
(And on that note…We know some of you are #TeamBooksWithHooks and others are #TeamAuthorInterview, and that’s cool. You do you, Boo. BUT. If you’re skipping listening to the query critique weeks on the show because you don’t think they’re relevant to you, just know that you are absolutely missing out on nuggets of solid gold craft advice.)
We’ve got more writing wisdom for you this week in the form of an essay by Tiffany Yates Martin. Having spent the last three decades in the publishing industry as both an editor and the author of eight works of fiction and non-fiction, Tiffany is something of an expert in the field of “Doubt Demons,” her terms for all the inner negative self-talk (from impostor syndrome and writer’s block to comparison and competition) that can derail an author’s writing and their confidence. You can find her excellent advice below in Dealing with the Doubt Demons! 😈
We’re also excited to shares details of CeCe’s participation in the upcoming Kauai Writers’ Conference (Editor’s note: before anyone gets any ideas, I call dibs on hiding in CeCe’s suitcase…) 🧳✈️
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✨🎙️✨
Listen to this week’s podcast here! Bianca, Carly, and CeCe critique a speculative fiction query and a literary fiction submission. They discuss:
Avoiding confusion in your query letter;
Ensuring your plot and climax match your genre;
Writing interiority that reflects your characters' realities;
Title expectations for literary fiction; and
The challenges of writing in epistolary form.
“The challenge with epistolary for me is that the number one reason why I love a book is interiority, because it's the one medium that allows us to be inside someone's psyche. And the most interesting thing about interiority is seeing the difference between what we're thinking and processing versus what we're saying and doing. Life's ‘interesting’ lies in that discrepancy. It lies in the, ‘I am actually feeling fear, but I'm projecting confidence.’ Or ‘I am actually thinking you're an idiot,’ but I'm smiling and pretending like I think you're smart… And you can't get that in the letter…And to me, that is what makes epistolary so, so hard.”
— CeCe
Dealing with the Doubt Demons
By: Tiffany Yates Martin
The other day I walked out of my office and into my husband’s down the hall, looming in the doorway until he looked up from his computer.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, picking right up on the subtle cues of my lurking there in an ominous cloud of silence and the turmoil undoubtedly swimming all over my face.
“I don’t know about this book,” I blurted. “I’m not sure it’s any good.”
Readers, some brief background: For the last three decades—my entire career—I have worked in the publishing industry as an editor, both with major publishers and directly with authors. “This book” is my latest, The Intuitive Author: How to Grow & Sustain a Happier Writing Career, my eighth published book, my second nonfiction written for authors.
Like my first nonfiction for authors, Intuitive Editing, its material is culled from those years of experience—in this case, working with literally thousands of authors as they navigate an ever-changing, ever-challenging publishing environment, and learning what separates those who succeed and thrive from those who flame out or give up.
I think of the new book as a survival manual for authors, covering the “soft skills” areas of creating and sustaining a fulfilling writing career, like developing a sense of agency and autonomy in a field where often it seems as if the author can be at the mercy of forces beyond their control; handling rejection and criticism; advocating for yourself as an author; writing authentically…and dealing with the demons.
Oh, the demons (of happy memory) have their very own section called Roadblocks that dives deep into how to handle into these common writer afflictions: impostor syndrome, comparison, competition, procrastination, “writer’s block”—all the inner negative self-talk that can derail an author’s writing and their confidence.
I’ve danced with the demons myself plenty of times and developed very effective ways of handling them—which is why I felt confident in the techniques and tools I offer in their dedicated section of the book.
And yet there I was, skulking in the doorjamb of my husband’s office, wrestling with the doubt demon.
The Demons Are Yours Forever
That’s the thing about the damned demons—no matter how adept you may become at identifying and managing them, you can never vanquish them completely. Whatever your personal demons are—and we all have them, especially creatives, who are often uniquely sensitive to such self-doubts—they’re your lifelong companions.
You can’t defeat them. You can’t banish them. You simply learn to accept and peacefully coexist with them, understanding that they aren’t reality. They are fears run amok—normal, ordinary, oh-so-human fears.
Our challenge as creatives is to realize that, and that they’re simply trying to protect us…and then calmly assure them that it’s okay—we’ve got this.
We don't always dance with the demons. In fact most days I'm guessing the majority of us stay pretty centered on the path: adding to our word count, building out our stories, loving some parts, knowing others aren't quite coming together yet, but just steadily walking the road toward where we're going, knowing we'll get there eventually, one way or another.
But when the doubt demons rear their little red heads (I think of mine as the Underwood ham demons), we forget all about those normal writing days.
The doubt demons get their gnarly fungal claws all stuck up in our brain and start to spin reality around until we see things through the lens of eternalization and globalization: Everything sucks and it will always suck. In fact it has always sucked.
The doubt demon especially likes to strike just when you are about to take the vulnerable, heroic risk of sharing your work. While you're working hard to get that sucker out the front door, he's breaking in the back and starts trashing the joint: “Are you really going to put this out there? It's not remotely ready. People are going to hate it. And it’s all been said before—better, in fact, and much more extensively.”
Clearly, hunkering there in that doorjamb in crisis, I was getting sucked in by his nonsense.
Luckily my husband, who as a science tech geek is not enmeshed daily in the radical pendulum swings the creative psyche is prone to, knew to offer a little rational objectivity: “Isn't this the same book you said yesterday you were so proud of and you couldn’t wait to share it with authors?” he asked logically.
Well, yes, dear…but that was yesterday.
But just like that, his question kick-started me into the first step in dealing with the demons: Get some distance so you can restore reality.
How to Handle the Demons
First, as with all unwelcome demons, you've got to get the hell away from them so you can think clearly. When they surge in with their distorted funhouse-mirror reflections, it's too easy to see reality the way they want you to. Stepping away is like removing the audience when a toddler throws a tantrum. It's no fun for them to rain chaos if no one's there reacting to it.
My previous bouts with self-doubt have taught me enough that I knew to step away from spiraling in front of my computer to lurk in my husband’s office.
Then the hubs offered that first reminder of reality that put a stop to the demon’s steady stream of smack-talk. He’s right: I have been extremely happy with this book, even throughout the drafting and editing process, which most writers know is a precious rarity.
Reminding myself of that helped me step back from the erroneous messages the doubt demon was sending me and start to examine them more rationally:
The book is certainly ready. I’ve been working on it for some time, and much of the content has already been shop-tested in keynote speeches, presentations, blog posts and articles I’ve written. It’s been extensively edited and beta-read—by me and others—and it’s as close to my intentions as I could have hoped.
Some people may hate it; that’s true. No author has control over how their work is received. But as I once memorably heard a presenter say to stoke their own confidence before a keynote, “I don’t have to please everyone; I just hope to help someone.” And that I know I can do.
Of course some of what I’m writing about has been said before—there’s nothing new under the sun. But what’s fresh about this book is my spin on these topics—my unique practical, actionable approach for handling some of these “squishy” skills that are essential to an author’s success and happiness in their career. Some folks might prefer other people’s approach…but some may find that mine is what flips the right switch for them.
You can’t silence those writerly demons forever, or completely. But if you learn to recognize them for what they are—simply the runaway fears of the uncertain child inside us all—then you can get better and better at not taking them too seriously, and remember to be the adult in the room.
Tiffany Yates Martin has spent nearly thirty years as an editor in the publishing industry, working with major publishers and New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling and award-winning authors as well as indie and newer writers. She is the founder of FoxPrint Editorial (named one of Writer’s Digest’s Best Websites for Authors) and she is a regular contributor to writers’ outlets like Writer’s Digest, Jane Friedman, and Writer Unboxed, and a frequent presenter and keynote speaker for writers’ organizations around the globe. Under her pen name, Phoebe Fox, she is the author of six novels.
Tiffany’s latest work is out today! You can purchase The Intuitive Author through our Bookshop.org link! Buying through our affiliate page supports a local indie bookstore, as well as The Shit No One Tells You About Writing 📚❤️
Tuesday Teaser 😉
In next week’s newsletter exclusively for our paid members, we’ve got an essay by Sarah LaBrie, whose upcoming memoir No One Gets to Fall Apart has been likened to Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle and Tara Westover's Educated, as well as a Q&A with Richard Chizmar, who is not only a bestselling and award-winning author (and Stephen King collaborator!), but the kind of frank, wise and grounded writer we wish we had on speed dial for those days when we need talking off the ledge.
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!
Join CeCe Lyra at the 10th Kauai Writers Conference 😍🥳
I hope no one asks me to share who I’m most excited to meet at the Kauai Writers’ Conference, because their impressive lineup (Lauren Groff, Meg Wolitzer, Jean Kwok, Ruth Ware, Tom Perrotta—and that’s just the authors) makes it impossible to choose. Top literary agents, acquisitions editors, and film/TV professionals will be there too. Talk about star power! (I’m not sure how I managed to make the cut, but just to be safe let’s not bring that up.)
If a full weekend of masterclasses, panels, and pitch sessions with agents and other publishing professionals seems exciting to you, then consider joining me! Something I’m really looking forward to is receiving writers’ pages ahead of our one-on-one sessions. Don’t get me wrong: I always love meeting writers, but to speak to them after having read their opening pages makes for stronger meetings. I’ll be able to offer my honest opinion on the potential in their story and their writing style, as well as listen to their pitch. Not all conferences offer this option (in case you were looking for something to tip the scales in favour of booking a flight)!
-CeCe
Find out more and register here. Use discount code “CECE” at checkout for 15% off! You won’t want to miss this one 😍
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.
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