July Bonus Episode
The Shit No One Tells You About Writing
Bianca Marais, Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra
4.8 • 733 Ratings
🗓️ 28 July 2025
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In part one of July’s bonus episode, Bianca sits down with debut author Jacqueline Faber for a thoughtful and inspiring conversation. With a rich academic background and a diverse writing portfolio, Jacqueline shares her path to publication and the creative decisions that shaped her novel, ‘The Department’. They explore the emotional challenges of receiving feedback, the intentional design of the book’s narrative structure, and the nuanced process of character development. Jacqueline also offers insight into the role of memory in storytelling and her organic, intuitive approach to writing. This conversation offers valuable perspectives for writers and readers alike, highlighting the depth and complexity behind powerful fiction.
In part two of this month’s bonus episode, Carly interviews historical fiction author Jane Healey about her new book, 'Women of Arlington Hall.' The conversation explores the true stories of female codebreakers during the Cold War, the challenges of fictionalizing real history, and the themes of women's empowerment and friendship. Jane shares her creative process, the dynamics of office culture, and the intricacies of writing a slow-burn romance. The discussion also touches on the balance between blood and chosen family, as well as the joys and challenges of the writing journey.
Note: Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra are literary agents at P.S. Literary Agency, but their work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly and CeCe on this podcast are solely that of them as podcast co-hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency.
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Beta reader matchup time is happening again. It's been so gratifying over the summer to be tagged in so many posts about beta readers who've become writing besties and who are still going strong many years after they were first matched. Some even travel to meet up and do writing weekends together, which sounds incredible. I can't guarantee |
| 0:23.0 | any of that. That's entirely up to you, but what I can guarantee is that you'll be matched with a |
| 0:28.6 | group of people working in your genre and or time zone who will critique 3,000 words of your work |
| 0:35.0 | as you critique theirs in return. You can sign up from now until the 31st of |
| 0:40.2 | August with the match-up emails going out on the 1st of September. Head to my website, Bianca Moray.com, |
| 0:47.6 | and look for the beta reader matchup tab. |
| 1:03.5 | Hi there and welcome to our show. The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. I'm Bianca Maray and I'm joined by Carly Waters and Cece Leera from PS Literary Agency. |
| 1:10.2 | Hi everyone. Today's guest is an author and freelance writer. |
| 1:14.6 | She holds a PhD in comparative literature from Emory University, where she was the recipient |
| 1:20.2 | of a Woodruff scholarship and taught an expository writing program at New York University, |
| 1:26.1 | where she received an award for excellence in teaching. |
| 1:29.1 | She studied philosophy in Bologna, Italy, and received a dissertation grant from Frye University |
| 1:34.8 | in Berlin, Germany. She writes across genres, including thrillers, rom-coms, and essays. |
| 1:40.7 | Her work explores questions about trauma, loss, language, and desire, steeped in |
| 1:46.7 | philosophical, psychological, and literary themes. Her writing is grounded in studies of character. |
| 1:52.9 | As a freelance writer, she writes for various companies, including a fair trade marketplace |
| 1:57.8 | for global artisans, where she helps bring their unique stories to life. |
| 2:03.2 | She lives with her family in Los Angeles. It's my pleasure to welcome Jacqueline Faber. |
| 2:08.5 | Jacqueline, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. I've been such a huge fan for so |
| 2:13.0 | long. I'm really honored to be here. It's amazing to have you here. And for our listeners who are watching this on our YouTube channel, I'm holding up the cover of the book, the department. |
| 2:23.2 | It's a really, really striking cover. |
| 2:25.3 | And this is what we're going to be chatting about today. |
... |
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