Shooting The Shit About Our Publishing Pet Peeves and What To Do When Your One “Yes” Is A “No”

The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

Bianca Marais, Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra

Education, How To, Arts, Books, Fiction

4.8 • 842 Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2026

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week’s Shooting the Shit is pure publishing chaos — in the best way. CeCe and Carly swap hilariously relatable publishing pet peeves (reply-all disasters, missing phone numbers, email thread nightmares), answer listener DMs about agent offers, beauty contests, and what to do when your “yes” doesn’t feel right, and dive into real talk about author marketing budgets and industry expectations.

They also unpack big publishing news — from Spotify’s new audiobook partnership to a fiery debate on AI-generated books that has the writing world talking. Plus: behind-the-scenes updates on what’s coming next for the podcast.

Note: CeCe Lyra is a literary agent at Wendy Sherman Associates. If you’d like to query CeCe, please refer to the submission guidelines at www.wsherman.com. Carly Watters is a literary agent at P.S. Literary Agency, but her work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly on this podcast are solely that of her as a podcast co-host 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	What's up, everyone? This is Cece. Do you know something I'm always looking for when I review the slush file?
0:06.1	Strong interiority. Well-written interiority shows what your protagonist is thinking about in a way that is realistic and interesting.
0:14.2	It propels the story forward instead of holding it back, but it doesn't stop there.
0:19.5	A strong writer will leverage interiority into a
0:22.8	superpower into something I call psychological acuity. Think about it this way. Plot is what happens.
0:30.1	Interiority is how your protagonist processes what happens. And psychological acuity is why it matters.
0:36.8	It gives a book depth and meaning and staying power.
0:40.9	All breakout books have psychological acuity.
0:43.8	You have been asking me to teach a course about psychological acuity for years, years.
0:48.7	Well, it's finally here.
0:50.4	Why did it take me so long?
0:51.9	Because my courses take years to build.
1:12.5	They're dense, they're thorough, and they're filled with examples and specific techniques. So this five-day course begins on March 2nd. We'll have an optional interactive component. Students are invited to submit excerpts from their work for a chance to have them critiqued live during a class. If you're ready to take your writing to the next level, join me for writing interiority and psychological acuity. Don't worry if you
1:18.6	can't attend live. The sessions will be recorded. And for more information, check out my bio
1:23.6	on Instagram or the podcast website. I'm looking forward to seeing you there.
1:29.8	Welcome to another episode of Shooting the Shit with literary agents Carly Waters and
1:35.2	Cici Lira, where we dissect publishing gossip, discuss book industry trends, and the overall state of
1:41.2	the book business. If you've ever wanted to grab a coffee with two literary agents,
1:45.3	grab your mug and pull up a chair.
1:54.6	Welcome, everyone, to another episode of shooting the shit.
1:58.0	We're really excited to have you here.
2:00.2	And to kick us off, I have a
	...

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