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The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

Shooting the Shit...Live from Hawaii! About turning down offers and how best to work with your literary agent.

The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

Bianca Marais, Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra

Education, How To, Fiction, Books, Arts

4.8842 Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

CeCe’s in island mode, Carly’s snowed in—and the publishing chat is heating up. From lost luggage and red-eye flights to turning down book deals and navigating TV/film rights, this week’s episode covers it all. Plus: AI pitch letters (hard no!), why Harper Collins’ “bad quarter” matters, and a little optimism for the analog future of reading.

☀️ Books, beaches, and big opinions—just another week of Shooting the Shit.

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

The holiday season is around the corner, and I love hosting, but there's so much stuff needed

0:04.2

and few places in my house to put it all. Wayfair's Black Friday sale is the time to get great deals on all things home, no matter what your style. Shop that can't miss Black Friday deals all month long, and then you can sit back and relax because with Wayfair's fast and easy shipping, it's no problem at all. I ordered a new bookshelf cabinet where I can hide away my napkins, napkin holders, candlesticks, charger plates, and all the decorative things that I like to rotate between when the seasons change and different guests are over during the holidays. I found one that was the exact look I had on my vision board and my husband liked it too, so win-win. There are so many to choose from and it's a breeze to find the right one that fits your style, size, and space. So if you are also overflowing with books and seasonal items, you're going to love the selection of cabinets. If you're like me and love a loyalty program, you can earn rewards and get the best savings in the neighborhood with Wayfair's new loyalty program, 5% back on every item across Wayfair's family of brands, free shipping, members-only sales,

0:57.7

and more.

0:58.4

Terms apply.

0:59.4

Don't miss out on early Black Friday deals.

1:01.6

Head to Wayfair.com now to shop Wayfair's Black Friday deals up to 70% off.

1:06.4

That's W-A-F-A-I-R.com.

1:09.3

Sale ends December 7th.

1:12.6

What's up, everyone? This is Cece. If you're a long-time listener of this podcast, then chances

1:18.0

are you've heard me talk about the importance of writing on a line level. And of course I have.

1:23.2

Because while movies get to rely on lighting, soundtrack, acting, and special effects,

1:28.5

books rely only on words to make a story come to life.

1:32.5

Which is why the writing matters so much.

1:35.5

My question to you is, are you confident about your writing?

1:39.7

Do you feel like it's at the level it needs to be to stand out in the competitive publishing

1:45.2

landscape?

1:46.5

If you're like most writers, I know, then you're always looking for ways to improve.

1:51.4

Well, what if I told you that there's a way to supercharge your learning experience by hacking

1:57.3

writing on a line level?

1:59.5

That's right, hacking it. I've developed an original four-day course, Hacking, writing on a line level. That's right, Hacking it. I've developed an original

2:02.7

four-day course Hacking writing on a line level that will show you specific techniques

2:08.4

to elevate your writing on a word level, sentence level, paragraph level, and scene level.

...

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Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Bianca Marais, Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Bianca Marais, Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

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