"Trying to write is very much like trying to put a Chinese puzzle together. We have a pattern in mind which we wish to work out in words; but the words will not fit the spaces, or, if they do, they will not match the design." —Helen Keller

What do you wish you would have known when you first started writing?

“For 20 years, we’ve had the privilege of representing extraordinary authors and creators,” said PSLA cofounder Curtis Russell. “This scholarship is our way of paying it forward—helping to nurture the voices that will shape the next 20 yrs of storytelling.”

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/newsbrief...

"Send me dark retellings of fairy tales and classic stories, with similar sensibilities to THE BLOODY CHAMBER by Angela Carter or WICKED by Gregory Maguire."
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:sxifn5ckgc2bghswuzh2mwfs" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@mariavicente.com #MSWL

psliterary.com/submissions/

"Always get to the dialogue as soon as possible. I always feel the thing to go for is speed. Nothing puts the reader off more than a big slab of prose at the start." —P.G. Wodehouse

"P.S. Literary Agency is capping off a month-long celebration of its 20-year anniversary with the announcement of a new scholarship for emerging writers." - @quillandquire.bsky.social

quillandquire.com/omni/p-s-lit...

"I want unlikely friendship novels with heavy plot and a feel-good ending."
Carly Watters #MSWL

psliterary.com/submissions/

The wait is over for AT WHIT'S END, the 4th in the bestselling Wells Ranch series by Bailey Hannah.

A single mom struggling to raise her rebellious son finds support in a kind cowboy in this spicy romance.

Get it!
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/804169/at-whits-end-by-bailey-hannah/

Have you ever learned something while researching a writing project that significantly changed your life?

"Literary fiction & poetry are real marginalized right now. The audience only wants to go this deep, but if an art form is marginalized it's because it's not speaking to people." —David Foster Wallace

Imagine that you're having dinner with your favorite fictional character. What's on your plate?

TEN THOUSAND LIGHTYEARS FROM OK by Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman is out now! 👏👏

After Thea's husband's tragic death mirrors a plotline in her debut novel, she fears that anything she writes could come true again!

https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Thousand-Light-Years-Okay/dp/1662531265/

Mondays are for fresh starts. 🌟

What's your writing focus this week? Share your goals and let's inspire each other to chase our literary dreams.

In honor of our anniversary, we’re proud to launch the PSLA Emerging Writers Scholarship — supporting unpublished and underrepresented writers at the start of their journey. 💙 #PSLA20

Applications open Monday, January 5th, 2026.
https://form.jotform.com/202746305642048

To end the year, our clients have two highly anticipated titles coming your way!

"I want crime fiction like Louise Penny, Sue Grafton and Janet Evanovich."
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:s7amqf5ur7da7xccwt46sxca" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@curtisrussell.bsky.social #MSWL

psliterary.com/submissions/

What’s a book you couldn't put down?

"Send me history, business, politics, current affairs, memoir."
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:s7amqf5ur7da7xccwt46sxca" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@curtisrussell.bsky.social #MSWL

psliterary.com/submissions/

"Others may write from the head, but he writes from the heart, and the heart will always understand him." —Washington Irving

Hearing this type of feedback from our clients is what keeps us going even after 20 years! We truly cherish the relationship we've built with <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4deqo6gpeuxkr647u3etc6ds" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@sammaggs.bsky.social

"PS Literary changed my life! <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:sxifn5ckgc2bghswuzh2mwfs" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@mariavicente.com and the team took a chance on me when I barely believed in myself."
—Sam Maggs

#PSLA20

"Send me nonfiction by BIPOC food writers."
Carly Watters #MSWL

psliterary.com/submissions/

What's the single best piece of reader feedback you've ever received?

"Nothing quite has reality for me till I write it all down - revising and embellishing as I go. I'm always waiting for things to be over so I can get home and commit them to paper." —Erica Jong

"Fiction is about everything human and we are made out of dust, and if you scorn getting yourself dusty, then you shouldn't try to write fiction. It's not a grand enough job for you." —Flannery O'Connor

Have you ever been given a book as a gift that changed you as a person?