You're Welcome: My Substack Recommendation Issue
Newsletter Issue #68
Two of my favorite Substacks recently collided, giving rise to the theme of this week’s newsletter, which is basically, “Here are the Substacks I love the most. You might love them, too.”
Elizabeth McCracken is one of my favorite writers, and Release McCracken is the one Substack I never skip, no matter how busy I am. And thank you to my dear friend and fellow writer Anna Reagan for turning me on to Nina Schuyler’s Stunning Sentences—this is a Substack that regularly adds to my knowledge about the craft of writing on the line level.
Imagine my delight when Schuyler recently examined a sentence from a short story written by McCracken. It’s the best thing to happen to me since somebody accidentally got their chocolate in my peanut butter.
I absolutely love Schuyler’s post, and I want to share it with you. Consider it a sort of unofficial/unauthorized guest post. :)
Please note: Some of Schuyler’s posts are locked to paid subscribers. Good news: you can read her locked posts with a free seven-day trial, and you (like me) might decide it’s worth becoming a paid subscriber. $1 a week for a masterclass in the art of crafting an exquisite sentence is a steal. In my experience, this is something writers (myself included) too often ignore or breeze past in favor of a quick and broad rewrite or revision of a piece.
Listen, I’ve put in the hard work to learn my craft over many years, and I even have a copyediting certificate from UC San Diego—I know my spelling, grammar, and punctuation. I know the parts of a sentence. So how had I never heard the terms “right-branching sentence” or “polysyndeton”? This is especially surprising since, it just so happens, I unknowingly use both all the time.
Schuyler doesn’t define “right-branching sentence” because, I’m guessing, she justifiably assumes writers already know what a right-branching sentence is. I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t know what it meant, and in case you don’t, I’ve done my research and found the answer for us both: a right-branching sentence is basically a regular sentence followed by a series of modifiers: subject + verb + object + modifier + modifier + modifier, and so on, branching out to the right.
Here’s an example of a right-branching sentence:
The bird built a nest in a maple tree in the vacant lot on Main Street.
Like the nerd I am, let me diagram that sentence for you:
The bird (subject) + built (verb) + a nest (object) + in a maple tree (modifies nest) + in the vacant lot (modifies maple tree) + on Main Street (modifies vacant lot).
According to Wikipedia, right-branching sentences are considered easier to read than other complex sentence structures “because other branching styles require the listener to hold more information in memory to be able to correctly interpret the sentence.” I’m sure we’ve all experienced this—a sentence that feels more difficult to read or that we have to go back and read two or three times before we fully understand it. The goal as writers is to let our readers in, not to exclude them.
Schuyler does define “polysyndeton”—I was delighted to learn that there is a word for something I sometimes do naturally in my own writing, something I’ve often thought I perhaps shouldn’t do. But now I know there are reasons to do it and it creates certain effects and it’s perfectly acceptable to use it, as long as I don’t overuse it.
Please do read Schuyler’s post and subscribe to Stunning Sentences—it will improve your writing. I learn something new every time I read it.
XOXO
Leanne
P.S. I can offer one-month complimentary subscriptions to most of the Substacks I’m recommending in this issue, so hit me up. My first recommendation is Release McCracken—it’s free, it will improve your day, and although it’s not the intention, it will improve your writing, too, by osmosis. :)
“One morning I arrived early to see an EMS vehicle—more than a golf cart, less than a car—was parked at the gate. I worried, but once I got to the pool itself I understood this was some sort of training activity. Across the pool I heard somebody yell, ‘Sprint like you want to be here!’ I do want to be here, I thought. Ssshhh. There was a fair amount of yelling and people swimming about. At one point I worried that I would be rescued against my will.”
—Elizabeth McCracken, “We Can’t Stop or We’ll Stop”
NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
Your next book? There is still time to get in on the ground floor and pre-order Ten Sleep (coming 6/24/2025). This is the second novel by Nicholas Belardes, author of The Deading (now out in paperback). Here’s a little blurb from bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones about Ten Sleep: “Open these pages and fall into a cattle drive up in the high lonesome country, where it’s not just the cattle and the work that are challenging—here there be monsters, too.” Nick will be our guest at the July 8th SLO NightWriters meeting—I hope to see you there! And be sure to subscribe to Nick’s Substack, Underwhelmed.
“While on a book tour, … I gave a talk at [Sanora] Babb’s alma mater, Garden City Community College. The audience was filled with locals, many of whom had only recently discovered Babb and her connection to their community. I was equally shocked to learn that none of Babb’s books are taught at the schools in Garden City. To be disappeared is one thing, but to be erased from the place where you lived seems another thing entirely.
“This local erasure reminded me of a moment in Alice Walker’s famous essay about her journey to rediscover Zora Neale Hurston, “In Search of Zora Neale Hurston” … in which Walker asked a local woman whether or not Hurston’s books were taught and read in the Eatonville, FL schools (where Hurston grew up), 'No, they don’t.’ said the woman. ‘I don't think most people know anything about Zora Neale Hurston.’”
Iris Jamahl Dunkle, Time and Place Have Their Say
SOME THINGS FOR READERS
June: Who Is Your Birthday Twin?
(Jackie DesForges for The Women Artists Birthday Project)
Time and Place Have Their Say: on Visiting Zora Neale Hurston’s Grave
(Iris Jamahl Dunkle for Finding Lost Voices)
Ordinary People: On road trips, head trips, memory trips
(Danielle Lazarin for Talk Soon)
Q: When you have the time to read, how do you decide *what* to read? Do you simply read whatever you want, when you want?
(Becky Tuch for Lit Mag News)
“No matter your place on the political spectrum, the world has likely felt pretty unsteady of late. I’ve felt rocked by it. Maybe you don’t, currently. Maybe you’ve felt this way at some other time. It’s enough to say that creative people, sensitive bunch that we are, often feel the tremors of unsteadiness around us deeply. Trying to turn off the dark feelings very often might inhibit the thing that makes us creatives in the first place. One of the things I’ve been turning to in order to maintain my footing is a laser-like attention to the most basic parts of writing.”
—Elizabeth Rosen, When the World Overwhelms, the Joy is in the Details
SOME THINGS FOR WRITERS
May: The Woman Artist who Built Men New Faces: This month: I produced a new zine! In honor of the launch, I'm sharing one of the artist profiles, along with a list of my favorite artist zines by women.
(Jackie DesForges for The Women Artists Birthday Project)
How to Write a Hit Pitch: In Four Easy (Not Easy) Steps
(Kate McKean for Agents and Books)
Coaching the character—a new technique for writers
(Courtney Maum for Before and After the Book Deal)
10 things I wish every writer knew about marketing
(Dan Blank for The Creative Shift)
Duck Duck Jeep (DIY Publicity Advice)
(Cassie Mannes Murray for Pine State: The Newsletter)
How Much Does Publicity Cost?
(Kathleen Schmidt for Publishing Confidential)
Smarter, Better, Faster: On all the hard work you’ve done, and driving from the back seat (Danielle Lazarin for Talk Soon)
“Though [my daughter] had no idea, this is the literal spot where I gave my senior reading in 2000. I was introduced by the aforementioned mentor; I still remember him describing my character work as akin to the act of peeling an onion and discovering its layers, and the feeling of being seen and understood, the pride I had in my work then. I’m on a break from socials, but later that night, in whatever mediocre hotel off 80 we’re in, my husband shares my daughter’s post so I can see the caption: oberlin today! fun fact my mom went here. fun fact I love my mom. ok bye.”
—Danielle Lazarin, Ordinary People
SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU LAUGH OR SMILE OR FEEL NOSTALGIC
(Like my use of polysyndeton?)
Leanne Phillips
Writer | Book Coach | Editor
leannephillips.com
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