by Stephanie Dethlefs | Aug 31, 2021 | Book Coaching, Mindset, Planning your book, Revision, writing craft, writing life
The idea of the elevator pitch comes from the old Hollywood days. Back then, a writer might happen to find themselves on an elevator with a studio exec. The wisdom was, you should always have a pitch for a movie ready when that happened. You have the executive stuck...
by Stephanie Dethlefs | Aug 24, 2021 | Book Coaching, First Draft, Inner critic, Mindset, writing craft, writing life
I once heard the author Elizabeth Gilbert say, and I’m paraphrasing here, that a reader would likely find more of herself in her works of fiction than her works of memoir. The truth is that all writers bring themselves to their stories, no matter if the story is...
by Stephanie Dethlefs | Aug 10, 2021 | Mindset, Reading for Writers, Revision, writing craft, writing life
You’ve likely heard the nugget of wisdom that to be an effective writer, you should also be an avid reader. This is true for many reasons. You get sparks of ideas. You understand how a story is structured. You internalize what is effective and what isn’t. You grow...
by Stephanie Dethlefs | Jun 1, 2021 | Accountability, Mindset, writing craft, writing life
We are going to tackle a kind of sticky topic today: commitment. It’s sticky because to digging into this topic means really looking at what you are currently doing and what goals you have set for yourself, and noticing whether or not they are in alignment. And if...
by Stephanie Dethlefs | May 16, 2021 | First Draft, Inner critic, Mindset, Revision
Writing is hard, and it isn’t always fun. In order to get through the hard parts, we have to learn to love the work. Inspiration is easy to love. So are excitement, enthusiasm, and motivation. But sometimes those things are lacking. And we are left with the...
by Stephanie Dethlefs | May 1, 2021 | Mindset
This post originally appeared on Medium in February 2021. Highlights are from readers. 1. Your story matters. It matters because it is a snapshot of the human experience (yes, even sci-fi/fantasy/horror-monster stories!) These snapshots build a network of experiences...
