Hi, I’m Lindsey. I love helping people discover their superpower, create compelling content, and feel excited about pitching and networking. I teach people how to pitch like a boss, network like a VIP, and write like an Oscar winner. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter for actionable creativity and career tips.
Love What You Write!
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Hi Over the holiday break, I listened to a podcast where an author was unhappy that he wrote thrillers instead of literary fiction. This man has written 7 novels, both traditionally and independently published. He writes entertaining, well-written books. Success by any measure. But he feels like they're not important because they are not Art. He's fighting against his author brand, which is funny thrillers with heart. That is a great brand to write; it's fun to read and easy to sell. Lots of writers think entertaining people has less value than fancy, often erudite Art. I disagree. (I'm capitalizing Art here because people put it on a pedestal, making it more important than it is.) One of my mantras is stories matter. Entertaining and moving people is an important part of the human experience. Just because you think the kinds of stories you write are not important, doesn't mean they're not important to some people. Unfortunately, as writer we rarely know the impact our stories are having on our readers and viewers. Maybe someone is reading your cozy mystery while they get their chemo. Or someone is binge watching your sitcom as they grieve the death of a loved one. If you are feeling like your stories aren't important enough, I encourage you to watch the old movie Sullivan's Travels (1941). It's a comedy gem about a film director during the Great Depression who wants to make important movies, so he runs away from Hollywood to live life as an ordinary person. During his adventures, he gets to see the impact his frivolous movies are making, and it changes his perspective. Whatever kinds of stories you gravitate to telling, embrace them! Your stories are delighting your audience. And maybe changing their lives, even for a moment. Happy New Year! And happy writing! In Case You Missed ItTwo Real Life Examples of Screenplays Turned Into Novels: A screenplay A pilot How to Make the Most of the Holiday Slow Down Cheers, Lindsey Thanks for reading! You can share this article here. Was this week's newsletter useful? Help me to improve! Click on a link to vote: 👍Super! - 😐 Meh - 👎 Not my jam |
Hi I'm Lindsey Hughes
Hi, I’m Lindsey. I love helping people discover their superpower, create compelling content, and feel excited about pitching and networking. I teach people how to pitch like a boss, network like a VIP, and write like an Oscar winner. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter for actionable creativity and career tips.
The Pitch Master Newsletter Weekly craft and career fuel for screenwriters and novelists with creativity tips and storytelling tools I just watched the Martin Short documentary on Netflix, and he said two life changing things for all creatives. The first: “My career has been 80% failure.” This is a man whose résumé includes SCTV, Saturday Night Live, Three Amigos, Father of the Bride, Broadway shows, Jiminy Glick, and Only Murders in the Building. And he thinks his career is 80% failure....
The Pitch Master Newsletter Weekly craft and career fuel for screenwriters and novelists with creativity tips and storytelling tools I'm switching the Pitch Master Newsletter from weekly to every other week so that I can focus more on my own writing. My next book for writers, Sell Your Book to Hollywood, is currently out to beta readers and on track to come out next month. I'm already hard at work on my next nonfiction book and in the middle of writing my first picture book. Stay tuned for...
The Pitch Master Newsletter Weekly craft and career fuel for screenwriters and novelists with creativity tips and storytelling tools It is Swap Ideas Day! It’s a day for brainstorming with a friend. Try this exercise: give your logline away and see what comes back. You hand another writer your logline and nothing else. They write your first ten script pages, or your first chapter. You write theirs. A week later you trade back and read what somebody else did with your story. Bam! A brand new...