I’ve been in your inbox this week reminiscing about my recent wedding, sharing the latest chapter of my San Francisco romantic thriller following a memoir ghostwriter who gets in too deep with her billionaire client, and reminding you that our “writer’s group for Substack” AKA our monthly Substack Lab is happening later today for Founding Members of 💡 Sutoscience :)

I also gave a sold-out lecture as part of the Bay Area’s Big Brain Lecture Series — thanks to Emily, the Big Brain team, and the Gold Palm Oakland for hosting me! 🙏 And I appreciate everyone who showed up — it was great busting the starving artist myth with you.

If you missed the talk but want to check it out, I’m giving it again here on on Substack Live, details below!

✍️ Breaking the Starving Artist Myth: What William Shakespeare Knew About Business (Live Class!)

✍️ The starving artist myth was a lie to keep you broke and trapped.

Learn how artists and writers like Michelangelo and Shakespeare created like artists and built their careers like entrepreneurs — and how you can make the modern day creator economy work for you while staying connected to the heart of your writing.

👇 RSVP to attend this lecture live this Wednesday, July 15th at noon PT or be sure to subscribe to my Substack ✍️ Make Writing Your Job to get the copy of the replay!

This is the lecture I recently gave in-person at a Bay Area lecture series (mentioned above!), based on the concepts of my bestselling book Write for Money and Power. I’ll leave some space for Q&A at the end as well!

✍️ RSVP to attend for free!

See you there!

💡 Another Upcoming Class I’m Teaching: Pilot to Page: Writing Your Romance Novel Using TV Storytelling Techniques

I learned so much about story structure from my time in Hollywood — and I’m bringing this class to you as well here on Substack Live!

✍️ Join me for my upcoming class, From Pilot to Page: Writing Your Romance Novel Using TV Storytelling Techniques

This is the class I taught at the Love Potion Library bookstore here in SF, and I draw from my experience as a TV writer and share the story and structure tips that help me write my romance novels!

✨ This class is on Substack next Sunday, July 19th at 1:30pm PT for paid subscribers of my Substack Sutoscience only. The replay will only be available for Founding Members so be sure to RSVP below if you want to tune in live!

💡 RSVP here!

See you in class 👋

🍵 let’s catch up over tea: the benefits of putting yourself out there as a creative

In the past year, I’ve really put my foot on the gas of “being out in the world.”

As an introvert and homebody, it’s easy for me to be a bit of a hermit and spend my days writing and reading at home rather than putting myself out there.

But every time I do something bold (and a little uncomfortable) like giving a talk to a room full of people or doing a 12-hour book launch, I find that the payoff is huge.

I get to connect with other creatives, share my ideas, and grow as a person.

Life, truly, is only lived outside of our comfort zone.

So what’s one thing you can do to live outside of your comfort zone this week?

Leave a comment

💌 I’m reading…

• Justin Welsh’s great essay on how having fun is the new competitive advantage. I’ve found this to be so deeply true. If you’re doing something that’s fun, you’ll work harder and be better at it than other people because it’s play to you. So how can you do something that feels like play instead of work?

Read more

Since I wrote to you last, I’ve been ~ out in the world ~ doing things like teaching a romance novel writing workshop at San Francisco’s The Love Potion Library — one of the only romance bookstores in the city!

(I’ll be teaching this class for 💡 Sutoscience Founding Members over Zoom, so keep an eye out for that invite!)

If you’re based in San Francisco, I’d also love to invite you to the lecture I’m teaching on July 9th in Oakland with this great organization Big Brain. They bring together incredible minds to teach interesting topics in beautiful spaces, and my talk is going to be all about the topics in my book Write for Money and Power.

I may be giving away free signed copies of my book if time permits, so hope to see you there!

💡 RSVP here

Oh and also — I just got married!

I’ve been out for the past few weeks for my wedding and honeymoon with and it’s been lovely and magical and everything we hoped for.

Because of that I’ve been a bit MIA online as I took time to be present with friends and family, but you can watch a snapshot of my honeymoon below :)

🍵 let’s catch up over tea

🫖 tea I’m drinking today: nettle tea. It’s very earthy but really great for you!

✍️ a creative resource I want you to check out: the monthly Substack Lab writer’s group has been one of my favorite things to host. We’ve got such a wide array of Substackers in our community doing great things, and I love how supportive everyone is of each others’ work. It’s a really special group, and if it feels right I’d love for you to join us!

🌁 how it’s been going so far publishing fiction on Substack: I’ve been having so much fun, and it’s been cool to see the momentum so far. I will be honest that I haven’t set aside as much time for marketing as I should, but in the meantime you can read the current chapters here!

💌 I’m reading…

…how new graduates are getting advice to study philosophy if they want to be relevant in the AI era.

Read more

If you’ve been here for a minute, you’ll know that I’ve been publishing a weekly creator news series on Sundays.

But I’ve decided to move back to my previous sunday tea series instead — essentially, a conversation with you over tea about writing, behind-the-scenes of my creative process, and other topics and resources I think you’ll find useful in your writing and creating journey.

I’m placing part of this sunday tea series under the paywall because it takes a bit of time to curate, and I want to say thank you to the paid subscribers that help make it possible to spend so much time crafting resources and articles for you here at 💡 Sutoscience. 🙏 Thank you!

🍵 let’s catch up over tea: get paid to write for other substacks, welcome to my journey publishing fiction on substack

🫖 tea I’m drinking today: ginger + lemon tea. I’ve been freezing ice cube trays of juiced ginger and lemon that I juice myself and make in big batches. It’s been a nice way to have daily fresh ginger and lemon tea with out having to juice and brew it from scratch every morning!

✍️ a creative resource I want you to check out: there’s been an embarrassment of riches on the ✍️ Make Writing Your Job writing job board which I curate alongside my partner Kyle and our team. There’s been several standout jobs this week I just wanted to flag:

• first, there are lots of Substacks hiring culture writers + other types of writers at $30-$70/hour. I’ve said this before and will say it again — Substack is the new form of media! It’s a business model that makes so much sense, which is why we’re starting to see an uptick in people hiring writers/editors specifically for their Substacks. These opps are great to apply to if you are still figuring out your own Substack and want to gain some experience writing for others and get paid for it.

• second, if you’re a big fan of the podcasts s-town and this american life, then there’s a story producer job for six-figures (it’s a 1099 role) on friday’s job board along with 30+ other opps we’ve curated for you I think you’ll dig. I spent a lot of time working in the podcast space and it still has a special place in my heart.

🌁 how it’s been going so far publishing fiction on Substack: so if you haven’t been seeing my posts on 💡 Sutoscience recently — I’m publishing my romantic thriller series! you can check out the update posts and read the first chapter of let me be your ghost below:

Publishing fiction on Substack has been something I’ve wanted to sink my teeth into in a deeper way, especially as I’ve helped clients do the same.

Here are some of the things I’ve learned so far:

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