Meet the Author: Stéphanie McGuirt

Today's author interview is a treat—Stéphanie shares her experience with writing and publishing a book in 45 days (seriously!) and her advice on protecting your writing time.

Stéphanie McGuirt is the author of Play, a light how-to guide that invites children and parents to play in hands-on ways, and the upcoming book, Mothering in the Wild, a memoir chronicling the expectations vs. reality of motherhood while embracing the role with little support—and a lot of spirit.

She’s also the founder of Bright Spot Copywriting, where she enjoys helping clients turn their brand story into copy that’s authentic, purposeful, and gets noticed by the right people.

When she’s not working on her book or in her business, you can find Stéphanie hiking, making/eating honey chocolate bars, and enjoying being in good company. Get to know Stéphanie and her copywriting services at brightspotcopywriting.com.

What was your journey to writing your books?

I wrote Play in October of 2020. I was ready for a creative project, something different. I was working in bookkeeping at the time. It was kind of an accident how I got into that, but I was a bookkeeper for 11 years and really struggled with not having a creative outlet like I did in high school and college. I was in art classes. I wrote a lot, I always journaled, I painted at home, and did all this stuff. I took a break when I had my son, and I was doing the bookkeeping.

A course came out called the Tiny Book Course from You Can Get It Done Productions with Alex Franzen and Lindsey Smith. I think it was the second time they were running the course. I jumped in and said, “I'm going to write a book. This is going to be my creative project.” So, I wrote Play, and I did it in 45 days. That was the length of the course. From the outline to having the physical book in my hand, it was 45 days. It was a really interesting learning experience.

How did you get that much writing done that fast?

I was homeschooling my kids at the time and working, so time was super tight. But with Play, you know, I started pretty light. It's a how-to guide. It's not a story; I didn't jump in too far. I wanted to start with something that I knew would be doable for me with the time that I had. The way they laid out the course was easy to follow. Like, “Okay, this week I'm working on the outline. The next week I'm writing this section,” and so on. So, Play being a light book and their structure made it possible to do in 45 days.

Are you following a similar process for Mothering in the Wild?

My process now is extremely different! I thought I would follow the same process. I said, “Oh, well, I wrote Play in 45 days; certainly, I can do Mothering in the Wild in 45 days.” That didn't happen. In those first 45 days, I could tell there was more work to be done. This is not where I want it to be. This is a completely different project. It's stories, it's a memoir. It's very personal, and there's a way that I want it to be that cannot happen in 45 days.

I took a pause from it because, as I mentioned, I was homeschooling my kids. Now, they're both in school full-time, so I have space to get back to it. I'm jumping back in and I have the time to write the stories now, and it feels really good. I'm taking my time with it.

Every project demands its own process. Has that been your experience with other things you've worked on?

The contrast from Play to Mothering in the Wild was a huge moment for me because I realized they are completely different. When it's creative work like that, it's just you, it's its own world, and you have to meet it where it's at.
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What are some writing strategies that you've found helpful?

I needed structure with Play, the structure of the course. Every week, I knew what I'd be working on. With Mothering in the Wild, it's a little bit looser. Mondays and Tuesdays are my writing days, and I'm working on it. The rest of the week, I'll have ideas, or I'll have some revisions that I know I’ll work on next time I'm in my writing day. Things come up throughout the rest of the week, and that little bit of structure, knowing when I'm going to be writing, is so, so helpful.

What are some things that you've tried that haven't worked?

Squeezing it in. It worked in a sense that I got words on a page, and I felt good, like, “Okay, I did something.” But it needed so much editing because there wasn't enough prep. I've seen this in my business and blogs I wrote a year and a half ago when my kids were home; I could see, “Oh, I was rushed.” I just did not have the space for it.

Are there books or authors that you return to for inspiration?

When I'm working on Mothering in the Wild, I will reread what I have already written to get back into that space. There are some authors that I enjoy reading, and that are very inspiring, like Dorothy Parker. I started reading her work in high school and just fell in love with her work. She really inspired me to start writing and to take it seriously as a craft. And Elizabeth Gilbert, I love her storytelling. She's so vivid and so beautiful, and it’s very inspiring to read her work.

What are some writing challenges you deal with?

Most recently, it's been time. Not knowing when I'm going to write or what it's going to look like. It's been helpful to have dedicated days where I'm working on it. I took a time management class, and I've been following that; it's been working well.

Being a bit too critical of my own work has been a hurdle to go over, especially writing memoir and personal stories. How deep do I want to go with it? Just a lot of questioning. I think the best thing at this point for me to do, especially now that time has opened up, is to write it and let it sit. Then I can go back and start asking those questions, but not doing it as I'm writing because that can feel like hitting a brick wall.

What was your publishing experience like for Play?

I self-published through Ingram Spark. I chose them because that was what the course used, so there was a lot of material to help us get going. I found it pretty difficult, as far as making sure the book was correctly formatted, uploading it to their platform, and the distribution piece of it. Even though they handled it, it was super complicated. Getting customer support was difficult, and I had a lot of questions. Eventually, I took the copies that I had and stopped the bleeding.

For Mothering in the Wild, I will either self-publish again or see about getting an agent and going that route.

What has been effective in getting the word out about your book?

I tell my friends. I tell anyone. I am connected with our local library, so I'm listed as a local author there, and they have the book listed. I do things locally. I have a friend who just bought five copies from me. It’s a lot of word of mouth.

I don't quite know yet what the marketing plan will look like for Mothering in the Wild, but I'll do more online for that, and eventually, we'll have both books available online. I'll have it finished by the end of the year [2024], and then it will be going into editing. I'm aiming for summer 2025.

What's next for you creatively?

Right now, it’s more on the copywriting side with my business. I'm updating some blogs that I wrote, writing new blogs, and doing client projects. That's the other creative side. After Mothering in the Wild, I don't know what my next creative project will be in that realm. I'm not sure yet, but I'm keeping the door open.

What is the number one piece of advice that you would offer to another writer?

Tell people when you're writing and tell them to leave you alone. Don't let anyone take that time from you. Now that I have the space for it, I let people know. Mondays and Tuesdays, those are my writing days.

You have to let people know, hey, I'm not going to answer my phone on this day. If it's an emergency, sure, but I'm not making plans. I'm not making doctor's appointments. I'm really, really protecting that time because, for so long, I didn't have it, and now that I have it, I have to protect it at all costs. The phone is away. I create a little bubble, and I work in it, and it's beautiful, and I'm so, so grateful for it.

Make the time, any time for it that you can, and let people know, “This is my time.”

Get started and go for it, almost have tunnel vision around it. I don't keep my phone around me. I used to use Freedom, which will block other things, but it's important to me to build that muscle of self-discipline and focus on what I'm doing and not feel like I need to check things.

I use an app called Calmly, and it's like a blank writing screen. There's not much on it, not many things to click on or look at. I've found that it’s been very helpful to have that full screen. That or I'm using my pen and notebook.

What is the best book that you've read recently?

​We Are as Gods (affiliate link*). It's about the back-to-the-land movement, the hippie communes of the ‘60s. I just happened to pick it up, and she transported me to this time I've never been to but would love to drop in on. It sounds so different and so fun. It was beautifully written. Her parents were part of the commune, so she had a lot of insider details about their life. It’s beautifully written and very well-researched; lots of cool characters in there.

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I hope you enjoyed learning from Stéphanie and that she's inspired you to set aside and protect some writing time!