Writers’ Rough Drafts – Episode #55 With Victoria MacDonald

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Victoria MacDonald is a writer, public relations expert, and social media influencer. A rough start in life, and her partner, Scott, being seriously injured in a helicopter incident, left her battling severe depression and had both of them trying to figure out how to make ends meet, especially since they had just purchased their dream fixer-upper home on a cliff overlooking the northeast coast of Scotland. Fortunately, Scott had a knack for websites and design, and started a money tips brand—but he needed content. Victoria’s first article was about how to save money when buying bananas, but the real win was noticing how this silly creative outlet gave her a bit of a boost from the black dog she was fighting. She started her own blog, full of funny anecdotes about her daily life, named greatHerday. 

Coupled with her work to build a following on social media, greatHerday took off, and before long, she and Scott were being invited on media trips and promotions all over the UK and beyond. Eventually, they renamed the website The Aye Life (as Scott was not well-represented in the “Her” part of their previous brand). With their work promoting their own brand to a following of over 50,000, and the destinations they traveled to, local businesses started approaching them for help with design, social media, and public relations (PR)—and they opened The Aye Agency, a digital and PR firm specializing in grassroots campaigns and personality-rich content.

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Why Writers Should Learn From the Masters and Take Inspiration From Them

Are writers born to write? It might be true that some have that sparkle of natural raw talent and appear to be a little more articulate or tuned in than others, at the start. 

Some might say they’re “quick learners.” Is it genetics? Quite possible.

If you’re one of the slower ones (like I was), don’t be disheartened; both slower and faster learners will end up in the same place so long as they receive the right education, direction, hard work, and mentorship—and that’s in a position of achievement and triumph.

It’s not a race to see who gets there first. The objective is to get there in the end.

There’s a learning process involved before any writer can achieve any degree of success, not only in writing, but in regard to pretty much anything. 

Replicating the masters is a great way of teaching yourself and achieving success. 

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Writers’ Rough Drafts – Episode #54 With Tucker Max

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Tucker Max is a New York Times best-selling author, producer and screenwriter, entrepreneur and publisher, and occasional blogger. His first book, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, not only hit No. 1 on the Times list, but was also made into a major motion picture; it, and Max himself, are also credited with founding the modern literary genre known as “fratire.” 

But in 2012, Max retired publicly from telling tales of drunken debauchery, in his book Hilarity Ensues. Since then, he has gone on to found the wildly successful publishing company Scribe Writing (formerly Book in a Box)—which helps entrepreneurs and authors write, self-publish, and market their own best-sellers (their tagline is brilliantly “we turn ideas into books”)—and ghostwrite Tiffany Haddish’s best-selling memoir The Last Black Unicorn. 

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The 4 Biggest Takeaways from Season 4 of Writers’ Rough Drafts

Season 5 of Writers’ Rough Drafts is right around the corner (coming Tuesday, September 3rd), and we can’t wait to share more exciting conversations with writers, entrepreneurs, and creatives from so many different industries. 

But before we dive into our next round of guests, we wanted to look back at Season 4 and revisit the biggest takeaways of the season. 

Whether it was breaking down the mysteries of how to write a book or sharing why you need to get feedback from people you trust, all of our guests had invaluable words of advice for aspiring professional writers and entrepreneurs that can directly apply to their lives. 

Here are some of the most common themes that popped up throughout Season 4.

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