December 19, 2024 • 47 mins
Join Dr. Lewis in a conversation with Stephanie Malench, the founder of Write By Steph. Write By Steph is a full-service professional writing and editing company. Stephanie is the author of two resource-driven non-fiction books, including a second edition that emerged from a "failed" first release. Email: writebysteph@gmail.com
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Success 4 Women is broadcast live Thursdays at 2PM ET on W4WN Radio - Women 4 Women Network (www.w4wn.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Success 4 Women TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Success 4 Women Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:20):
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W four WN Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I got the and and.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Did you know women represent just three percent of Fortune
five hundred CEO in less than fifteen percent of corporate
executives at top companies worldwide? Have you wondered what the
secrets are to getting into the top ranks, whether in
the private or public sector. Do you want to figure
out how to stop being held back in your career?
(01:18):
Are passed over for promotion, then you're in the right place. Hi.
I'm doctor Matlanan Lewis, President and CEO of the Executive
Women's Success Institute. I have decades of experience in the military,
the federal government, and corporate America, and my mission is
to help women succeed and tap into their full potential.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I want to.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Reach a million plus women around the world to become
the leaders they are meant to be. So if you
want to move into a management or executive level position,
or maybe you are a female veteran transitioning out of
the military into business entrepreneurship, then reach out to the
Executive Women's Success Institute at three zero one six nine
(02:03):
three three.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Two eight four.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Let us get you on the fast track to success. Well, hello,
and welcome to the Success for Women's Show, where you
(02:27):
can view us on Talk for TV and listen to
us on the Women for Women Network. I am doctor
Madeline Ann Lewis your host, and my mission is to
help women accelerate the path to success. Well, today we
have another interesting topic and it is Right with Steph
(02:50):
and my guest is Stephanie Melic. I hope I'm pronouncing
that correctly. Let me just give you a little bit
of background on Stephanie. Stephanie is the founder of Write
with Steph. Right with Steph is a full service professional
writing and editing company. Stephanie is the author of two
(03:13):
resource driven non fiction books, including a second edition that
emerged from a failed first release. By repositioning the book
to target the correct audience, Stephanie achieved remarkable results, selling
over one hundred copies in less than a month, an
(03:33):
impressive turnaround from the initial edition, which sold only two
dozen copies over fifteen years. So let me introduce again
my guest, Miss Stephanie Malich. Hello, Hi, Steph. Did I
pronounce your last name?
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Correct?
Speaker 5 (03:54):
A chain link Malink?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Okay, wow, Okay, got that one wrong. We corrected that.
But here's the thing before we get started. I always
like to give the standard bio, but then I like
to ask my guests to tell us. So you tell
us what you want us to know about Stephanie Malink.
Speaker 6 (04:17):
I am a full service business writer and editor company owner.
My company is right by Steph. I have had it
on and off for over twenty years, but full time
for the past three years. I do resumes, cover letters,
LinkedIn profiles, digital and print, magazine and newspaper articles, and
(04:41):
then I also love to edit college papers and PhD dissertations.
I like to brag that I have eight PhDs because
that's how many dissertations I have edited, and I always
learned something new when I'm editing those and then I
I also have a third book that I just released
(05:02):
on the day on Thanksgiving, AI and Writing Dangers for
Journalists and Creative Writers.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Okay, so tell us why a writer? Why did you
become a writer?
Speaker 6 (05:17):
I have always been a creative person, and I am
much better at writing than drawing or painting or doing
any of the other two D and three D arts.
I have tried them all, but writing is what I
really can stick with, and it's something that I don't
need a special space to do. As long as I
(05:37):
can have my laptop, I can write. And I actually
got into journalism because I wanted to be an editor
because all I could see.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Were the mistakes.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
When I would read a newspaper, I wouldn't remember what
the article was about because I was just reading typos.
And when I became a newspaper editor a little over
three years ago, the first time I had a typo
on the front page, I was beating myself up, and
my manager said, that's not your job anyway, that's the
(06:10):
job of a proofreader. And only the New York Times
and the big papers have proofreaders. And I'm like, no, wonder,
everything is so bad.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Oh.
Speaker 6 (06:20):
I tried to be more careful. It is so hard
to edit your own work.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Absolutely, it really is. Actually I use grammarly to correct
my stuff, so that that kind of helps me, especially
if I'm writing an article or something, I'll use that
to help find any typos or you know, grammar grammatical errors.
Speaker 6 (06:43):
You have to be careful with Grammarly because it is
AI fed now, and so if you have a word
that maybe it can be spelled more than one way,
it's not going to catch those kind of typing errors.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary Online and the Oxford Dictionary Online
are the best ways to go for editing. Even even
(07:07):
the Microsoft word features are better than Grammarly.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Oh wow, okay, that's good to know. I mean, I
do know sometimes when I go through it and they
may try to correct something, I may not like that,
and so I won't you know, I won't go with it.
But I didn't realize that, you know that it that
was that it was kind of AI generated. I wasn't
aware of that. So tell me this, since, especially since
(07:36):
let's say the pandemic, have you seen a lot of
people coming to you for maybe rewrites in their resumes
or because you know, a lot of people now working
from home, and so those that uh and some had
to because of the pandemic. Some of their organizations may
(07:58):
have shut down, so they had to go and look
for something else. Do you see people coming to you
now for a lot of rewrites or maybe updates on
their resume resumes?
Speaker 5 (08:10):
I do. It's cyclical.
Speaker 6 (08:11):
Right now is a busy season for me because everyone
wants to start the new year off with a new
and better job, So I'm always busy. Kind of towards
the end of the year, I'll have another uptick around
me when college graduates are getting out and they don't
know how to write their first resume, or three months
(08:32):
later when they've been using their Canva resume they created
and can't figure out why they aren't getting any calls
because the settings in Canva do not they can't be
read by the AI bots again that most human resource
departments use to weed out the resumes that don't have
(08:55):
the right keywords, or that can't follow directions.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Or so you mentioned keywords. So when you're doing a resume,
what's the one important thing that you feel should be
in there that would when they first look at it,
I mean, when they get it and they take that
first look, what should jump out at them.
Speaker 6 (09:21):
There should be an objective and there should be a
lengthy set of skills that are tied to the position
that you are applying for. If the job description says
they want you to have Microsoft Excel experience, do not
put that you have Microsoft Office experience because even though
that includes Excel, they are looking for the computer is trained.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
To just look for the word Excel.
Speaker 6 (09:45):
So you have to spell out each of the different
programs that you have experienced with.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Okay, So how do you think, because I know a
lot of interviews now are being conducted like the online,
you know, via via zoom or streamyard or what have you.
Do you feel that when they're sitting there with the resume,
it still has to present itself a certain way or
(10:14):
you know, because you know, back in the day, those
resumes were just like really plain, you didn't have a
whole lot of stuff. But now it seems that they
have to be a little more interesting for people to
even pick it up and look at it, you know.
Speaker 6 (10:31):
And if it's a job that you're allowed to take
in a printed copy of your resume, it is definitely
okay to use the Canva templates and the more fancy
color blocking statistics boxes. Things like that. Boxes just aren't
able to be read. Unfortunately, in the software that the
(10:53):
companies are using, some of the software is it depends.
Sometimes the older software works better, other times the new does.
But you don't know what each company has, so you
have to just be extra careful and assume that everyone
has the software that is not going to like your
emojis for like your phone number and text and all that.
(11:17):
I had one plan I did a resume for She
was trying to show off her skills as a creative,
and so she had her name in white print in
a black box. She had a telephone by her telephone number,
a house by her physical address, which you don't have
to put your physical address anymore because that is actually
(11:38):
a way of profiling people. If you live in a
lower income area, they're less likely to hire.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
You because.
Speaker 6 (11:48):
Something may happen and you may be more transient, and
they don't like that. They want someone that's in it
for the long haul. But I took her, but because
basically she had a play resume, because the reverse print
showed that there was no name. The icons block all
the information after that. So she had a resume with
(12:10):
no name, no phone number, no email, no nothing. When
I revamped it and got rid of the reverse color blocking,
got rid of the EMO GS, cleaned up some boxes,
she goes getting more phone calls than she knew.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
What to do with.
Speaker 6 (12:25):
Unfortunately, she hadn't thought about what did she really want
to do. So she's like, well, I don't like this one.
I don't like that one. I can't help with that.
I'm not a job.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
It's a business you have.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
That's why I coming in.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
So what tell us what sets you apart from other writers?
Now we talked about you doing resumes, but you also
write different articles. Do you also help people with ghostwriting
maybe they want to write a book or something like that.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
Do you do any small ghost writing? I ghost write
like little magazine articles, or if it's a letter of recommendation,
or if they're applying for a political seat that's been
vacated for some reason and it's they're filling in off
election cycle. I will write those letters for people.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Ah okay, well some of these politicians should know about you. Then,
So tell us what sets you apart from other writers,
because we know a lot of companies you know, hire
people just to write their commercials, just to write their
speeches and different things like that. So what sets you
(13:41):
apart from other writers?
Speaker 6 (13:43):
What sets me apart is the fact that I do
not rely on or use AI at all. Everything comes
from my head or whatever you provide me information wise,
you don't want to use chat GPT even to just
get an outline because that information is no longer yours.
(14:05):
A lot of people think that they can write their
books or frame out of character or a scene using
chat GPT, and what comes out of there is no
longer able to be copyrighted.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
Why write a book if you can't copyright it?
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Mm hmmm wow.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Ah. Well, you know that's interesting because you if you
look actually, if you look at like TikTok or whatever,
there's all these ads that if you scroll up you
see these people. Oh, go on chat GPT and you know,
ask it to do such and such, and it will
give you this whole outline of for a book or
(14:44):
an ebook or an e course or something like that.
And I mean it's actually a lot of them. Like
I said, if you look on TikTok, you'll see TikTok,
You'll see a lot of them. That's up there, like
ads that's doing that. Yeah, wow, that's interesting. I didn't
realize that those things that you could not you know,
(15:07):
if you used it, you could.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Not copyright it.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
So that that's actually interesting fact for a lot of
people that's probably doing it's probably doing that.
Speaker 6 (15:17):
And I actually had an author friend told me once
it's like, oh, well, if chat GPT scrapes what I've
asked it to create for my character, and someone else
public uses that character in their book and they have
a number one best seller and I don't have my
book written yet, well good for them, they can have it.
And I'm like, why even be an author?
Speaker 4 (15:37):
Then, yeah, that's kind of a waste of time.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
And it's it's sort of like you want your own
thoughts and ideas in there, and so yeah, I guess
that would be defeating the purpose to use that tool,
especially the to write a book or something like that. Interesting,
So why is it important for businesses to contract with
(16:04):
a writer or an editor? Like I said, I know
a lot of companies do that. They have you know,
that's that's like a job title. Just that's all they
do is, you know, they're the writer. They may I
remember when I was in the federal government and they
had a person that that was their title. Their title
(16:25):
was only just to write the speeches for the executives.
So I know that you know a lot of companies
contract you to do that. So why do you think
it's important for them to have that type of vehicle
in their organizations?
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Well, Number one, back to the chat GPT.
Speaker 6 (16:44):
There's no emotion in anything that chat GPT creates.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
So if you have it.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
Right, your speech it's going to be very monotonous. It's
going to be either overly complex or overly simplified language. Also,
writing a speech or a presentation or something is an
art form. Not everyone can do that.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
I can.
Speaker 6 (17:13):
I can take what I know about someone or what
is told to me about that person, and I can
make it. I can make it. You be able to
close your eyes and visualize that person standing there giving
their presentation, or you can you can understand you feel
(17:35):
like you're wherever the person is talking about.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Okay, so you would have to have.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Not only know the person themselves, but also maybe a
little bit about the audience they're going to be speaking to.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yeah, okay, so let's say, well, I am I'm a speaker.
Do you would you feel that I would need to
write because I'm a speaker that every time I go
out and have to do a presentation, should I have
someone right? You know, it.
Speaker 6 (18:10):
Depends some you're probably seasoned enough that you know what
you want to say. People that are just starting out,
or they're giving a presentation and for the first time
and they don't know what to say. Absolutely, you need
a speech writer because you have to again target that audience.
You have to say what your goal is, what your
(18:32):
mission is, why you want whatever position it is that
you are applying for, how you can help your audience
get what they deserve.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Now do you have with your services?
Speaker 4 (18:47):
I would?
Speaker 3 (18:48):
I'm thinking you work both with men and women? Correct
or is it most women? Both men and women? You
see that you have more women coming to you. Is
that more men are Do you have a mixture of both.
Speaker 6 (19:03):
I have a pretty good mixture. It usually is more
women though, because they they're finally their kids are out
of the house. They're able to go after that dream
job they've always wanted and they don't feel like they
don't have they have anything to put on a resume
because they've only worked secretarial or they've only been a
(19:26):
state at home mom or a homeschool teacher. A lot
of those areas all have they translate into the real
job world.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Okay, okay, So give us an example of that, especially
for a stay home mom. How would you translate something
that they do into their resume.
Speaker 6 (19:49):
Coordinating all the kids' sports and schedules and everything that
can be management, schedule management, chauffeur, taking the kids around,
meal prep correct to correctly preparing the meals for all
(20:09):
of the different needs that our bodies have.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Okay, so it would be all in the wording as
to It's sort of like with the military, when they
transition out of the military into civilian employment, they have
to change that language, the military language, so that it
fits the civilian world. So that's what that sounds like, Yes,
making it fit the civilian world from them being a
(20:35):
stay at home mom.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
I got it.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Okay, that makes sense. So now we've been talking about
the chat GBT, and I know you said you kind
of mentioned a couple of things about why we shouldn't
use it, But give us maybe some real important facts
as to why we shouldn't use chat GBT because chat
(20:57):
GBT and you know, all this AI stuff. That's that's
all you're hearing right now. And you know people are
starting to rely a lot on that. So give us
just some you know, a feel reasons why we shouldn't especially,
we should not rely on it. I know you said sometimes,
(21:18):
especially with a book that you someone the informat, you
wouldn't be able to copyright your book if you use that.
So is there anything else you could think of? Any
reasons why we shouldn't, you know, rely on chat GBT.
Speaker 6 (21:32):
Your brain is just like any other muscle in your body.
If you don't use it, you're not going to be
able to keep it. Having chat GPT do all of
your writing, you're not coming up with the thoughts in
your head. You can't think quickly. You you're not going
(21:53):
to retain information because you're asking the computer to do
it for you.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Well, I say that's why they're doing it, because they
don't they can't come up with any you know, they
don't have those ideas, like they say, creative ideas, the invention.
They don't have that. So that's why they feel this
too might be you know, an easy thing to get
(22:21):
sort of get hooked on in a way.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
Yeah, I mean it's It's like any sport too. You
have to keep doing it and practicing to get good
at it.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
Right exactly, exactly wow.
Speaker 6 (22:34):
So and especially with students, students are using I heard
a statistic on the radio and I bout drove off
the road.
Speaker 5 (22:41):
It was so shocking.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
About thirty three percent of students starting in middle school
or using chat GPT not just to do their essays,
but to answer their short answer questions to take their
tests for them. And about seventy percent of parents don't
realize that their children are using chat GPT to do
(23:04):
their homework. Schools are actually required going back to requiring
paper in class assignments so that they can see, okay,
are they do they really have the concepts?
Speaker 3 (23:18):
M Now wouldn't that, especially if it's college student, wouldn't
that come up as a little bit of plagiarism That does?
Speaker 6 (23:31):
Yes, it is very much is, especially when it miscites things.
That's one of the dangers, especially with journalism. I went
to a conference this summer and a local newspaper reporter
was there and told the story about an article she
had written for the local paper, a offshore AI paper
that just scours the internet looking for stuff to republish,
(23:57):
republished her story with incorrect quotes, changing information, and the
people that she wrote about were not happy, and she
couldn't figure out why they weren't happy, And she went
to their to her boss, the quality control and legal
of the newspaper, and they found out that this other
publication had scraped her article and had just messed everything up,
(24:23):
misattributed quotes, said people said things that they didn't.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
Wow, that's interesting.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
So now, okay, let's say I wanted to write an autobiography,
which one day I might want to do that. So
how do I get started to do that?
Speaker 4 (24:45):
How would I do that? Where do I start?
Speaker 6 (24:48):
First thing you need to decide is how you want
to organize your story. Do you want to do it chronologically,
starting from when you were a child, or do you
want to do it based on themes all the jobs
you've had from the time you were sixteen, on your
career as a parent versus your career as a grandparent,
(25:11):
your spiritual career, your background in education, what you've learned
differently in.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
Different steps of the educational process.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
And then, once you've decided how you want to format it,
just make a bunch of notes as to what topics
will go underneath those headings, and then you've got your chapters.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Okay, because you know, we're starting to see we see
a lot of people that write their autobiography. So it's
kind of interesting. I guess too. I guess you have to,
like you say, figure out just where do you want
to start. Do you want to start in the beginning
of your life or in the middle, or you know
(25:56):
where you are right now.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
And start from there.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
And a lot of a lot of people have come
to me saying that they have this great idea and
everyone needs to read their story. I had three women
come up to me within months of each other. They
all had the same story. If a lot, if you
feel a lot of people have the same story, maybe
do an anthology and then that way you don't have
(26:22):
the pressure of writing a whole book either. This was
these women were all we're all raped as young girls,
and so they wanted to They want to keep They
want other women to know it's okay to admit this
happened to you and not to suppress it, and to
go on that. That would be an excellent anthology chapter.
(26:46):
Three different people's whole books about that topic are probably
not going to sell, especially when they're not known people.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Okay, so tell us when you talk about anthology, tell
we let our viewing audience know kind of what an
anthology is, so that you will they can understand why
when you say they might not it might.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Not sell because you know the people tell us about that.
Speaker 6 (27:13):
So an anthology is a collection of stories on one
theme by a variety of writers. I am in one anthology,
Perfectly Imperfect, where there were forty two of us authors
that each wrote a chapter about how we overcame adversity
as young girls to become to become successful, strong adults,
(27:36):
and everyone everyone had a slightly different turn somewhere again
about how they overcame rape. Others were how they overcame
the death of a child, not being able to get
the job they wanted because it was so long ago
there were gender issues.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
M Okay. So, so you said you feel that doing
an anthology sometimes it may not sell.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
Why do you feel that way?
Speaker 6 (28:07):
Anthologies do sell? Anthology the one I was in became
an international bestseller because you have so many authors promoting it. Okay,
you're able to get a larger audience.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
Right, Okay, yeah, because I know I've you know, I've
been in when I actually when I first started out
in my business, that was the first Doing an anthology
was my first introduction to being an author, you know,
like you said, And because you don't, you're not actually
writing a whole book, You're only writing a chapter, and
(28:46):
so that's kind of a little easier to kind of
introduce you to, Okay, do I really want to write something?
You know, do I really feel that I have a
book in me? So, but yeah, that was that was
my first introduction, and that was years years ago. And
of course you and I both know Marissa, so I
(29:07):
have I did do uh one with her. So, but yeah,
that they are very interesting in that, like you say,
there's a lot of people in it, you know, you
you normally have several authors in it, or several people,
I should say, and they each their stories are all different.
I mean, you never know what that that person's even
(29:33):
if it may be the same, but it's still.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
Gonna be different. It still will be different.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
So that's why I said about the you know, the anthologies,
and with how well they can do, especially like I said,
if you're not sure, if you really want to write
a book, but you still want to be considered because
you're you know, you're an author at that point because
you've written something and it's in a book, so you
(30:04):
are then classified as an author.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
So yeah, and you get coaching along when you do
it an anthology too, so you're learning to become a
better writer. And again, the one I was in the
coach was actually a social worker, so she was able
if someone had something really difficult. They were writing about
helping them through the emotion. Why is that hard for
(30:29):
you to write about? How do you feel when you
write that? Did you leave something out because you're maybe
afraid it's too personal? And they really work with you.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
So again, you mentioned the different things that you do.
I don't think you told us everything you do. Kind
of give us a kind of a listing of all
the things that you do as a writer.
Speaker 6 (30:58):
I do resumes, I do letters. I do copywriting for
websites and blogs. I maintain a couple different websites for clients,
which I love because I get to write on a
different topic every month. I also do I write for
(31:18):
several magazines besides on It and Fitness Fanatics, I also
write for some neighborhood magazines. If someone's unsure how to
write about their business for a local magazine.
Speaker 5 (31:31):
I'll do that.
Speaker 6 (31:32):
I have five years of newspaper experience covering city hall
and village board issues and interviewing politicians.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Okay, okay, So if you were if someone wanted to
get into your field, what would be something that you
would tell them to do to be able to get
into that fee and also maybe get clients to come
to them.
Speaker 6 (32:05):
Practice right, just to write. If you see something that
you think I could have written that better, then try
to rewrite it better yourself and see if you do
a better job of it. You don't have to be
a journalism major to write for newspapers anymore.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
There we go.
Speaker 6 (32:34):
You don't even have to be an English major. And
there are so many different types of journalism out there.
People think journalism that's newspapers. Newspapers are dying. I want to.
I own one newspaper that is a digital it's all online.
We're part English, part Spanish. I'm doing a revamp so
that the whole whole website can be translated into Spanish.
(32:59):
Even blogging is considered journalism these days, or doing podcasts
or YouTube channels or radio. There's so many different ways
that you can get into journalism these days.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Mm hm okay.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
So some people might ask the question of again, why
should I need to hire an editor?
Speaker 4 (33:25):
I mean, like you say, there.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
You know, there's spell check, and there's well, like I say,
grambly or what have you. So why do you think
you know people should hire an editor?
Speaker 6 (33:43):
Like I said earlier, you can't edit your own work.
I the first book I put out, I had so
many typos in it. When I re released, I'm like,
oh my gosh, how did I How did I miss
all of this? It's because I was reading it correctly
in my brain, but that isn't what was on the
screen or on the paper. Also, having someone else at
(34:05):
your work can help you if you're not explaining anything clearly,
or maybe the words should be reordered, reorder the paragraphs,
or even move a paragraph to a different chapter if
it's a longer piece.
Speaker 5 (34:18):
Like a book.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Okay, okay, So tell us what's next? Do you do
any training? Do you help train individuals to do what
you do? You know, providing the type of training.
Speaker 6 (34:35):
I've tried having like writers' workshops before, where people can
come in and focus on something like updating their business plan.
So many business owners don't update their business plan because
they just don't have time. So I have tried offering
seminars where they just come in. There may be a
(34:55):
little bit of networking at the beginning. I may explain
why they need a different piece of writing, like a
lead magnet, and then the rest of the time they
just sit and they quietly work.
Speaker 5 (35:07):
I was going to collect.
Speaker 6 (35:08):
The phones and they were going to get two free
pages of editing during the conference. But I'm in southern Illinois,
outside Saint Louis, so things don't take off here like
they do on the coast. I'm sure if I was
on the coast, I would have had one hundred people
come to a workshop like that. Unfortunately, trying to promote
(35:30):
it digitally on Facebook, buying ads and all that, I
just couldn't. I wasn't getting the traction that I needed
to get the time I tried to do it on
Zoom to get anyone to show up.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Okay, so right now you don't have any training, Well,
tell us about your book. You mentioned you have a
new book out right now, tell us about that.
Speaker 6 (35:55):
Yes, the danger AI in writing dangers to journalists and
creative writers.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
Gives the history of AI AI.
Speaker 6 (36:04):
It just it may have only sprung on us two
years ago, but it has been being developed for over
one hundred years. So it explains a little bit about
how they taught the computers to play chess and checkers
and different things. Alexa is actually a AI device, So
whatever you ask Alexa to look up for you, it's
(36:27):
going to store that information and it's going to tell
the Amazon based Oh this is something popular. Lots of
people are asking about this. It's just it eavesdrops on
you and then it will give you the ads. And
again that's how AI is scraping the environment around us
to build its brain. Yep.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Absolutely, And I know that's true because I you know,
all the timeline. It starts spilling out and I'm like, okay, Alexa,
what's my notification? And it starts telling me that, oh, well,
item you have in your Amazon card is now on sale?
You can you know so? And I'm like, well, you know,
when it first started doing that, When I first got it,
(37:11):
I'm like, well, how do you even know that I
have something in.
Speaker 4 (37:14):
My Amazon card?
Speaker 6 (37:16):
You know?
Speaker 3 (37:16):
But it's kind of interesting to see that some of
the things that it will it definitely will tell you,
so you're absolutely correct about that. So tell us, if again,
if there was one piece of advice that you would
lead with the viewers and the listeners, what would that
(37:38):
piece of advice be.
Speaker 6 (37:43):
Practice makes perfect. The more you write, the better you
will get at it. I would rather someone try to
write something themselves and they do a terrible job, but
it's good enough that I could edit it. I remember
the first PhD I edited. There's people that have fears
of and so they just go on and on and
on nonsensically. That was how his dissertation was written. The
(38:05):
first time I looked at it, there was no punctuation,
no paragraphs. I could only tell where thoughts ended because
he did at least know how to use the end notes.
So I was able to break things.
Speaker 5 (38:18):
Up that way.
Speaker 6 (38:19):
And when I asked someone, I'm like, did you know
you don't have any punctuation in here? And that's when
I didn't hear from him for four months, and he's like,
I realized I have to be serious about this. And
once he went and rewrote the whole thing, using punctuation
correctly and paragraphs and using better words, it was an
(38:40):
easy edit. He invited me to his practice dissertation and defense.
I went and he sailed through with flying colors, and
he's actually one of my number one referral sources because
now he's a professor at a local college and so
he gives my information to his students. Some of the
(39:00):
students that he was in class with, the other classes
with that are just now getting to their dissertations, he
gives them my informations.
Speaker 4 (39:12):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
So tell us, Stephanie, if the viewers and the listeners
wanted to reach out to you to find out more
about your services, maybe you know, getting you to do
something for them, or even getting your book, how can
they find you and also tell us where they can
also find your book.
Speaker 6 (39:33):
The easiest way is to email me right by Stuff
at gmail dot com. You can also go onto my
website www dot right by stuff dot com and you
can pick a time on my calendar to meet, or
you can click All my books are on Amazon right now,
(39:53):
and I have links to those to each book on
my web page as well as two of them are
in Spanish, excuse me, and I'm working on getting audio
books on all of them. My goal is to be
able to reach everyone who needs the information in as
many ways as possible. The AI in Writing book is
(40:15):
an ebook only, however, because it's constantly changing, I'm going
to have to be updating that book fairly regularly. I
don't want people to buy a print copy and then
something be out of date and they're like, hey, you
told me something wrong.
Speaker 4 (40:33):
Okay, gotcha, Okay.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Well, thank you so much. We appreciate you coming on
and giving us so many nuggets about what you do
about writing, about getting your resume updated, and all the
information that should go into it. So thank you so
much for taking time out of your schedule to be
with us today. Thanks so Now, I'm just going to
(41:00):
give a few announcements about what's going on, what's going
to be taking place. If you missed the Show Up
to Rise Up two point zero Virtual summit in September,
don't worry because you can get VIP access to all
the speakers to do so, just contact me to find
(41:22):
out how you can gain access. I'm also thrilled to
let you know that my new books Show Up to
Rise Up Explore the Transformative Power of a Positive Mindset,
which achieved bestseller status on Amazon in Women and Business
in the Women in Business category, is now available for purchase.
(41:45):
So if you're ready to embrace change and start living
your best life, now's the time and this book will
show you the way. It's available now on Amazon and
it To purchase the book, all you have to do
is go to Amazon. You can put my name in
the search box Doctor Madlin and Lewis, and the book
(42:06):
will come up for you. If you have not viewed
my TEDx talk that I did in Vancouver, Canada in
December twenty twenty one, I'd like you to make sure
to do so. The topic is show Up to Rise Up,
and you can watch it on YouTube again. Just put
my name in the search box Doctor Madlin and Lewis,
(42:29):
or send me an email to info at EXWSI dot
com and I will send you the direct link. Make
sure to check it out again. I'm excited because as
of today it's at two hundred four thousand, eight hundred
and eighty views. So I want to thank all of
you in advance for your support in continuing to share,
(42:52):
to like, and for commenting on the video. Continue to
do so again. I want to push it out to
a million plus out there. To see this video, make
sure to tune in to the final sessions of the
Black Business Olympics for twenty twenty four. The Black Business
Olympics will be airing yes Christmas Week December twenty third
(43:16):
through December twenty ninth, and I will be one of
the keynote speakers on December twenty six at seven pm
Eastern Standard Time. The Black Business Olympics is a premier
event that celebrates the achievements and contributions of black business
leaders and entrepreneurs. It serves as a platform for sharing knowledge,
(43:41):
fostering networking opportunities, and inspiring the next generation of leaders.
The Black Business Olympics is one of the largest business
showcases in the history of black business in the world,
and the platform also helps to provide scholarships and lap
tops to students heading to college. So if you'd like
(44:03):
to find out more about that, if you have a
student heading to college and you want to find out
more about how they can apply for the scholarship, or
if you want to collaborate or possibly be a speaker
on the platform, you can reach out to me at
info at EXWSI dot com. And finally, remember I am
(44:25):
a contributing writer to the own It magazine, where I
share nuggets and resources every month. Own It magazine is
a resource for personal, professional and business development, so make
sure to get your free subscription and to do so again,
you can contact me at info at exwsi dot com
(44:51):
for the details. This has been an exciting episode right
with Steph. I would like to think my guests Stephanie
malink and my viewers and my listeners for joining me today.
This is the successful women's show. I am doctor Madeline
Ann Lewis, and if you'd like to reach out to me,
(45:14):
you can email me at info at exwsi dot com
or go to my website www dot exwsi dot com.
While you're there, make sure you download my free three
part video series on three things every woman should do
(45:35):
to position herself for executive leadership. You can also sign
up for my online course which is Cracked the Career
Code how to Lead with Confidence, Charisma and Credibility. To
sign up for the course, go to www dot crack
thecreercode dot com. You can also reach me on any
(45:56):
of the social media sites. Just d me and I'll
get the message. Don't forget to subscribe to our channel.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
Also like and.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
Share this episode with others. Again, this is the success
for women's show. We're here every week at two pm
Eastern Standard time. I am your host, doctor Matlin and
Lewis helping women accelerate the path to success. Thank you
again to my guests and my viewers and my listeners
(46:28):
and all of you for joining me. I love you
all to life and as always, be well.
Speaker 4 (46:36):
And stay safe out there.
Speaker 6 (46:38):
I got the name
The topics and opinions expressed on the following show are
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We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
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(00:20):
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W four WN Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I got the and and.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Did you know women represent just three percent of Fortune
five hundred CEO in less than fifteen percent of corporate
executives at top companies worldwide? Have you wondered what the
secrets are to getting into the top ranks, whether in
the private or public sector. Do you want to figure
out how to stop being held back in your career?
(01:18):
Are passed over for promotion, then you're in the right place. Hi.
I'm doctor Matlanan Lewis, President and CEO of the Executive
Women's Success Institute. I have decades of experience in the military,
the federal government, and corporate America, and my mission is
to help women succeed and tap into their full potential.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I want to.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Reach a million plus women around the world to become
the leaders they are meant to be. So if you
want to move into a management or executive level position,
or maybe you are a female veteran transitioning out of
the military into business entrepreneurship, then reach out to the
Executive Women's Success Institute at three zero one six nine
(02:03):
three three.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Two eight four.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Let us get you on the fast track to success. Well, hello,
and welcome to the Success for Women's Show, where you
(02:27):
can view us on Talk for TV and listen to
us on the Women for Women Network. I am doctor
Madeline Ann Lewis your host, and my mission is to
help women accelerate the path to success. Well, today we
have another interesting topic and it is Right with Steph
(02:50):
and my guest is Stephanie Melic. I hope I'm pronouncing
that correctly. Let me just give you a little bit
of background on Stephanie. Stephanie is the founder of Write
with Steph. Right with Steph is a full service professional
writing and editing company. Stephanie is the author of two
(03:13):
resource driven non fiction books, including a second edition that
emerged from a failed first release. By repositioning the book
to target the correct audience, Stephanie achieved remarkable results, selling
over one hundred copies in less than a month, an
(03:33):
impressive turnaround from the initial edition, which sold only two
dozen copies over fifteen years. So let me introduce again
my guest, Miss Stephanie Malich. Hello, Hi, Steph. Did I
pronounce your last name?
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Correct?
Speaker 5 (03:54):
A chain link Malink?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Okay, wow, Okay, got that one wrong. We corrected that.
But here's the thing before we get started. I always
like to give the standard bio, but then I like
to ask my guests to tell us. So you tell
us what you want us to know about Stephanie Malink.
Speaker 6 (04:17):
I am a full service business writer and editor company owner.
My company is right by Steph. I have had it
on and off for over twenty years, but full time
for the past three years. I do resumes, cover letters,
LinkedIn profiles, digital and print, magazine and newspaper articles, and
(04:41):
then I also love to edit college papers and PhD dissertations.
I like to brag that I have eight PhDs because
that's how many dissertations I have edited, and I always
learned something new when I'm editing those and then I
I also have a third book that I just released
(05:02):
on the day on Thanksgiving, AI and Writing Dangers for
Journalists and Creative Writers.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Okay, so tell us why a writer? Why did you
become a writer?
Speaker 6 (05:17):
I have always been a creative person, and I am
much better at writing than drawing or painting or doing
any of the other two D and three D arts.
I have tried them all, but writing is what I
really can stick with, and it's something that I don't
need a special space to do. As long as I
(05:37):
can have my laptop, I can write. And I actually
got into journalism because I wanted to be an editor
because all I could see.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Were the mistakes.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
When I would read a newspaper, I wouldn't remember what
the article was about because I was just reading typos.
And when I became a newspaper editor a little over
three years ago, the first time I had a typo
on the front page, I was beating myself up, and
my manager said, that's not your job anyway, that's the
(06:10):
job of a proofreader. And only the New York Times
and the big papers have proofreaders. And I'm like, no, wonder,
everything is so bad.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Oh.
Speaker 6 (06:20):
I tried to be more careful. It is so hard
to edit your own work.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Absolutely, it really is. Actually I use grammarly to correct
my stuff, so that that kind of helps me, especially
if I'm writing an article or something, I'll use that
to help find any typos or you know, grammar grammatical errors.
Speaker 6 (06:43):
You have to be careful with Grammarly because it is
AI fed now, and so if you have a word
that maybe it can be spelled more than one way,
it's not going to catch those kind of typing errors.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary Online and the Oxford Dictionary Online
are the best ways to go for editing. Even even
(07:07):
the Microsoft word features are better than Grammarly.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Oh wow, okay, that's good to know. I mean, I
do know sometimes when I go through it and they
may try to correct something, I may not like that,
and so I won't you know, I won't go with it.
But I didn't realize that, you know that it that
was that it was kind of AI generated. I wasn't
aware of that. So tell me this, since, especially since
(07:36):
let's say the pandemic, have you seen a lot of
people coming to you for maybe rewrites in their resumes
or because you know, a lot of people now working
from home, and so those that uh and some had
to because of the pandemic. Some of their organizations may
(07:58):
have shut down, so they had to go and look
for something else. Do you see people coming to you
now for a lot of rewrites or maybe updates on
their resume resumes?
Speaker 5 (08:10):
I do. It's cyclical.
Speaker 6 (08:11):
Right now is a busy season for me because everyone
wants to start the new year off with a new
and better job, So I'm always busy. Kind of towards
the end of the year, I'll have another uptick around
me when college graduates are getting out and they don't
know how to write their first resume, or three months
(08:32):
later when they've been using their Canva resume they created
and can't figure out why they aren't getting any calls
because the settings in Canva do not they can't be
read by the AI bots again that most human resource
departments use to weed out the resumes that don't have
(08:55):
the right keywords, or that can't follow directions.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Or so you mentioned keywords. So when you're doing a resume,
what's the one important thing that you feel should be
in there that would when they first look at it,
I mean, when they get it and they take that
first look, what should jump out at them.
Speaker 6 (09:21):
There should be an objective and there should be a
lengthy set of skills that are tied to the position
that you are applying for. If the job description says
they want you to have Microsoft Excel experience, do not
put that you have Microsoft Office experience because even though
that includes Excel, they are looking for the computer is trained.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
To just look for the word Excel.
Speaker 6 (09:45):
So you have to spell out each of the different
programs that you have experienced with.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Okay, So how do you think, because I know a
lot of interviews now are being conducted like the online,
you know, via via zoom or streamyard or what have you.
Do you feel that when they're sitting there with the resume,
it still has to present itself a certain way or
(10:14):
you know, because you know, back in the day, those
resumes were just like really plain, you didn't have a
whole lot of stuff. But now it seems that they
have to be a little more interesting for people to
even pick it up and look at it, you know.
Speaker 6 (10:31):
And if it's a job that you're allowed to take
in a printed copy of your resume, it is definitely
okay to use the Canva templates and the more fancy
color blocking statistics boxes. Things like that. Boxes just aren't
able to be read. Unfortunately, in the software that the
(10:53):
companies are using, some of the software is it depends.
Sometimes the older software works better, other times the new does.
But you don't know what each company has, so you
have to just be extra careful and assume that everyone
has the software that is not going to like your
emojis for like your phone number and text and all that.
(11:17):
I had one plan I did a resume for She
was trying to show off her skills as a creative,
and so she had her name in white print in
a black box. She had a telephone by her telephone number,
a house by her physical address, which you don't have
to put your physical address anymore because that is actually
(11:38):
a way of profiling people. If you live in a
lower income area, they're less likely to hire.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
You because.
Speaker 6 (11:48):
Something may happen and you may be more transient, and
they don't like that. They want someone that's in it
for the long haul. But I took her, but because
basically she had a play resume, because the reverse print
showed that there was no name. The icons block all
the information after that. So she had a resume with
(12:10):
no name, no phone number, no email, no nothing. When
I revamped it and got rid of the reverse color blocking,
got rid of the EMO GS, cleaned up some boxes,
she goes getting more phone calls than she knew.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
What to do with.
Speaker 6 (12:25):
Unfortunately, she hadn't thought about what did she really want
to do. So she's like, well, I don't like this one.
I don't like that one. I can't help with that.
I'm not a job.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
It's a business you have.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
That's why I coming in.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
So what tell us what sets you apart from other writers?
Now we talked about you doing resumes, but you also
write different articles. Do you also help people with ghostwriting
maybe they want to write a book or something like that.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
Do you do any small ghost writing? I ghost write
like little magazine articles, or if it's a letter of recommendation,
or if they're applying for a political seat that's been
vacated for some reason and it's they're filling in off
election cycle. I will write those letters for people.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Ah okay, well some of these politicians should know about you. Then,
So tell us what sets you apart from other writers,
because we know a lot of companies you know, hire
people just to write their commercials, just to write their
speeches and different things like that. So what sets you
(13:41):
apart from other writers?
Speaker 6 (13:43):
What sets me apart is the fact that I do
not rely on or use AI at all. Everything comes
from my head or whatever you provide me information wise,
you don't want to use chat GPT even to just
get an outline because that information is no longer yours.
(14:05):
A lot of people think that they can write their
books or frame out of character or a scene using
chat GPT, and what comes out of there is no
longer able to be copyrighted.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
Why write a book if you can't copyright it?
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Mm hmmm wow.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Ah. Well, you know that's interesting because you if you
look actually, if you look at like TikTok or whatever,
there's all these ads that if you scroll up you
see these people. Oh, go on chat GPT and you know,
ask it to do such and such, and it will
give you this whole outline of for a book or
(14:44):
an ebook or an e course or something like that.
And I mean it's actually a lot of them. Like
I said, if you look on TikTok, you'll see TikTok,
You'll see a lot of them. That's up there, like
ads that's doing that. Yeah, wow, that's interesting. I didn't
realize that those things that you could not you know,
(15:07):
if you used it, you could.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Not copyright it.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
So that that's actually interesting fact for a lot of
people that's probably doing it's probably doing that.
Speaker 6 (15:17):
And I actually had an author friend told me once
it's like, oh, well, if chat GPT scrapes what I've
asked it to create for my character, and someone else
public uses that character in their book and they have
a number one best seller and I don't have my
book written yet, well good for them, they can have it.
And I'm like, why even be an author?
Speaker 4 (15:37):
Then, yeah, that's kind of a waste of time.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
And it's it's sort of like you want your own
thoughts and ideas in there, and so yeah, I guess
that would be defeating the purpose to use that tool,
especially the to write a book or something like that. Interesting,
So why is it important for businesses to contract with
(16:04):
a writer or an editor? Like I said, I know
a lot of companies do that. They have you know,
that's that's like a job title. Just that's all they
do is, you know, they're the writer. They may I
remember when I was in the federal government and they
had a person that that was their title. Their title
(16:25):
was only just to write the speeches for the executives.
So I know that you know a lot of companies
contract you to do that. So why do you think
it's important for them to have that type of vehicle
in their organizations?
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Well, Number one, back to the chat GPT.
Speaker 6 (16:44):
There's no emotion in anything that chat GPT creates.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
So if you have it.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
Right, your speech it's going to be very monotonous. It's
going to be either overly complex or overly simplified language. Also,
writing a speech or a presentation or something is an
art form. Not everyone can do that.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
I can.
Speaker 6 (17:13):
I can take what I know about someone or what
is told to me about that person, and I can
make it. I can make it. You be able to
close your eyes and visualize that person standing there giving
their presentation, or you can you can understand you feel
(17:35):
like you're wherever the person is talking about.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Okay, so you would have to have.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Not only know the person themselves, but also maybe a
little bit about the audience they're going to be speaking to.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yeah, okay, so let's say, well, I am I'm a speaker.
Do you would you feel that I would need to
write because I'm a speaker that every time I go
out and have to do a presentation, should I have
someone right? You know, it.
Speaker 6 (18:10):
Depends some you're probably seasoned enough that you know what
you want to say. People that are just starting out,
or they're giving a presentation and for the first time
and they don't know what to say. Absolutely, you need
a speech writer because you have to again target that audience.
You have to say what your goal is, what your
(18:32):
mission is, why you want whatever position it is that
you are applying for, how you can help your audience
get what they deserve.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Now do you have with your services?
Speaker 4 (18:47):
I would?
Speaker 3 (18:48):
I'm thinking you work both with men and women? Correct
or is it most women? Both men and women? You
see that you have more women coming to you. Is
that more men are Do you have a mixture of both.
Speaker 6 (19:03):
I have a pretty good mixture. It usually is more
women though, because they they're finally their kids are out
of the house. They're able to go after that dream
job they've always wanted and they don't feel like they
don't have they have anything to put on a resume
because they've only worked secretarial or they've only been a
(19:26):
state at home mom or a homeschool teacher. A lot
of those areas all have they translate into the real
job world.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Okay, okay, So give us an example of that, especially
for a stay home mom. How would you translate something
that they do into their resume.
Speaker 6 (19:49):
Coordinating all the kids' sports and schedules and everything that
can be management, schedule management, chauffeur, taking the kids around,
meal prep correct to correctly preparing the meals for all
(20:09):
of the different needs that our bodies have.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Okay, so it would be all in the wording as
to It's sort of like with the military, when they
transition out of the military into civilian employment, they have
to change that language, the military language, so that it
fits the civilian world. So that's what that sounds like, Yes,
making it fit the civilian world from them being a
(20:35):
stay at home mom.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
I got it.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Okay, that makes sense. So now we've been talking about
the chat GBT, and I know you said you kind
of mentioned a couple of things about why we shouldn't
use it, But give us maybe some real important facts
as to why we shouldn't use chat GBT because chat
(20:57):
GBT and you know, all this AI stuff. That's that's
all you're hearing right now. And you know people are
starting to rely a lot on that. So give us
just some you know, a feel reasons why we shouldn't especially,
we should not rely on it. I know you said sometimes,
(21:18):
especially with a book that you someone the informat, you
wouldn't be able to copyright your book if you use that.
So is there anything else you could think of? Any
reasons why we shouldn't, you know, rely on chat GBT.
Speaker 6 (21:32):
Your brain is just like any other muscle in your body.
If you don't use it, you're not going to be
able to keep it. Having chat GPT do all of
your writing, you're not coming up with the thoughts in
your head. You can't think quickly. You you're not going
(21:53):
to retain information because you're asking the computer to do
it for you.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Well, I say that's why they're doing it, because they
don't they can't come up with any you know, they
don't have those ideas, like they say, creative ideas, the invention.
They don't have that. So that's why they feel this
too might be you know, an easy thing to get
(22:21):
sort of get hooked on in a way.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
Yeah, I mean it's It's like any sport too. You
have to keep doing it and practicing to get good
at it.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
Right exactly, exactly wow.
Speaker 6 (22:34):
So and especially with students, students are using I heard
a statistic on the radio and I bout drove off
the road.
Speaker 5 (22:41):
It was so shocking.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
About thirty three percent of students starting in middle school
or using chat GPT not just to do their essays,
but to answer their short answer questions to take their
tests for them. And about seventy percent of parents don't
realize that their children are using chat GPT to do
(23:04):
their homework. Schools are actually required going back to requiring
paper in class assignments so that they can see, okay,
are they do they really have the concepts?
Speaker 3 (23:18):
M Now wouldn't that, especially if it's college student, wouldn't
that come up as a little bit of plagiarism That does?
Speaker 6 (23:31):
Yes, it is very much is, especially when it miscites things.
That's one of the dangers, especially with journalism. I went
to a conference this summer and a local newspaper reporter
was there and told the story about an article she
had written for the local paper, a offshore AI paper
that just scours the internet looking for stuff to republish,
(23:57):
republished her story with incorrect quotes, changing information, and the
people that she wrote about were not happy, and she
couldn't figure out why they weren't happy, And she went
to their to her boss, the quality control and legal
of the newspaper, and they found out that this other
publication had scraped her article and had just messed everything up,
(24:23):
misattributed quotes, said people said things that they didn't.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
Wow, that's interesting.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
So now, okay, let's say I wanted to write an autobiography,
which one day I might want to do that. So
how do I get started to do that?
Speaker 4 (24:45):
How would I do that? Where do I start?
Speaker 6 (24:48):
First thing you need to decide is how you want
to organize your story. Do you want to do it chronologically,
starting from when you were a child, or do you
want to do it based on themes all the jobs
you've had from the time you were sixteen, on your
career as a parent versus your career as a grandparent,
(25:11):
your spiritual career, your background in education, what you've learned
differently in.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
Different steps of the educational process.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
And then, once you've decided how you want to format it,
just make a bunch of notes as to what topics
will go underneath those headings, and then you've got your chapters.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Okay, because you know, we're starting to see we see
a lot of people that write their autobiography. So it's
kind of interesting. I guess too. I guess you have to,
like you say, figure out just where do you want
to start. Do you want to start in the beginning
of your life or in the middle, or you know
(25:56):
where you are right now.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
And start from there.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
And a lot of a lot of people have come
to me saying that they have this great idea and
everyone needs to read their story. I had three women
come up to me within months of each other. They
all had the same story. If a lot, if you
feel a lot of people have the same story, maybe
do an anthology and then that way you don't have
(26:22):
the pressure of writing a whole book either. This was
these women were all we're all raped as young girls,
and so they wanted to They want to keep They
want other women to know it's okay to admit this
happened to you and not to suppress it, and to
go on that. That would be an excellent anthology chapter.
(26:46):
Three different people's whole books about that topic are probably
not going to sell, especially when they're not known people.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Okay, so tell us when you talk about anthology, tell
we let our viewing audience know kind of what an
anthology is, so that you will they can understand why
when you say they might not it might.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Not sell because you know the people tell us about that.
Speaker 6 (27:13):
So an anthology is a collection of stories on one
theme by a variety of writers. I am in one anthology,
Perfectly Imperfect, where there were forty two of us authors
that each wrote a chapter about how we overcame adversity
as young girls to become to become successful, strong adults,
(27:36):
and everyone everyone had a slightly different turn somewhere again
about how they overcame rape. Others were how they overcame
the death of a child, not being able to get
the job they wanted because it was so long ago
there were gender issues.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
M Okay. So, so you said you feel that doing
an anthology sometimes it may not sell.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
Why do you feel that way?
Speaker 6 (28:07):
Anthologies do sell? Anthology the one I was in became
an international bestseller because you have so many authors promoting it. Okay,
you're able to get a larger audience.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
Right, Okay, yeah, because I know I've you know, I've
been in when I actually when I first started out
in my business, that was the first Doing an anthology
was my first introduction to being an author, you know,
like you said, And because you don't, you're not actually
writing a whole book, You're only writing a chapter, and
(28:46):
so that's kind of a little easier to kind of
introduce you to, Okay, do I really want to write something?
You know, do I really feel that I have a
book in me? So, but yeah, that was that was
my first introduction, and that was years years ago. And
of course you and I both know Marissa, so I
(29:07):
have I did do uh one with her. So, but yeah,
that they are very interesting in that, like you say,
there's a lot of people in it, you know, you
you normally have several authors in it, or several people,
I should say, and they each their stories are all different.
I mean, you never know what that that person's even
(29:33):
if it may be the same, but it's still.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
Gonna be different. It still will be different.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
So that's why I said about the you know, the anthologies,
and with how well they can do, especially like I said,
if you're not sure, if you really want to write
a book, but you still want to be considered because
you're you know, you're an author at that point because
you've written something and it's in a book, so you
(30:04):
are then classified as an author.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
So yeah, and you get coaching along when you do
it an anthology too, so you're learning to become a
better writer. And again, the one I was in the
coach was actually a social worker, so she was able
if someone had something really difficult. They were writing about
helping them through the emotion. Why is that hard for
(30:29):
you to write about? How do you feel when you
write that? Did you leave something out because you're maybe
afraid it's too personal? And they really work with you.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
So again, you mentioned the different things that you do.
I don't think you told us everything you do. Kind
of give us a kind of a listing of all
the things that you do as a writer.
Speaker 6 (30:58):
I do resumes, I do letters. I do copywriting for
websites and blogs. I maintain a couple different websites for clients,
which I love because I get to write on a
different topic every month. I also do I write for
(31:18):
several magazines besides on It and Fitness Fanatics, I also
write for some neighborhood magazines. If someone's unsure how to
write about their business for a local magazine.
Speaker 5 (31:31):
I'll do that.
Speaker 6 (31:32):
I have five years of newspaper experience covering city hall
and village board issues and interviewing politicians.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Okay, okay, So if you were if someone wanted to
get into your field, what would be something that you
would tell them to do to be able to get
into that fee and also maybe get clients to come
to them.
Speaker 6 (32:05):
Practice right, just to write. If you see something that
you think I could have written that better, then try
to rewrite it better yourself and see if you do
a better job of it. You don't have to be
a journalism major to write for newspapers anymore.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
There we go.
Speaker 6 (32:34):
You don't even have to be an English major. And
there are so many different types of journalism out there.
People think journalism that's newspapers. Newspapers are dying. I want to.
I own one newspaper that is a digital it's all online.
We're part English, part Spanish. I'm doing a revamp so
that the whole whole website can be translated into Spanish.
(32:59):
Even blogging is considered journalism these days, or doing podcasts
or YouTube channels or radio. There's so many different ways
that you can get into journalism these days.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Mm hm okay.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
So some people might ask the question of again, why
should I need to hire an editor?
Speaker 4 (33:25):
I mean, like you say, there.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
You know, there's spell check, and there's well, like I say,
grambly or what have you. So why do you think
you know people should hire an editor?
Speaker 6 (33:43):
Like I said earlier, you can't edit your own work.
I the first book I put out, I had so
many typos in it. When I re released, I'm like,
oh my gosh, how did I How did I miss
all of this? It's because I was reading it correctly
in my brain, but that isn't what was on the
screen or on the paper. Also, having someone else at
(34:05):
your work can help you if you're not explaining anything clearly,
or maybe the words should be reordered, reorder the paragraphs,
or even move a paragraph to a different chapter if
it's a longer piece.
Speaker 5 (34:18):
Like a book.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Okay, okay, So tell us what's next? Do you do
any training? Do you help train individuals to do what
you do? You know, providing the type of training.
Speaker 6 (34:35):
I've tried having like writers' workshops before, where people can
come in and focus on something like updating their business plan.
So many business owners don't update their business plan because
they just don't have time. So I have tried offering
seminars where they just come in. There may be a
(34:55):
little bit of networking at the beginning. I may explain
why they need a different piece of writing, like a
lead magnet, and then the rest of the time they
just sit and they quietly work.
Speaker 5 (35:07):
I was going to collect.
Speaker 6 (35:08):
The phones and they were going to get two free
pages of editing during the conference. But I'm in southern Illinois,
outside Saint Louis, so things don't take off here like
they do on the coast. I'm sure if I was
on the coast, I would have had one hundred people
come to a workshop like that. Unfortunately, trying to promote
(35:30):
it digitally on Facebook, buying ads and all that, I
just couldn't. I wasn't getting the traction that I needed
to get the time I tried to do it on
Zoom to get anyone to show up.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Okay, so right now you don't have any training, Well,
tell us about your book. You mentioned you have a
new book out right now, tell us about that.
Speaker 6 (35:55):
Yes, the danger AI in writing dangers to journalists and
creative writers.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
Gives the history of AI AI.
Speaker 6 (36:04):
It just it may have only sprung on us two
years ago, but it has been being developed for over
one hundred years. So it explains a little bit about
how they taught the computers to play chess and checkers
and different things. Alexa is actually a AI device, So
whatever you ask Alexa to look up for you, it's
(36:27):
going to store that information and it's going to tell
the Amazon based Oh this is something popular. Lots of
people are asking about this. It's just it eavesdrops on
you and then it will give you the ads. And
again that's how AI is scraping the environment around us
to build its brain. Yep.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Absolutely, And I know that's true because I you know,
all the timeline. It starts spilling out and I'm like, okay, Alexa,
what's my notification? And it starts telling me that, oh, well,
item you have in your Amazon card is now on sale?
You can you know so? And I'm like, well, you know,
when it first started doing that, When I first got it,
(37:11):
I'm like, well, how do you even know that I
have something in.
Speaker 4 (37:14):
My Amazon card?
Speaker 6 (37:16):
You know?
Speaker 3 (37:16):
But it's kind of interesting to see that some of
the things that it will it definitely will tell you,
so you're absolutely correct about that. So tell us, if again,
if there was one piece of advice that you would
lead with the viewers and the listeners, what would that
(37:38):
piece of advice be.
Speaker 6 (37:43):
Practice makes perfect. The more you write, the better you
will get at it. I would rather someone try to
write something themselves and they do a terrible job, but
it's good enough that I could edit it. I remember
the first PhD I edited. There's people that have fears
of and so they just go on and on and
on nonsensically. That was how his dissertation was written. The
(38:05):
first time I looked at it, there was no punctuation,
no paragraphs. I could only tell where thoughts ended because
he did at least know how to use the end notes.
So I was able to break things.
Speaker 5 (38:18):
Up that way.
Speaker 6 (38:19):
And when I asked someone, I'm like, did you know
you don't have any punctuation in here? And that's when
I didn't hear from him for four months, and he's like,
I realized I have to be serious about this. And
once he went and rewrote the whole thing, using punctuation
correctly and paragraphs and using better words, it was an
(38:40):
easy edit. He invited me to his practice dissertation and defense.
I went and he sailed through with flying colors, and
he's actually one of my number one referral sources because
now he's a professor at a local college and so
he gives my information to his students. Some of the
(39:00):
students that he was in class with, the other classes
with that are just now getting to their dissertations, he
gives them my informations.
Speaker 4 (39:12):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
So tell us, Stephanie, if the viewers and the listeners
wanted to reach out to you to find out more
about your services, maybe you know, getting you to do
something for them, or even getting your book, how can
they find you and also tell us where they can
also find your book.
Speaker 6 (39:33):
The easiest way is to email me right by Stuff
at gmail dot com. You can also go onto my
website www dot right by stuff dot com and you
can pick a time on my calendar to meet, or
you can click All my books are on Amazon right now,
(39:53):
and I have links to those to each book on
my web page as well as two of them are
in Spanish, excuse me, and I'm working on getting audio
books on all of them. My goal is to be
able to reach everyone who needs the information in as
many ways as possible. The AI in Writing book is
(40:15):
an ebook only, however, because it's constantly changing, I'm going
to have to be updating that book fairly regularly. I
don't want people to buy a print copy and then
something be out of date and they're like, hey, you
told me something wrong.
Speaker 4 (40:33):
Okay, gotcha, Okay.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Well, thank you so much. We appreciate you coming on
and giving us so many nuggets about what you do
about writing, about getting your resume updated, and all the
information that should go into it. So thank you so
much for taking time out of your schedule to be
with us today. Thanks so Now, I'm just going to
(41:00):
give a few announcements about what's going on, what's going
to be taking place. If you missed the Show Up
to Rise Up two point zero Virtual summit in September,
don't worry because you can get VIP access to all
the speakers to do so, just contact me to find
(41:22):
out how you can gain access. I'm also thrilled to
let you know that my new books Show Up to
Rise Up Explore the Transformative Power of a Positive Mindset,
which achieved bestseller status on Amazon in Women and Business
in the Women in Business category, is now available for purchase.
(41:45):
So if you're ready to embrace change and start living
your best life, now's the time and this book will
show you the way. It's available now on Amazon and
it To purchase the book, all you have to do
is go to Amazon. You can put my name in
the search box Doctor Madlin and Lewis, and the book
(42:06):
will come up for you. If you have not viewed
my TEDx talk that I did in Vancouver, Canada in
December twenty twenty one, I'd like you to make sure
to do so. The topic is show Up to Rise Up,
and you can watch it on YouTube again. Just put
my name in the search box Doctor Madlin and Lewis,
(42:29):
or send me an email to info at EXWSI dot
com and I will send you the direct link. Make
sure to check it out again. I'm excited because as
of today it's at two hundred four thousand, eight hundred
and eighty views. So I want to thank all of
you in advance for your support in continuing to share,
(42:52):
to like, and for commenting on the video. Continue to
do so again. I want to push it out to
a million plus out there. To see this video, make
sure to tune in to the final sessions of the
Black Business Olympics for twenty twenty four. The Black Business
Olympics will be airing yes Christmas Week December twenty third
(43:16):
through December twenty ninth, and I will be one of
the keynote speakers on December twenty six at seven pm
Eastern Standard Time. The Black Business Olympics is a premier
event that celebrates the achievements and contributions of black business
leaders and entrepreneurs. It serves as a platform for sharing knowledge,
(43:41):
fostering networking opportunities, and inspiring the next generation of leaders.
The Black Business Olympics is one of the largest business
showcases in the history of black business in the world,
and the platform also helps to provide scholarships and lap
tops to students heading to college. So if you'd like
(44:03):
to find out more about that, if you have a
student heading to college and you want to find out
more about how they can apply for the scholarship, or
if you want to collaborate or possibly be a speaker
on the platform, you can reach out to me at
info at EXWSI dot com. And finally, remember I am
(44:25):
a contributing writer to the own It magazine, where I
share nuggets and resources every month. Own It magazine is
a resource for personal, professional and business development, so make
sure to get your free subscription and to do so again,
you can contact me at info at exwsi dot com
(44:51):
for the details. This has been an exciting episode right
with Steph. I would like to think my guests Stephanie
malink and my viewers and my listeners for joining me today.
This is the successful women's show. I am doctor Madeline
Ann Lewis, and if you'd like to reach out to me,
(45:14):
you can email me at info at exwsi dot com
or go to my website www dot exwsi dot com.
While you're there, make sure you download my free three
part video series on three things every woman should do
(45:35):
to position herself for executive leadership. You can also sign
up for my online course which is Cracked the Career
Code how to Lead with Confidence, Charisma and Credibility. To
sign up for the course, go to www dot crack
thecreercode dot com. You can also reach me on any
(45:56):
of the social media sites. Just d me and I'll
get the message. Don't forget to subscribe to our channel.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
Also like and.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
Share this episode with others. Again, this is the success
for women's show. We're here every week at two pm
Eastern Standard time. I am your host, doctor Matlin and
Lewis helping women accelerate the path to success. Thank you
again to my guests and my viewers and my listeners
(46:28):
and all of you for joining me. I love you
all to life and as always, be well.
Speaker 4 (46:36):
And stay safe out there.
Speaker 6 (46:38):
I got the name
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