Oh, the Stories You Will Write: A Motivational Guide to Empower Aspiring Authors

By Stefani Milan

In this revised and expanded edition of Oh, the Stories You Will Write, Milan brings her ten years of writing and publishing experience to the forefront. This edition includes all of the same beneficial guidance as the first edition, plus the most current information about self-publishing the right way, stories

• Language: English
• Publisher: Milan Book Publishing
• Release date: Aug 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9781736267493

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Oh, the Stories You Will Write

Oh, the Stories You Will Write

Oh, the Stories You Will Write

A Motivational Guide to Empower Aspiring Authors

STEFANI MILAN

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Milan Book Publishing

Copyright © 2023 by Stefani Milan

Edition 2: Updated and Expanded.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the author at [e-mail] or [e-mail]

First Printing, 2017 by Starseed Universe Press

Second Printing, 2023 by Milan Book Publishing

Oh, the Stories You Will Write © 2017 by Stefani-Ann Milanese. All rights reserved.

BISAC

Self-Help / Creativity, Self-Help / Motivational

This book is dedicated to all aspiring authors. May you find the courage to write and let the world hear your story.

Author's Note

(Updated and revised for the 2023 publication of this book.)

In the beginning...

In 2009, I had dreams of becoming an actress. I grew up in an entertainment-industry family, and I had been acting, writing, performing, and songwriting since I was a child. In order to fine-tune my acting skills, I decided to enroll in a film-acting class in Philadelphia. I thought I would simply rehearse movie scenes and be critiqued on my performance, but in actuality, the class was the starting point of what was to become a life-long journey to higher awareness and spiritual growth.

My acting teacher was a wonderful man who exuded boundless energy not only to me but to the entire class. He rarely spoke of how to act but taught us how to be. He taught us about the ego, the false self, and how to tap into the true self. He taught us about honoring the inner child, meditation, and finding true purpose.

This class certainly was not typical, and it ignited a new passion and desire in me to become self-aware. Looking back now, I understand this class was one of the most important stepping stones on my life journey. The universe had used one passion of mine to ignite another. I had done nothing to make this happen except to be open to possibility.

On my journey to find my true inner self, I devoured every higher-awareness book I could get my hands on, and, as a result, I had an epiphany, realizing that I could better express myself through writing rather than I could through acting. This started me on my new path in life.

My journey toward higher awareness did not come without obstacles. I felt as if I were the hero on my own adventure, navigating through a new world. Even though I had developed a certain level of awareness, many people around me had not. Even with my mother as my trustworthy companion on my journey, I still went through dark times when I felt alone and that no one understood me.

My friends changed. My love relationships changed. I changed. Or maybe it was that I had found my inner self—a self that had been locked away for many years. I began to rely less on external things for my happiness and more on my intuition. I broke away from old beliefs and attachments. I became hungry to fulfill my passions and dreams with fearlessness. Before, I had relied heavily on other people’s approval. Now, I neither needed it nor desired it. I began to achieve my dreams from a place of self-confidence.

But this newfound person I had become and grown to love would soon disappear. In 2018, my life completely changed. My mother, my best friend and biggest supporter of my dreams, died of pancreatic cancer. As her caregiver, I went through a tremendous amount of trauma and pain. My life felt like a train that had been derailed. 

I had changed yet again. Just as I could never be the person I was before 2009, I knew I could never be the person I had been before 2018 ever again. Like the mythical phoenix, I had burned to ashes on my pyre in 2009 and regenerated into a stronger, confident, happy self. Here I was yet again in 2018, thrust into the flames of death and re-birth, only this time, it wasn’t so pleasant or profound. This time, I did not walk away with a happy song in my heart, skipping down a trail as I picked wildflowers in a late-spring meadow. I didn’t understand the purpose of my pain or the path on which I now found myself. Instead, I found myself in a dark abyss where the deepest, darkest emotions resided. Like any heroine on her arduous journey, I found myself in the belly of a beast, and I knew if I wanted to persevere, I would need to face the excruciating pain and changes in my life and climb out of the abyss.

My trials and tribulations after the tremendous pain of the loss of my mother were financial loss and debt, the loss of three other family members, the beginning of my marriage, an entry into motherhood, and a close family member dealing with an addiction.

Some of the changes and experiences were more pleasant than others, like getting married or giving birth to my first son. Others were less pleasant, but all of them kept me struggling to free myself from the beast. What I understood when I emerged from the abyss was that I had been reborn. Like the phoenix, I had once again risen from my pyre. Only this time, burned within me was the wisdom of 1000 sages. Where passion had been my driving force nine years earlier, now it was my unspeakable grief and pain that propelled me to a higher level of self-awareness. I understood humanity on a whole different level, and along with all of the darkest emotions, I felt compassion and understanding in my heart that I had never known before my struggles. 

Why is this important to writing?

Along with all of my other transformations, so had my writing. Deeper experiences led to a deeper understanding of the human experience and the range of emotions that go along with those experiences. As I understood more, I found my writing improved, and it continues to improve with every experience.

When I first wrote this book, I did not realize how many people had a desire to write their own stories. And while I may have gained the wisdom of 1000 sages, many of my readers have the wisdom of 10,000 sages. Their experiences have been even deeper and more transformative than mine, and they’ve burned down to ashes and regenerated more times than they can count. 

That is why I continue to have a passion for helping aspiring authors tell their stories, whether they be life stories or fiction. I believe most authors are artists, and deep within the seed of humanity is the desire to create. Our life journeys provide experiences that can awaken our creative forces if we allow them to. When I see one of my aspiring authors become an established author, it makes me feel pure joy knowing that I have assisted in some kind of awakening for them. I believe that inspiring authors is part of my purpose in life. I look forward to my journey in the years to come and hope that even if our paths never cross, this book awakens the artist in you. I wish you the best on your journey. 

-Stefani

Other Offers from Stefani Milan

Oh, the Stories You Will Write: The Workbook (now available!) is the perfect book to accompany this one! With twenty-one days of writing exercises to help authors jump-start their writing journeys, five bestseller mapping exercises to build authors’ writing skills further and keep writing momentum flowing in the right direction, worksheets and goal sheets to keep writers motivated, and quotes from the book to help authors stay inspired, this workbook is sure to guide you on your writing journey!  

An Introduction to Self-Publishing  is an interactive, online video class that includes tons of information about self-publishing plus worksheets, cheat sheets, and more!  (Launching in November 2023 through Teachable) Email [e-mail] to find out more.

Contents

Dedication

Author's Note

Other Offers from Stefani Milan

About This Book

One

Getting Out of Your Own Way

1 The Power of Momentum

2 Ready. Set. Leap!

3 Why Do You Want to Write a Book Anyway?

Two

Building Your Writing Skills

4 Build Writing Skills

5 The Creative Space

6 Jump-Start Your Creativity

Three

The Empowered and Indestructible You

7 Indestructible Confidence

8 The Empowered Mindset

Four

Introduction to Publishing 101

9 Publishing Methods

10 Next Steps in Publishing

11 The Self-Publishing Checklist

Conclusion

Extras

Fourteen Tips for Writing Success

A Guide to Confidence Building

The Empowered Mindset

References

Suggested Reading

Acknowledgments

Other Titles by Milan Book Publishing

About This Book

Before entertaining the idea of writing this book and giving workshops on writing, I helped many of my close friends find the courage to write and publish their books. At the time, I had no idea that I would write anything in the self-help genre, as I had mainly been writing fiction. However, I was already helping others to achieve their dreams and came to the realization that this undertaking was part of my true purpose.

Numerous friends and acquaintances would say, Would you please write a book that will help guide us to write one? We want to achieve what you have, but we don’t know how. Others would say, I don’t have the courage that you do, the fearlessness to write a book. Please help me.

At first, I thought I would send some of these aspiring writers my notes from a successful workshop I taught in New York. I even emailed and corresponded with some of the people who wanted to write a book. What I found was that I had too much information to share with them and not enough time to help everyone through emails. Thus, the idea of this book was born.

This book focuses on powerful tips and tools for aspiring authors to help them achieve their goals. I invite writers everywhere to consider these powerful concepts that will help them finally finish those projects they have always wanted to and possibly publish them for the