u/LadyBrighid

Hi all! I am trying to find a venue for 40 or so guests where we can watch the premiere of a Hallmark Channel movie. It’s based on a book I wrote, so I’m excited. :) It’s on Saturday, October 3, and it would be 6 pm - 10 pm. My budget for the venue is $1000, which I know isn’t a lot, but it doesn’t need to be fancy—it’s just friends and family watching TV, haha. It can be at a restaurant if the private room has a big TV and doesn’t get too noisy, or it can be somewhere where I bring food and drink. If you have any suggestions, please let me know! Thank you so much!

Please take this down if it’s not allowed! I visited the set of A KNIGHT TO REMEMBER, coming out October 3rd, and I thought you might like to read about what it’s like on a Hallmark set. I am in the middle of writing a romcom novel that takes place on a Hallmark-ish movie set, which made it even more amazing to have this experience!

I've been a full-time book editor for many years, and I think about this a lot. So much writing advice focuses on getting better at the things you're worst at. And that's great. We figure out what we're doing wrong and where we're falling flat, and we improve.

But this can lead to us thinking that once we correct all our imperfections, we'll be successful as writers, and that's not how it works. When people succeed, it's because what they do well, they do very, VERY well...and because they are able to pick the right stories that align with what they're good at already.

If you've ever loved a book, TV show, or movie despite being fully aware of its glaring plot holes or other weaknesses, you know what I'm talking about.

If you ever read a book and think: "There are huge problems with this writing! How did it get published?"...sometimes this is why. (Other times, it was just a super-marketable premise, or a mix of both.)

So you've got to figure out what you're best at as a writer, and a lot of writers are even more oblivious to their strengths than they are to their weaknesses. I think it's because the things they're good at come easily to them. As one example: truly funny writers tend to undervalue their natural talent at humor, which is relatively rare, because they didn't have to work at those little quips and funny situations.

Beta readers can help you identify your strengths, and if you hire an editor who only focuses on weaknesses, they are only doing half the job.

In life, focusing only on what you are worst at would be a HORRIBLE strategy for success. "I suck at sports; I guess I'll try to become a pro athlete!" Haha. It's not a great strategy in any sphere of life. The whole world will try to get you to focus on your weaknesses, but don't do it. Improve where you need to, but also know and focus on your strengths.