After four years of working on my manuscript, taking classes and courses, reading craft books, working with editors and critique groups, I’d hit a wall. My current (fantastic) critique group told me I knew how to write and understood story structure, but I could feel it in my bones that I wasn’t where I needed to be. And I was struggling to identify what was wrong and find a path to fix it.
Nobody talks about a plateau in writing.
It’s common in sports to “hit a plateau” and hire experts to help level up. When writers hit one, we tend to take more classes, read more craft books, or give up. For those who persevere, we hope an editor will fix what we cannot.
I tried hiring editors with mixed success. The experience taught me that finding the right fit with an editor, much like finding a critique group, was like dating. It also made clear that your work needed to be at a certain level for editorial help to provide the necessary improvements.
When all the visible boxes are checked, yet a gap remains between okay (maybe even good) and a compelling story, where do you turn? Craft books can’t diagnose what they can’t see. A critique group tells you what isn’t working on the page, but they can’t always tell you why or how to fix it. Editors aren’t ghostwriters.
I searched for a coach. It proved harder than expected. Eight months into my search and after a couple of false starts, Gabriela Pereira (DIYMFA author and founder) opened up her mentorship program. I’d seen her speak at some webinars and workshops. My impression of her was that she’s knowledgeable, organized, and does a great job of teaching in a way that sticks. Excited, I applied.
She said yes.
My goal was modest in scope and enormous in practice: level up my craft to the point I was confident in my ability to turn my story from well-written to something people looked forward to reading.
We started by stepping back, examining, and tightening the foundation of my story—character, plot, arc, theme, and symbols. She identified patterns in my writing and prose to improve. And she gently prodded me outside of the “rules” I kept trying to satisfy.
Then, Gabriela pushed me to think bigger.
We addressed the business side. The part of a writing career that has nothing to do with sentences and everything to do with whether anyone ever reads them.
We finished our last one-on-one session this week. Gabriela stressed that I came into the mentorship as a very strong write, and sometimes that makes the progress harder to spot.
I respectfully disagree. I see the progress and feel it. It lives in my confidence. In the feedback centered more on positive features than on weaknesses. And the way my words flow, focused on the characters and less worried about checklists.
In July, I rewrote my opening pages for Hope and Madness for the seventeenth time (more if you count the edits). I gave it to another writer for a cold read—no context, not even a storyline. I asked if she connected with the protagonist to determine if I’d fixed a persistent problem in earlier drafts. And what, if anything, would stop her from reading further? (The question every author fears to hear.)
“There was nothing that stopped me from reading … quite the opposite, I wished there were more pages! You have a great story, and it is very polished. I’m impressed and intrigued! I want to know—what’s next?”
The feedback proved I’d reached my goal: I’d leveled up.
To get to this point without Gabriela would have taken me years longer, if ever. While I’m ready to fly solo, I’m sad to see the mentorship end. I don’t just consider her a mentor; I also consider her a friend.
I printed out the highlights of the feedback and pinned the page to my wall for inspiration when things get tough. A reminder that writing is a team activity, and sometimes you need coaching to get past the plateau.