Hello friends! Sagan here. Welcome back to Indie Author Weekly, where I share my behind-the-scenes journey of writing and self-publishing books.
If you’re new to this podcast, I am a productivity strategist for multi-passionate creatives at SaganMorrow.com: I help people manage their time and energy effectively, through customized, actionable strategies that work for your unique life and business. When I’m not teaching about productivity to solopreneurs, I spend my time writing romance novels, and occasionally, business books. And that is what this podcast is all about: the adventures of the author life.
Now let’s get into this episode of the Indie Author Weekly podcast. Today, I want to share with you the #1 thing to make writing easier.
Because I know how hard it can be to write a novel. To start a novel, to write consistently, to get through the messy middle, to finish your novel, and then to keep writing it… to do rewrites and edits and polish it until you’re ready to publish it.
The more that we can do to make writing easier, the better. And what I’ve discovered, after writing several business books and seven romance novels, is there’s actually one thing that can drastically make writing so much easier on yourself. It might come as a surprise to you...
You want to know what the #1 thing is, to make writing easier? Drumroll please...
Self-care.
Yes, I said it. That’s right. Self-care is the #1 thing you can do to make writing easier on yourself.
Okay, let me back up a minute and explain this…
The other half of my business, outside of writing romcoms, is my work as a productivity strategist. I teach writers, creatives, solopreneurs, project managers, and other busy people how to manage their time more effectively.
But I don’t teach productivity the way you might think. I don’t tell you, “You need to use XYZ system,” or “As long as you use this particular technique, you’ll 100% be successful.”
No. I don’t believe that at all, because you are unique, and the work you do is unique, and your personality and learning style aren’t going to be quite like anyone else’s. So why on earth would I try to force you into using one particular system or method? It doesn’t work. There’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all.
Instead, the way I teach productivity is to guide you to find the right systems, techniques, processes, methods, and strategies for where you are at and who you are, right now. And a major part of that, when it comes to the time management side of things, is to help you manage your energy better: that is, to enhance your creative abilities and increase your energy levels, so that you don’t feel burned out at the end of the day, or too tired to sit down and write.
I’m guessing that if you’re listening to this podcast right now, you are an aspiring author, or you have another job and you’re trying to write books on the side. That’s not easy, I know! In that case, what you probably really need is the energy, outside of your day job and everything else going on in your life and business, to work on your books.
So this is where self-care comes in. Again, that is the #1 thing to make writing easier. Self-care is the tipping point. Whatever self-care looks like to you, when you prioritize it, then you will have the capacity and bandwidth to write consistently and much more easily.
For example, I’m temporarily living in small town BC with my spouse, Mr Science. Normally, I live in Winnipeg and he travels back and forth, but with the pandemic, that’s not really feasible. So I’m staying in BC for the foreseeable future. Anyway, the apartment here is nice, but it’s not “pretty.”
...And I struggled with productivity quite a bit for much of the summer, until I realized that aesthetics are a huge part of my version of self-care. The “prettier” I can make things, and the prettier the environment is around me, the more productive I am. Aesthetics make me happy and they ground me. I work best when I have a clean, organized space that’s aesthetically-pleasing. I’ve fine-tuned that at my home office back in Winnipeg, but here in BC, it’s different.
There’s not a huge amount that I can do about it, but even a few small changes here and there in my new workspace made a HUGE difference. And lo and behold, my productivity immediately skyrocketed. I’ve been able to make incredible strides with my latest book, directly because I’ve prioritized self-care, such as making my workspace more aesthetically pleasing.
This is the power of self-care. This is why I teach self-care and energy management as a foundational pillar of healthy productivity. True productivity relies on you taking care of yourself: productivity is about efficiency, and you aren’t going to be efficient if you’re burned out or exhausted or unhappy or overwhelmed. Ergo, self-care = productivity.
If you want to learn more about how to be more productive in a healthy way, that feels good for you, and that can drastically improve your ability to get that book of yours finally written, then I strongly encourage you to join my signature program, Productivity Powerhouse.
It’s transformative and actionable, with motivational pep talks and encouraging support systems, every step along the way. You can learn more about it at SaganMorrow.com/powerhouse!
By the way, the price increases very soon, so now is a really good time to join. And it’s affordable! I’ll include the link in the show notes.
So, that’s my tip for you today: if you’re struggling to make progress with your book, or you’re finding it difficult to focus on your writing, then take a step back. Prioritize self-care. That’s the first step to make writing easier… and then join Productivity Powerhouse so we can help you keep moving forward with your book!
Now, I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Connect with me on Twitter and Instagram, @Saganlives, to chat about it! And you can send me a message on either of those platforms if you have requests for future episode topics, too. The more you tell me what you’d like to see more of on this podcast, the better that I can accommodate that. You can also submit your questions or topic ideas anonymously at SaganMorrow.com/question.
If you enjoyed this episode, please take 2 minutes to share this podcast on social media and subscribe and rate it on Apple Podcasts—any time you share it or leave a rating or review, it helps more listeners find the Indie Author Weekly podcast, so every bit counts! I really appreciate your support.
By the way, you can access complete word-for-word transcripts of this episode and all past episodes, plus sample chapters of my romantic comedies and a few other bonuses and goodies, on the “secret” version of this podcast. Get access to all of that at SaganMorrow.com/secretpodcast.
Thanks so much for tuning in to the Indie Author Weekly podcast, and I will see you in the next episode.