Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

• July 11, 2024Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP456 – How Long To Make $1K?

  Listen to this SPA Girls Minisode all about how long it will take you to make your first $1,000 dollars in self publishing! Full of great tips, sage advice and some vulnerable moments from our own self publishing careers.

• July 11, 2024Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP455 – Interview with Clare Connelly

  First published in 2014, romance author Clare Connelly hit success from her very first self-published book. Now with over 120 books published, she talks to us this episode about the pros and cons of hybrid publishing, balancing writing life with a young family, how to be focussed and productive plus the mindset new writers and self publishers MUST have!

• June 19, 2024Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP453 – Are You Ready To Be A Full-Time Writer?

  Want to make the leap to full time author? How do you know when it’s the right time to make that leap?

• March 6, 2024Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP438 – Overcoming Procrastination – with Kathryn Burnett

  Procrastination takes many forms for writers, and it holds us back from writing, publishing and promoting our work. We discuss how to get out of your own way with our guest today, Kathryn Burnett.

• January 10, 2024Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP430 – Just One Thing: How To Simplify Your Writing Life

  Inspired by Dr Michael Moseley’s JUST ONE THING we use his framework to give practical tips for uncomplicating your writing and author business life.

• January 3, 2024Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Mindset, Health & Writing Life, Self-Publishing Process & Tools, Writing Craft & Editing

  SPA Girls EP – 429 – How To Create Your Author Business Plan

  Today we discuss business plans. Need help creating yours? It doesn't need to be complicated, just download our simple SPA Girls template in the show notes.

• December 5, 2023Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP425 – Book Launch Strategies

  Congratulations! You’ve finished your first book (or series) and are ready to hit the publish button! So what can you do to get your book noticed in sea of other new books, and how can you find the right readers for you? The SPA Girls are here to help!

• November 1, 2023Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP420 – Why Forward Planning is Vital for Authors

  This week we talk about the forward planning we all do for our author careers. Because we're all so different here in the SPA, we all plan differently, and have different goals. But that means there will be nuggets of gold for everyone in this episode! We go through what it means to forward plan in your author business, why it's important, what we think about when we do our planning, and how to actually get it down in a format that works for you.

• July 19, 2023Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Writing Craft & Editing

  SPA Girls – EP405 – Hotwire Your Publishing Plan For The Holidays

  We know there are still 5.5 months to go until the end of the year! But!! We think it’s important to start getting organized for the final push. Ads, blurbs, covers. In the SPA today we talk about the things you need to focus on!

• March 8, 2023Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP386 – Productivity Hacks For Writers

  Ten proven productivity hacks for self-publishing authors!

• February 8, 2023Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP382 – Which Course Is Right For You?

  This week Trudi and Shar go rogue ... and discuss courses along with our writing friend and writing tutor Tania Hutley / Talia Hunter.

• December 29, 2022Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP376 – Top Tips from 2022

  This is an awesome episode just for you! We went through all of our episodes from 2022, and picked out the best pieces of advice, the most actionable tips, and the things we definitely think you should be doing for your writing career in 2023 and gave them to you here in one easy episode. You're welcome. :)

• September 20, 2022Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP362 – Book Marketing Organization Made Easy

  Looking for tips to make your marketing tasks more organized and less stressful? This is the episode for you! From marketing bibles to free online tools, your book marketing should become a whole lot less overwhelming.

• September 7, 2022Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP360 – How To Find What Works For You

  One size doesn't fit all - we've all heard that saying, but how do you know what DOES work for you? In this episode, we discuss how to identify what best works for you in three areas: - Your Writing Process - Your Publishing Strategy - Your Marketing Strategy and share tips and resources that we've learned along the way.

• July 27, 2022Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP354 – It’s Time To Question The “Hustle”

  This week we discuss burnout, protecting our creativity, being productive and not buying in to the hustle culture.

• May 18, 2022Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP344 – Managing Book Projects

  This week, in answer to a listener question, we talk about how we manage the process of writing a book. How many do we write at one time? Do we work on multiple projects at different stages, or just write and edit one book at a time? What do we do to ensure we stay on track and don't procrastinate? 

• April 12, 2022Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP339 – Becoming a Full Time Writer

  Do you want to be a full-time author? Today we discuss how we transitioned to writing full-time, including: • how we approached the financial and business planning side • balancing the creative and business sides of the job • mindset tips and corrections along the way • our expectations versus reality • courage and resourcefulness Make a plan, understand your process, know how much you need to earn and adopt the right mindset to ensure you’ll be ahead of the game.

• March 15, 2022Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP 335 – Romance Your Goals with Zoe York

  Today we welcome back for a record 3rd time, Zoe York, to talk about Romancing Your Goals. Like so many authors it was hard to read and write during 2020 which was the last time Zoe was with us. Yet, her latest book Romancing Your Goals was written during the pandemic and highlights how to treat your business and is full of wonderful tips to build a marketable genre fiction series. Join us to find out more about Romancing your Goals!

• January 12, 2022Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP326 – How To Find Your Why

  What’s the real reason you’re a writer? We’ve talked about finding your why before on the podcast, and today we're delving deeper. Inspired by Simon Sinek's book Start With Why, and Find Your Why, Trudi has us "on the couch" again, which Wendy, in particular, absolutely loves (not)!

• December 15, 2021Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP322 – Uncommon Writing Advice

  We’ve all heard the conventional wisdom for fiction writers – but is it actually appropriate for self-publishing today?  We break down five pieces of uncommon advice that have stood us in good stead and why we think they’ll work for you too ...

• October 6, 2021Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP312 – What To Do When You’re Stuck In A Creative Rut

  We love our Irish guests and are super stoked to welcome author and writing coach, Bryan Collins, to the SPA today! If you've been feeling BLAH about your writing lately, this is the episode for you ...

• January 13, 2021Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP274 – 5 Golden Guidelines For 2021 Goal Setting

  Have you already listed your goals or resolutions for the upcoming year? Before you start whipping yourself into action, consider your ANSWERS TO THE GOLDEN QUESTIONS FIRST...

• October 21, 2020Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP262 – The Four Tendencies For Writers

  This week's podcast had us (good-naturedly) arguing a wee bit. Shar and Trudi typically were ALL OVER doing Gretchen Rubin's online test to identify which of the four tendencies they identified most closely as. Cheryl, super organized as always, also came to the podcast fully prepped and self-tested.  Then there was our favorite Rebel, Wendy - whose self motivation and discipline continuously inspires us, but who also has no time for our self-help discussions 🤣 Can we crack her? Or will she succumb to peer pressure to do the test? (Or, let's face it, shut us up). 

• April 8, 2020Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP234 – How To Write When Your Schedule Is Disrupted

  Disruption – the entire world is feeling it at the moment, so how can we, as writers, keep our creativity bubbling and stay focussed? It’s hard – we’re not going to deny that – but looking at your schedule and productivity in a different way can help you stay a bit calmer, get some work done and prepare for when you’re on a more even keel.

• February 19, 2020Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Guest Interview

  SPA Girls Podcast – Ep 227 – Elana Johnson Part One – Productivity

  Ever wondered how you could get more writing time in your day? Today in the SPA, we talk to uber-productive USA Today bestselling author Elana Johnson, about what she does to get her writing goals completed. She writes adult contemporary beach romance and christian cowboy romance under two different pen names and is currently publishing at least one book a month. And just so you know that her work ethic is paying off... in January 2020 Elana hit a 6 figure month for the first time. Join us for another excellent interview with a top indie author!

• January 15, 2020Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP222 – Write It Down, Make It Happen

  Are you ready to make 2020 YOUR year?! This week we talk about the importance of physically writing down your goals to make them happen. Wendy is a perfect example of the power of writing them down: inspired by a workshop from Debbie Macomber, she's managed to check off every single goal she wrote down for 2007! Listen how she did it...

• January 1, 2020Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP220 – Our Goals for 2020

  Happy New Year! This episode is a round-up of the goals and visions that we, the SPA Girls, have for 2020. It's gonna be a big year! It's the year of opening ourselves up to all the opportunities out there, being efficient, and focusing on the daily wins. We talk about having the right mindset for achieving your goals, how we're going to make everything happen for us, and how you can make it happen for you too!

• December 18, 2019Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

  Spa Girls Podcast – EP218 – Our 2019 Hits & Misses

  This week's episode is a Spa Girls retrospective of how our 2019 went - what our two big Hits were, and what we found challenging. As usual, we get deep and personal. And cheeky!

• September 4, 2019Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls – EP203 – How to Fail to Succeed

  Do you feel like your writing career is filled with mistakes? Failures? Problems?  Good! That means you're putting yourself out there, trying new things, and moving in a positive direction in your writing career. If you're not doing any of the above...start right now!  Why, you ask, in horror?  Because having a pile of failures next to your name means that you're getting out there and doing things in your author business. If you talk to the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, they'll all tell you stories of the times they failed, the businesses that didn't quite go as expected, and the problems they had to overcome. And that's okay, because learning how to fail is integral to succeeding. It teaches us resilience, determination, and persistence. It shows us that we're human, and that it's okay to make mistakes, as long as we keep going.  On the flip side, if you aren't doing anything, you won't fail. Guaranteed.  Which would you prefer? 

• July 25, 2019Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP197 – Hack Your Muse With Kelly McClymer

  This week we talk to Kelly McClymer about "Hacking Your Muse", or how to convince yourself to sit down and write when you don't seem to be able to do it…  We all give ourselves excuses for why we can't write, and Kelly breaks down the thoughts we have around writing, and how to change them so we can more easily get into the chair and write. She talks through why she used to sabotage herself, and how she learned to change that around, and get more words. If you're someone who struggles to write, despite loving it when you do, this is the episode for you!

• June 12, 2019Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP191 – Seven-Figure Success With Skye Warren

  Ever thought that if only you had more time in your day, you'd be successful? Rich? How you'd get all your writing done?  Well, this is the podcast for you!  When romance author Skye Warren went from being able to work all hours of the day to only being able to manage two hours every day, she had to figure out how to keep money from her writing coming in. And fast. She had a mortgage and other bills to pay.  What she learned was that by focusing her efforts, she was able to concentrate on the small percentage of actions that made her the most money - writing and facebook ads.  This is the story of how Skye went from struggling to earn five figures while working all day, to earning over a million dollars a year working only four hours a day.  This is part one of two parts you don't want to miss! 

• January 9, 2019Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP169 – 5 Goals You Need To Make In 2019

  Goals! We're all so excited about them at the beginning of January, and then we feel them like chains around our necks by the end of the month. (Well, here in the SPA we do. Maybe you're able to make it into February without feeling like you're never going to make them work...hehe) What we've decided is that instead of overwhelming yourself with ALL THE GOALS, if you set one goal in these five areas, for a shorter period of time (we're suggesting 12 weeks) then you're more likely to make them happen. We go through each of the five areas, and talk about the goals that each of us are setting in each, and give suggestions of goals that you could set as well. This is another information packed episode that will help you set some relevant goals that are going to help you move forward in 2019.

• December 25, 2018Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP167 – Scheduling To Save Time

  If you're trying to find a few more minutes in your day for writing, then this episode is for you. We talk about how you can use scheduling to be more productive, free up time and get stuff done.  Each of the SPA Girls uses different kinds of scheduling to make certain repetitive tasks easier and faster, and we share them all for you in this informative episode! 

• August 1, 2018Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Guest Interview

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP146 – Interview with Becca Syme on Writing Better Faster

  We had a fantastic guest this week in the form of Becca Syme, Cosy Mystery author, writing coach, teacher of the Write Better-Faster course, and podcaster at the Smarty Pants Marketing podcast.  Becca talks to us about how we can all write better-faster in our writing careers, using our own unique skills to improve your chances of success. It's not about tips and techniques for getting more words per hour - it's about understanding who you are as a writer, your strengths within that, and using those talents in the best way to ensure you are successful.  Aside from the fact the she was great fun, the most important takeaway we had from our conversation with Becca is that you don't have to do everything exactly the same way as other people are doing it to be successful. In fact if it's the wrong methodology for you, then you're more likely to fail and feel bad about it, and that creates the opposite outcome from what you were trying to achieve. If you understand who you are, how you think things through and understand the world, then you can use that to create a system that will work for you and totally kick butt!  She was a fabulous guest and very thought provoking in terms of our own systems and thought processes, and we know you'll feel the same way. 

• April 24, 2018Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP132 – Organization For Writers

  How do you wrangle your research as a writer? Is keeping track of all your characters, setting details and story events driving you to reach for the chocolate (or vino)?  In this episode we share our processes and tips for getting organized, and tools for staying on top of those myriad of details you need to remember. Side note: this is your free pass to hit the stationery store people, so bring on the colored flags, groovy folders and sparkly stickers.

• December 12, 2017Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP112 – Interview with Honoree Corder and Ben Hale

  This week we were lucky enough to interview Honoree Corder and Ben Hale who've recently released a new book: Write Like a Boss, all about how to have the right mindset for being a successful author.  They talk about creating winning writing habits, how to train yourself to think and be successful, and how to write when you have six kids who are constantly demanding attention (ie Ben). They're both very inspiring individuals, and gave us some fascinating insights into their lives and the way they have ensured their success in the Indie environment. It's a fun interview, and we learned a lot from these two highly successful and motivated individuals. We know you will too! 

• October 11, 2017Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP103 – How To Find An Extra 30 Mins Writing Time Every Day

  This week we delved deep into our writing habits from the last ten years, and brainstormed all the ways that we've managed to squeeze an extra 30 minutes of writing out of our days. We're all busy - work, family, other commitments take our time. But even adding just an extra half hour of writing every day can make a big difference to our monthly totals. It's a trap writers often fall into - the belief that you need several hours of uninterrupted writing time to be able to produce anything worthwhile. It's just not true - even just a half hour can move you significantly forward in your manuscript. Here in the SPA we know that it's about regular, sustained writing over time.  This show is about being mindful, thinking about where you're spending your time every day, and looking for the loopholes where you're losing precious time you could be using for writing. :) 

• July 25, 2017Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

  SPA Girls – EP91 – How to Keep Your Focus

  This week we talk about the best ways to find and keep your focus. We've talked about it in general terms before, so this time we aimed in on the mental stuff around focus, and how to avoid self sabotage in your writing career. This episode was all about crawling into our brains to understand why we do things that make us lose our focus, take us out of our 'zone' and destroy our productivity.  We talked about self awareness, ie knowing what's going on inside your head that's letting your focus go, as well as the overstimulation and desensitisation that exists in the technological world we live in, and then finally dun...dun...dun...the deathbed test. Listen in to find out what that means... :) 

• February 21, 2017Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP70 – Productivity Hacks for Writers

  This week we give some of our best writer productivity hacks - ie a big ole list of tips to increase your productivity, based on things that we do each week to help us write more! From exercise tips and the best writing apps to use, to setting routines and ways to stay in the flow, we give you the best tips that we could find to help keep you writing!

• January 12, 2017Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP64 – Goals for 2017

  This week we get the show number wrong, yet again, and the sound quality is a little bit off, but we still manage to get out an episode talking about our goals for 2017 and how we're going to achieve them. It's a fun, motivational episode that will get you started thinking about your self publishing goals, and how you're going to make them happen in 2017!