Mindset, Health & Writing Life
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP500 – Behind The Mics!
We’re celebrating 500 episodes of the SPA Girls - from our baby podcaster days back in 2015 to today, we share some BEHIND THE MICS stories. How we met, why we started and why we’ve last this long (almost ten years so far, publishing an episode weekly). Plus our vision for the future and selfpublishing :)
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Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP475 – 5 Quick Tips For Career Growth
A short but impactful (hopefully!) run down of great tips for growing your author career and staying (relatively) sane and focussed.
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP472 – Comparisonitis
We live in a world where we can see what everyone else is doing online. Successes and failures. We are the ‘instant gratification’ generation, and have a need for success, so we compare ours with others! So sit back with your favorite beverage and let’s dive in, and see if we can work through a few things that may help.
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Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP471 – Interview with Juliette N. Banks
Get ready to be inspired this week by our guest interviewee, romance author Juliette N. Banks. Juliette is a bestselling romance author who has taken the genre by storm with her popular series The Moretti Blood Brothers, The Dark Kings of NYC, and The Dufort Dynasty. She has written more than 50 contemporary and paranormal romances (on the same pen name). Juliette has a vast background in consumer marketing and brings her business savvy to her business planning, release strategies, reader relationships and mindset.
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP463 – Get The Most Out Of Writer Conferences
Attending conferences helps us network with professionals in the author world and gain insights and ideas to make our jobs easier or to upskill. What can you hope to get out of conference?
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Goal 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.
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Goal 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!
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Goal 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?
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP449 – 7 Ways To Boost Your Positivity
Feeling a bit blah about your writing and / or author career? Welcome back to another 15 min SPA Girls mini-tips session. Today’s topic is 7 easy ways to boost your positivity that you can put into action TODAY!
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Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP448 – Changing From Frontlist to Backlist Focus with Maggie Dallen
This week we talk to regency romance and young adult author Maggie Dallen, who tells us how she changed her mindset and her author business model, with huge success! Maggie is a prolific author who was writing up to twenty books a year, but she was reaching a point where she wanted to slow down and diversify her writing skills by learning script writing. She realised she needed to find a system that would take advantage of her extensive backlist, and allow her more time for her other writing interests. In this fascinating interview, Maggie talks us through how she did it, what the major challenges were, and how you can do the same thing! Maggie was a delight to interview, and gave us so much useful advice - you're going to love this one!
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP447 – Overcome Doubts & Back Yourself!
Doubts are the biggest creativity and success blocker. But it takes a strong person not to have them. No one said this was going to be easy, or everyone would be doing it. If you ask those that succeed in this business they will all tell you they’ve had knock backs. It’s about perseverance. It’s about holding on to your self belief and forging ahead.
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP444 – Five Steps to Being a Resilient Author with Patricia McLinn
Being a resilient author means being able to bounce back after experiencing a knock - and we all know that being a self-published author can knock you around sometimes! This week we talk with Patricia McLinn, an author who's been writing for more than 35 years, and who knows a thing or two about how to keep going when the going gets tough. Pat gives us her top five pieces of advice so you can stay focused and keep the positivity flowing when it seems like everything is falling apart around you.
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life, Self-Publishing Process & Tools, Writing Craft & Editing
SPA Girls Podcast – EP439 – Using The Enneagram For Authors with Claire Taylor
The Enneagram is a personality typing system, where each person falls into one of nine types. Today we're talking with author, educator and fiction strategist, Claire Taylor, about how understanding our enneagram type liberates writers from the "shoulds" and self-judgement, and helps us become more successful as authors.
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Goal 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.
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP434 – Top 3 Mindset Tips For Authors with Heather Hildenbrand
Your brain is a liar! Heather Hildenbrand is a bestselling author and business coach for creatives. This episode she demystifies how our results are determined by our beliefs first, and our efforts, second. Listen up for amazing (and do-able!) mindset tips for authors and how to overcome our blocks with less woo and more “do”!
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life, Self-Publishing Process & Tools, Selling Direct To Readers
SPA Girls Podcast – EP433 – Selling Direct With Katie Cross
In this episode we chat to YA Fantasy author Katie Cross. She has so much passion and enthusiasm for what she does, and loves her readers! We talk about direct sales and how to relate to your readers, and these are just two of the topics we covered. It's action packed and full of information!
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Goal 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.
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP423 – Turn Setbacks Into Success
Bumps on the publishing path are unwelcome yet inevitable. So how can we reset ourselves when the wobbles and disappointment set in? Today we’ve got a SPA Girls 6-Step Guide to turning those setbacks into success!
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life, Self-Publishing Process & Tools
SPA Girls Podcast – EP419 – The Best Mindset for Organisation and Productivity with Sarra Cannon
Self-publishing since 2010, Amazon top 100 best-selling Amazon author with 1 million books sold, Sarra writes magical contemporary fantasy novels with both teen and college aged characters (and lots of twists you'll never see coming). Do you feel like a hamster on a wheel? Sarra talks to us about her solution to planning without all the heartache and leading us to be more joyful. “When we sit down to plan we see the perfect scenario. Then Life gets in the way.”
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Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP414 – Publishing Powerhouse, Kathryn Le Veque
Kathryn shares her unique publishing insights and forecast, historical romance trends, why she doesn’t have an author newsletter, and behind the scenes insight of running Dragonblade.
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Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life, Self-Publishing Process & Tools, Writing Craft & Editing
SPA Girls Podcast – EP 413- Back Engineering a Bestseller
Today’s topic was prompted by a commenter on youtube who asked us about reverse engineering bestsellers. What makes a book, be it your second one published or your tenth, sell more than others. We believe there are many variables to that. Timing, tropes, the first 10% of how a book starts. The cover, blurb, and other popular tv or books that may have similar aspects. There are many things to consider, and today we take a dive into why a book can launch a career!
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – Ep403 – How Not To Fail at Self-publishing
We’re looking at failure and putting a different slant on it. By changing the way you think of failing at a certain thing and thinking of it as simply a part of learning. You are future proofing the way you react to any result. Fail = First Attempt In Learning. Don’t measure yourself by how others are doing. They had their own journey and would have failed at something along the way. Successful people use those moments to push through, pivot, or try a new iteration. Learning is a part of the process. Letting go of a perception is hard, we get that. However, you shouldn’t let that outcome define you. Don’t dwell on it. Instead, find a way to deal with it and to stop the negative talk. A way that moves you forward.
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Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP400 – Why On Earth Are We Still Here?
It's celebration time! We've reached another milestone here in the SPA - FOUR HUNDRED EPISODES! And that's 400 weekly episodes with no repeats, no "best of"s, and no stopping during the eight years we've been doing this. Phew! *wipes brow* This episode we're looking back on that time, trying to figure out why we're still here, and what we've learned along the way. Go behind the scenes with us as we discuss some of what we've learned, advice we wish we'd been given, and try to give you inspiration that will get you writing and publishing!
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP395 – Conquer your Author Career with Erin Marcus
Get ready to be encouraged! Erin Marcus is a business coach who helps authors take charge of their career and get results.
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP394 – Career Sustainability with Brenna Aubrey
From mindset and productivity, to branding, social media and your writing community – we cover the gamut of how to sustain your author career long term.
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP388 – Getting the Words Down
The number one thing you need to produce as an author is WRITTEN words, but sometimes that's the hardest thing to do. So when words are hard to come by, when you’re avoiding the blank screen or finding yourself doing housework for hours instead of sitting your butt on the office chair (or couch) with your laptop, you need a cheerleader, an advocate, and champion... a human cattle prod, if you will. And that's where we come in. This week we’re sharing our best tips and advice on how to get yourself motivated, beat resistance and get your $#@!! words down.
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Goal 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.
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP377 – New Year New You
Happy New Year from the SPA Girls !! In this episode we talk about what goals and plans we have for 2023, Rom Com style using Billy Mernit's book, Writing The Romantic Comedy. We work through his story beats. Set Up. Catalyst. Turning Point. Midpoint. Second Turning Point. Crisis Climax. Resolution. The SPA Girls open a vein and talk about what we want to impliment and change in 2023. (there will be no fries with this, ignore Trudi) The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon!
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Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life, Self-Publishing Process & Tools
SPA Girls Podcast – EP373 – Lightbulb Moments of Writing Advice
Lightbulb moments about writing and publishing that have turned you from gloomy to galloping along - have you had them? We have and today we're sharing the nitty gritty self publishing and writing tips that positively impacted our craft and careers - plus, of course, the mentors who've given us great advice.
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP369 – Make Luck Through Belief
Today in the SPA we talk about not relying on luck to build your career. We believe you can make your own luck, but don’t wait for it to happen! Ron Weasley (or not, we’re not really sure) says believing in yourself is 100% more powerful than luck! Overnight success may happen for some, but if you dig deeper often, what appears to be a lucky break is actually from years of hard work to get to that point.
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Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP366 – How To Recover When You Screw Up
This episode sees the SPA Girls sharing their own Big Oops and how they recovered / learned from them. Inspiration plus for indies at all stages of their careers :)
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP365 – Write To Riches with Renee Rose
In this episode we talk to the amazing Renee Rose about her new release Write To Riches! 15-time USA Today bestselling romance author Renee talks to us about the power of abundance mindset, manifesting your desires, and attracting wealth. She's an amazingly inspirational speaker and this is one episode you don't want to miss!
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Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP361 – Mia Brody and Instalove Short Romance
This week we talk to the amazing Mia Brody all about how she makes a fulltime living writing instalove short romances. It's an amazingly informative episode with plenty of wow moments, that you won't want to miss!
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Goal 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.
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP351 – The Calm Entrepreneur, Corinne O’Flynn
When you feel the frantic need to achieve and you don’t, it’s easy to get stuck or suffer burnout. If that’s happened to you, then Corinne O'Flynn has some ideas to get you through. The Calm Entrepreneur was born out of a series of aha moments over the past several years. It's about getting back to basics and re-assessing and re-securing the foundational practices. We know you'll love this awesome episode with Corinne!
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP350 – Let’s Celebrate!
This week we broadcast our 350th episode and in complete contrast to how laid-back Kiwis generally approach milestones, we’re celebrating the heck out of it!
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Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP348 – Millionaire Author Mindset with Lee Savino
USA Today best-selling author Lee Savino is a bubble of energy, and this week's podcast with her left us all feeling motivated and inspired. We know you'll love this episode too! Lee talked to us about how the mindset of an indie author is vitally important, more important than any other aspect of writing and publishing, including all the tactics and systems we hear about all the time. If you can get your mindset right, you can achieve anything. We talk with Lee about all the mindset changes she had to make, and as well as her tips and tricks around mindset, all of which helped her to become a successful, million-dollars-a-year indie author.
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP346 – Interview with Julia Roberts, Creativity Coach
Today we're joined by Julia Roberts, MSc, writer, creativity coach, and soon-to-be Ted Talker. Julia is going to talk us through procrastination and the tools we can use to manage it. Goodness knows we all need this help!
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Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP343 – Interview with Asa Maria Bradley
Bestselling Author Asa Maria Bradley suggests collaboration as a way to get creative again. Growing up in Sweden surrounded by archaeology and history steeped in Norse Mythology, inspired her sexy and paranormal romance series. She also writes urban fantasy about empowered heroines who kick ass while saving the world. Her work has received a double nomination for the Romance Writers of America’s RITA contest, a Reviewers Choice Award nomination, a Holt Medallion win, and Bookseller’s Best Award win. The last couple of years were rough on Asa’s creativity, and almost by chance she joined a bunch of collaboration projects. With different strategies and aims, working with other writers gave her the creative spark needed to enjoy writing again. Besides providing accountability, the projects validated and inspired her work. Today she shares the challenges and rewards that she experienced from writing for and promoting several collaborations.
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Goal 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)!
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP324 – Recharging For Authors
Happy New Year people! It's a crazy time of year, and this episode is all about why you need to take time out, recharge your batteries and come back in the new year ten times more productive and energised!!!
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast- EP314 – Interview with Linda Pucci
Today Linda is here to talk about how we as creatives can overcome our limiting beliefs, fears of success, failure, being an imposter et al and how we can STOP being our own worst enemy!
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Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life, Self-Publishing Process & Tools, Writing Craft & Editing
SPA Girls Podcast – EP313 – The Best Writing Advice You Shouldn’t Take
Feeling a bit bombarded by conflicting advice re writing and self-publishing? Got FOMO about courses and conferences others are experiencing, but you can't afford or attend? And how do you figure out what advice works best for YOU? Friends, you're not alone - we've been there too.
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Goal 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 ...
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life, Self-Publishing Process & Tools
SPA Girls Podcast – EP304 – Interview with Rachael Herron
International bestselling author Rachael Herron joins us in the SPA today to talk to us about her writing journey, how she has created a career with multiple genres, how she deals with procrastination and blocks in her writing, and the main differences she sees between having books traditionally published and being an indie. It's an awesome interview, and we loved having Rachael in the SPA!
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast- EP294 – How To Embrace Change
This episode we're back "on the couch" with the SPA Girls to discuss tools and resources we've used to cope with the ever changing climate of self-publishing, AND those big life events that we all face at times.
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls – EP293 – Abundance Mindset for Authors with Renee Rose
You're worth it and your work is worth it. This episode will blow your mind! USA Today Bestselling author Renee Rose is passionate about helping authors and creatives get their mindset dialed to SUCCESS. So many nuggets of creativity and business wisdom in this episode, you'll want to listen more than once.
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP286 – Writers’ Fears
Resistance. Fear. Procrastination. Avoidance. Most of us writers struggle with these challenges at some point in their career (or day!). This episode we cover everything from the struggle to finish a manuscript through to fear of publishing, and everything in between.
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Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP284 – Lucy Score talks Reader Groups, Releases and Relationships
If you've ever considered starting up a Facebook reader group, then you need to listen to this episode. Lucy Score's group is an example of a well run group that is positive, supportive and fun - everything you want in a reader group. She talks to us about how she set it up, and what makes it so great, as well as why she loves her readers so much. Lucy also gives us insight into her most recent book launch, how she connects to readers and why relationships are such an important part of her very successful Indie career. The best thing about Lucy? She's awesome, genuine, and super smart. We love having her on the show, and we know you'll get a whole bucket load of useful information for your author career in this podcast. Enjoy!
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life, Self-Publishing Process & Tools
SPA Girls Podcast – EP279 – Overcoming Technology Barriers
For many of us, the thought of overcoming the technology barriers to self-publishing can be overwhelming and cause us to delay (or not try) publishing. Many authors who've have likely heard publishers talking about the all-important "meta data" and "algorithms" like they're the bogeymen. Something to be avoided - and best done by someone else! WE GET IT. WE'VE BEEN THERE! But if we can do this, trust us, YOU can too!
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Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life, Self-Publishing Process & Tools
SPA Girls Podcast – EP277 – Answering Newbie Questions
How much can you expect to earn when you start self-publishing? What should you publish for guaranteed success? We answer these questions and more in this episode ...
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP272 – How To Believe In Yourself
Ever wondered why on earth you're spending all this time writing? Ever think to yourself that maybe your writing isn't that great? Ever think this self publishing lark is just too hard? Yeah, so have we. But this episode is all about how to throw away those dumb old negative thoughts, and learn to believe in yourself and your writing! We talk through some of the most common misbeliefs that authors have, and give you some awesome ways to change your thinking, and learn to believe in yourself and most of all, keep going!
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP271 – Christmas Roundup 2020
Celebrating the season with a quick recap of our Words For 2020. Hahahahahaha And then onto Important Burning Questions about our Christmas favorites. Sometimes controversial, always tongue-in-cheek, our "unplugged" conversation will hopefully add some Christmas cheer to your day ...
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life, Self-Publishing Process & Tools
SPA Girls Podcast – EP257 – Juggling Writing & Family Life with Connie B. Dowell
Today we're going to talk with author Connie Dowell about juggling family responsibilities, pandemic postponements, and upheaval, with the responsibilities of being a working writer.
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life, Self-Publishing Process & Tools
SPA Girls Podcast – EP253 – Maximize Your Mindset with Amira Alvarez
Amira Alvarez is the founder and CEO of The Unstoppable Woman, a global coaching company helping entrepreneurs, empire builders, athletes, creatives, and rising stars in all fields achieve their dreams and goals in record time. Today we're going to talk to Amira specifically on how we can find focus in this chaotic time, and be productive without burning ourselves out.
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life, Self-Publishing Process & Tools
SPA Girls Podcast – EP248 – Dealing With Limiting Beliefs
We're on the couch again this week! We're talking about our limiting beliefs and how we're tackling them. If you're not sure if you've got a limiting belief... we're pretty sure you do. Probably more than one. It's a belief that's holding you back, and it's the kind of thought pattern that you definitely want to bring out into the open, so you know it's there, and can work on ways to change or amend it. That's why we decided to talk about how we've recognised our own limiting beliefs and what we're doing to change them, so that you can look at your own beliefs and decide if any of them are holding you back from your dream publishing career!
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Goal 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.
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Goal 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?
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP199 – Interview with Adam Croft
Want to hear how a world-wide bestselling author got to where he is today? Join us as we talk to UK crime novelist Adam Croft about his writing career, including how he generates his ideas, how he writes, and how he creates those amazing hooks that he's so well known for. (No, really, would you murder your wife to save your daughter? And what would happen if you were married to a serial killer?) He also discusses the mindset shift he had to have before he could become a bestselling author and why he believes the best way to be successful as an Indie is by having a long term, organic, business-minded view of publishing. We loved talking to him for his sensible, rational view of publishing, and also for his smooth British accent...and you will too!
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP198 – Find Your Sparkle With Julie Schooler
Has your sparkle gone soggy? Are you wondering why you're not happier? Have you lost your creativity? Then this is the episode for you! We talk to fellow Kiwi author, Julie Schooler, about how to find your sparkle, and wake up happier! Many of us have lost the ability to dream big. We're dealing with problems at every turn. It's actually harder to be happy than it is to be sad. So in this episode, Julie gives us a whole bunch of really cool ways to actively be happy and turn our lives around. In fact, she gave us so many great ideas on how to tap into our creativity and imagination by becoming happier, that our minds were blown. In the kindest way possible, we hope yours are too!
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Goal 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!
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP194 – A Day In The Life Of A Writer
Ever wondered how the SPA Girls spend their days? Imagining champagne and caviar at fancy hotels? This is the episode where you find out for sure... We talk through how we spend our days; from when we get up, how many hours we work, how many words we write, and how much marketing we do. We talk about our distractions, how we structure our days and the challenges of working from home. Before you ask, this was a reader question, so we're not just doing it because we like to talk about ourselves... :)
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Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP192 – Seven-Figure Success With Skye Warren – Part 2
This is the second episode in the interview series with bestselling author and Facebook guru, Skye Warren. Skye has had a fascinating author journey, and in this second episode she talks to us about the changes she had to make with regards to her mindset before she could become successful as an author. If you've ever said that you can't do something that you know you need to do for your career, then you have to listen to this episode (and you probably need to have a look at your mindset, and what you're subconsciously telling yourself). And finally, she talks about Facebook Ads, and gives us some tips on how to make our own ads successful.
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Goal 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!
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP170 – Get Your Head In The Game
Are you motivated or disillusioned by all the "end of year earnings" screenshots some authors post? For some of us, it's incredibly inspiring; others find it a distraction or even a bit depressing! There is no "right" answer - the trick is understanding yourself and this week we talk about the things you CAN control and why you should feel super positive about that!
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP166 – Retrospective Of The Best Of 2018
Merry Christmas from the SPA Girls! We hope you all have the best of everything this festive season, and that you get to spend the big day with the people you love. (And failing that, some chocolate and a good book.) In the spirit of giving, we've created an episode full of tips and tricks, advice, with the best of 2018 crammed into one small (ish) episode. (Okay, not so small). Join us for a retrospective of 2018 to find out what we did right, what we did wrong, and how you can learn from us to help you make 2019 the best year yet!
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP 156 – The Kindness Factor
This week Wendy, Cheryl and Shar talk about “the Kindness Factor” – how we can achieve more but put less pressure on ourselves. Impossible you say? As we push ourselves to write more, to learn more and to get up to grips with this self-publishing world, there's often an unwanted side effect: a lot of us are really hard on ourselves and we're not enjoying our writer's life. Research shows that the happier you are, the more productive you are, so with that in mind we have our SPA Girls Top Five Kindness Factor Tips. Read on ...
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP154 – The Power Of Four
This week we talk about the power of four, or how working and interacting with other authors can amp up your author career. Using our experiences in the SPA, we talk about how having other writers to talk to, offer support, give advice and ideas, and walk the same path gives you a huge boost. We've all said that none of us would be as far along in our careers if we didn't have the other SPA Girls. And we don't think we're unique. There are thousands of other groups of writers who are helping and supporting each other. How can you do this too? Our best advice is to find events and conferences for writers near where you are, and meet other authors in person. With this in mind, we also did an impromptu Top Ten Networking Tips for Introverted Writers, with heaps of suggestions for how you can meet and talk to other authors.
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Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP151 – Interview With Grace Burrowes
This week we have the delightful Grace Burrowes on the show, chatting to Cheryl and Wendy about her career, why she started writing, how she stays authentic, and why she uses blogging to connect to readers. A New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author, Grace says she's a recovering child welfare attorney, who for years turned to the reliable HEA of romance novels to balance out the stress in her life as a litigator. This is a delightful interview with a smart, savvy author who is very open about her writing, her world view, and her career.
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP147 – Top Ten Traits for Self-Publishing Success
This week we talk about the top ten traits we believe you need to have to be a successful self-published author. These include, among other things, having a thick skin, being willing to take risks and staying focused. They're not always easy, and some involve practice and mindfulness, but if you manage to get everything on this list right, we believe you'll be on the road to success. It might seen weird to talk about stuff like this being super important over things like knowing how to put a book up on Amazon or how to market your book, but in fact a lot of what's involved with being successful in self publishing - in fact in any business - is to do with getting your head straight and your priorities focused. With this in mind, we give you some tips on how to develop and attain some of these skills and traits, what to do when you fall off the wagon, and how to get around it if you really just can't manage to develop that thick skin...
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP144 – Looking After Your Creative Health
This week we talk about our own creative health, where we are at, and how we are attempting to ensure our creativity wells don't try up. We use examples from our own writing lives, and give a whole bunch of suggestions for how you, too, can plan and execute your own creative health plans to ensure that you can keep writing, despite the other stresses in your lives. As Shar says, it's about keeping your muse massaged and your creative health tank topped up, and of course, the writing flowing...
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP130 – Critical Care: Leverage Feedback For Success
The sting of even well-meant criticism can leave us reeling and it's very hard not to take it personally. This week we discuss how to cope with criticism - from all sides: friends, other writers, readers and editors - and then figure out what to discard, and how to use the Good Stuff to improve our writing success. “Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.” ~ Neil Gaiman Just like learning to write well, learning to take criticism well is a journey. Join us for some brutally honest insights into how the SPA Girls cope!
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Goal 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!
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – Episode 111 – 10 Health Hacks For Writers
Staying healthy (and sane) during the holiday season can be a challenge for us all. This week Cheryl, Wendy and Shar talk about the health hacks they've found have helped to calm the chaos, stay sane (sort of) and keep our bodies and minds working well. It can be hard to put our self-care on the To Do List but it's vital. From mindfulness to stretching, gratitude to social media-strangling, we hope you'll find our healthy hacks helpful. As a wise commercial says, you're worth it.
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP110 – Interview With Screenwriter Kathryn Burnett
This week we were lucky enough to have a fantastic repeat guest - Kathryn Burnett, the well-known New Zealand playwright and screenwriter. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Kathryn is chocka full of useful knowledge on the craft of writing as well as the mental game of staying focused and being productive. Today she talked us through doing an end-of-year Writing Audit, as a prequel to setting our goals in the new year. We found it hugely helpful to answer the questions she posed, and to look back on our year in order to critically assess what went right, and what went wrong, and why. If you're wondering why on earth you'd want to look back in this way, just listen in... Kathryn also tells us how to use this kind of analysis to set us up for an awesome 2018!
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Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP101 – Interview with Katie Cross
This week we talk to fantasy and young adult author Katie Cross about being a military wife, learning to be a nap-time authorpreneur, and making every moment count. She also gives us some amazing productivity tips for authors who are trying to squeeze their writing career into already busy lives. Katie impressed us right from the start of the interview when she talked about having done some writing before we got on the call. My paraphrasing summary of her words: "It was a choice between going on Facebook for ten minutes, or doing some writing. I decided to do some writing, and managed to get almost a thousand words done in that time." It's always good to be reminded of the things that we can achieve if we pay a little more attention to what we're doing, and how we choose to spend our time! It's a great interview, Katie is hilarious, and we loved chatting to her. (And we're totally impressed by everything she's able to achieve in her day!)
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Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP94 – Interview with Monica Leonelle
In this week's interview Shar and Trudi have to soldier on in rainy old New Zealand while Wendy and Cher continue swanning about in Orlando. Happily we managed to score a fantastic interview with the lovely Monica Leonelle who chatted to us about marketing for indie authors, and the lessons she's learned since starting out. Knowing what to write about in your newsletter or on Facebook, or even how to connect with your readers can be a big problem for writers. (I know I struggle with it!) Monica took us through some of the psychological triggers that she's come across over her years as a marketer and copywriter, and explains how you can sprinkle them into your marketing content to make it more compelling and persuasive to the reader. This interview is filled to the brim with fantastic tips on how to amp up your connection to your readers, find new super-fans, and generally improve your ability to promote your books. Yay! Note: There is a small echo problem in the first five minutes of this recording - but don't give up, it gets better. And you won't want to miss this content!
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP88 – What Are Your Core Author Values?
This week we try to nut out our own personal author values, and try to distill down a mission statement for each of us as authors. We believe that defining your core values as an author will help you make decisions in your author career, keep your focus longer, and keep you sitting down in your chair, writing those books! We talk about the pros and cons of a mission statement, why Wendy doesn't like them, and why we think they're valuable for you as an author. We talk about what Joanna Penn and Susan Kaye Quinn say about mission statements, and go through the process of creating one for Cheryl that means something to her as an author.
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP87 – Facing Your Fears
This week we have a meaty topic for you! We go in-depth and take a look at our fears, the mental stuff that's stopping us from getting ahead. We all have fears, from the rational ones that motivate us and keep us going, to the irrational fears that keep us awake at night (and me out of the swimming pool - I swear, Jaws could be in there). This episode is about recognising those fears and lessening their power over us as writers, by naming them, and focusing on ways to overcome them. We look at the fears that have stopped or hindered us in our writing careers, how we got over them and how you can too. We also talk about the fears we still have, and the ones we wish we had! Wendy hates this kind of episode, so if nothing else, you should listen to it just to hear her squirm... :)
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP69 – Top Ten Romance Novels of All Time
In honour of Valentine's Day, the SPA Girls fought it out to come up with our list of the Best Romance Novels of All Time. Listen to this episode to see if you agree with our choices... :)
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP68 – Etiquette for Authors
This week we decided to talk about etiquette for authors; or how to talk to other authors, your fans and your service providers, especially online. It's really easy to get carried away, to start acting badly in the online space, and we wanted to give you a few tips on how to keep your online relationships strong and healthy. It's all about treating people as you would like to be treated yourself - a good mantra to use everywhere in your life. :)
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Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP61 – Interview with Joanna Penn
This week we had the honour of interviewing the one and only... Joanna Penn! She's a best-selling author, an international speaker, a podcaster, and a trainer, and one of our role models in this industry. We were super-excited to have her on the show, and she didn't disappoint. She gave us a huge amount of self publishing advice in this information-packed episode - making it an episode that you don't want to miss!
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP57 – Dealing With Distractions At Christmas
This week Wendy, Cher and Trudi talk about dealing with unavoidable distractions, and how to maintain a writing schedule even when things get busy. With Christmas coming up we thought we'd talk about how we personally keep going when it seems that everything in the world is out to stop you writing the next book. It's a great reminder that we're all different and we all deal with distractions and problems in our lives differently, and however you deal with them, as long as you're still progressing forward, it's okay.
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Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP48 – Interview with Steffanie Holmes
This week we interview paranormal romance author Steff Green, who writes as Steffanie Holmes and fantasy as SC Green. Steff was a speaker at the recent RWNZ conference and we were keen to get her on the podcast to give us the inside information on her self publishing career. She was a fantastic guest, and talked to us about her journey toward self publishing, and some of the ways that she's been able to make self publishing work for her, including topics like box sets, writing in series, and cliffhangers.
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Guest Interview, Mindset, Health & Writing Life
BONUS EPISODE – Trudi Jaye and Talia Hunter at RWA
This is a special bonus episode of the SPA Girls Podcast, hosted by Trudi Jaye and Talia Hunter and recorded live at RWA in San Diego. We recorded this little snippet on our last day in an attempt to give SPA Girls listeners a sense of what it was like to attend the conference. At the start of the recording we're joined by Allyson, a Harlequin editor that we harangued into joining us in the recording. :) We talk about some of the workshops that we attended, the people we met, and what we learned while we were there. I hope you enjoy it!
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – EP26 – Exercise Challenge
This week in episode 26 we talk about exercise! It's a challenge episode, so we mentioned it a few weeks ago, and challenged ourselves to put more exercise into our daily routine. This is the show where we talk about what we did, how we did it, and what we learned about exercise and the writer's mind (and body). As a writer, you probably spend the majority of your day sitting down - and all we can say is... DON'T! The latest research shows that sitting down all day at work - even if you're not overweight and exercise every day - can be just as detrimental to your health as eating fried food and never exercising. Listen to this episode to find out more about it, and what you can do to ensure you're not at risk.
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Mindset, Health & Writing Life
SPA Girls Podcast – Christmas 2015 episode
It's our Christmas episode, and we're hanging out at our favourite restaurant, chatting about our year, and talking about what we hope to achieve in 2016. Join us for this celebration of all the goodness in 2015, and the greatness that will be 2016!
The SPA Girls Podcast (SPA = Self Publishing Authors) stands as a trailblazing force in the publishing industry, captivating audiences worldwide since its inception in 2015. Crafted by four dedicated full-time New Zealand authors, the free weekly podcast delivers honest advice, expert interviews and actionable strategies for indie authors at all stages of their career.
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