Latest / Reality Writes / Road Trip Revelations—Work-Life Balance for Writers

Transcript

Road Trip Revelations—Work-Life Balance for Writers · Reality Writes

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to a special edition of Reality Rights.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: I am author Ellie Alexander, and I'm here with my chauffeur, aka the tech guy.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're doing um, what are we doing this week?
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's reality rights, the road trip edition.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: The road trip edition, which makes me think of road rules.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm totally dating myself here, but Gen X, if you know, you know.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: That was core quality television back in the day.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I shouldn't say, like, if there are any tech issues, it's it's all up to her uh this week because I gotta keep my eyes on the road.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're driving and uh we're podcasting.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it seemed like a great way to bring you darlings along on the experience of what it is like to um, you know, have a bookish and just getaway weekend, uh, which is something that we do very often.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, I would say a vast majority of my stories, my plots, my characters, ideas, future book ideas have happened in this very car while driving uh thousands and thousands of miles over the years, right?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, and living in the Bay Area, um, it is it's very easy to get, you know, from from where we live in the South Bay to LA is just about five, five and a half hours uh with stops, which is nothing because if you've been following us for any amount of time, you know that uh road trips are are kind of our thing.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh especially living in southern Oregon for several years with a son who ran cross country.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: We'd drive three or four hours round trip to watch a 15-minute race.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Always exactly.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we were on the road trip down talking about um all these plans that we had for our little getaway, and um, most of them did not come to fruition in terms of books.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so we were talking about the fact that this would be a great opportunity to discuss the idea of work-life balance, especially when you love what you do.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: I love what I do.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: The tech guy is always up for any kind of book adventure, and you're such a part of all of my writing.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then how do you find balance in that?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so that's what we're gonna chat about today.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, and this is one of the things, right?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Is is like I guess when it when it comes to using time, we enjoy road trips and we've done many of them over the years.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: And how much book stuff have we done while driving?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's all of what we just basically, right?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: So on the drive down, we um we have this new project that we want to launch for 2025.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we scoped out our whole plan.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: We visited a bunch of indie bookstores, and we realized part way into the plan that it was just gonna be too daunting to pull off this weekend.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: So we pivoted.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think that's sort of one of the first talking points is being realistic about what you take on.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I think when you're an author and most of us as authors are doing it solo, hopefully we have like a supportive person like the tech guy in our lives, but we don't always have like a full team of people like any other business.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you're you have to treat your writing like it's a small business.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so trying to figure out ways that you set goals for what you want to accomplish and also you set realistic goals, I guess.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I'm I'm not always the best at that because uh, you know, I work a full-time job outside of this, and I'm usually the one that's like, let's do this and let's do this and let's do this, and I the list just grows and grows and grows, and then it it's real, it is really easy for it to get out of control fast.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: So this time, uh, you know, what what we usually do is is you tell me, like, we can't do all that.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: And and typically I'll be like, Yes, we can, and then I'll realize now we we actually can't.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely cannot.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Not at least not in the time that we want to do it.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: So prioritization is the key.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, sitting down and understanding like what you want to do, what you have to do, and make a list and then prioritize from there.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: So like we were brainstorming all of the things because this is the first week of January.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Also, can we talk about the fact like I don't know if you can tell from the background Fed uh oh, and now the sun earth?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: I can't do that.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: I thought my head was so you know, skin cancer.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: It is January in California, and as you can see, it's a beautiful sunny day.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh on the drive down we were prioritizing what we really want to be the first quarter focus for things that have been on a list to get done for a while now.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: So for us, that's refreshing the course, my mystery series masterclass.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: We have um a bunch of new content and updates that we want to add to the course, but carving out the time to make that happen.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: That takes a lot of time.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: It takes a ton of time, but it's a priority.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So then it's like, you know, we have to balance, all right, well, what gives in the process of that?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: We have this new idea for um a project that we want to do with indie bookstores all over California and wherever we visit.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that was what we were gonna touch on this weekend.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we did, I would say we turned it into more of our research, right?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was more of a research trip, but it actually ended up uh you came up with a an even better spin on what we had originally planned.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: So now I'm super excited about.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I was excited about it before, but now I'm really excited about it.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: But also know that we need to put more planning into it and then have like a dedicated uh door.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we have to there's a speech, I guess.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that we have to have a uh like a solid plan going in and have things mapped out so that uh we don't end up getting frustrated or just not being able to do what we set out to do.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that whole work-life balance because everything bleeds in.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we came down to um LA to go to the Rose Bowl and celebrate New Year's Eve, and we're like, well, great, while we're there, we will launch this book project.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that is so fun.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: It always is something that like fills both of us with excitement and enthusiasm.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's the reality of, okay, well, and how do you also just take a break in the middle of that too?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Which is not something that I'm always good at because I have so many creative ideas that are all just like banging in my head.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a matter of time, which goes back to priority, prior prioritizing and realizing that some stuff is gonna have to get cut andor wait.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: And we realized that on this trip, right?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: We were we we had set out this was, you know, just a fun trip for the two of us.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: And and uh then we set out the go on the drive down where they got all this book stuff that we want to do.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then we realized, wait, but we were having fun.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so do we want to do all this work?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Even though we love doing the work, it that goes back to the balance thing where, but wait, we just want to like go to six coffee shops a day.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: We did visit some amazing bookshops.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, can we talk about what happened to this?
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: We can.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we had uh we had a list of a few bookstores in LA that we wanted to visit, and um they did not disappoint.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just say that.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I will share videos of um the two of our two favorites, I would say.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the first one that we went to was the last bookstore, the last bookstore or last book shop, bookstore, last store in downtown LA.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: And oh my gosh, it was magnificent.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: The bookstores, I mean, first of all, I we went, we went in, turned left, went into the art uh and rare book room.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, and uh I it was just meant to be because I walked right up to the first shelf I was looking at.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: There was this big green hardback book, and I pulled it out, and as I pulled it, it just kept coming and coming and coming.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: It was like it was really long um and super heavy, and I was so excited.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: The cover, it just said Ed Emberly.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: And for anyone that doesn't know, Ed Emberly uh was an artist um uh back in probably the probably 60s through 80s.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and I grew up uh one thing that Ed Emberly did was he taught you how to draw and and do two fun things, like make thumbprints on a page and then turn them into something and everything.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, I found this book.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: I was so excited, had it under my arm, and uh I was set.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: I I had already found my treasure, so then we proceeded to explore the rest of the shop.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Which is just if you if you're going to LA, make sure you add it to your must visit darlings because it was incredible.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Two stories, and uh there's a book tunnel.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there are so many, I can't even begin to discuss it on the podcast because it's just a treasure trove of delights.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: But then we had our first real celebrity sighting.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was in the uh um film and television section, uh just standing there looking at at the books on the shelf, and and um a woman walked up and was standing right next to me, and she was looking at this stuff on the shelf, and and um her uh a friend of hers or acquaintance or somebody came up and and she said something to uh her friend, and I was like, in there was a British accent, and I was like, whoa, that voice sounded really familiar.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I looked over and I was standing this far from Emma Watson, Hermione Granger.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Hermione in the flesh.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was pretty cool.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: I just uh but she had a hat on and was it was clear that you know she's just being at she just wanted to be at a bookstore and browse stuff, so I just slightly turned toward her and said, I think everything you do is awesome.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then I said, I'm gonna let you let you keep browsing books and just walked away.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, Oh my gosh, that's so sweet.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: It was just like, uh, that's so cool.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, he was technically.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: I know, then I said, You have to get down here now.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was fun.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: We met Hermione Granger in real life, and of course she's at a bookstore, like that only makes sense, right?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is all proof that you should always go to your local indie books that's magical thing that's happened.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: I got uh the text from I see what you did there.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I got the text from the tech guy, that's a mouthful, as I was going through the book tunnel that Emma Watson was downstairs, and I better get down there ASAP.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, I'm in a book tunnel at a bookstore, and Emma Watson is there like it was amazing.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Top tier.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: So that that was like a we we had gone there intending to do all this work stuff, and that was kind of a sign, I think, from the universe that we needed to just kind of balance it out and just enjoy ourselves.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: It was a good sign from the universe that we need to do that.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly it.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think so.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: This goes back to the idea of how do you balance doing what you love?
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because this job doesn't feel like a job.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, this is part of our job right now.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Having a weekend road trip where all the way home I have been taking, I'll pull these out for the darlings who can't see, but I've got my little Swift list and on plotting out the first of a spin-off series that I'm gonna launch this year.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that kind of stuff is happening.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't feel like work, it's super fun, but it is work.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think for any darlings out there who might be writers or creatives in any way, shape, or form, this is a universal experience that you have because we also usually pull energy from doing this kind of work.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: How you pull back in and make sure you protect some of your time.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, like last week, I had an entire week of doing nothing but reading.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Literally, I was on the couch, um, in different parts of the house on my little cozy reading chair in our room.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: I had my new stack of books, I had some fun, cozy drinks.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: I just did nothing other than read.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and for you, like you kind of checked out and played video games.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and uh just like it was nice having a little time to uh not think about work or book work or anything and and just uh just have fun.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um hold on, timeout.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Look at that view.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, it's the Pacific Ocean.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: The sun is just like shining right on the oh yeah.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's so sorry for anybody that's experiencing winter by now.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: California is a little different in January.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: We also just passed a fruit stand for like a giant bag of oranges for five dollars.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: So bear's that.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: I know I was gonna stop or we're podcasting.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're podcasting instead.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um so just trying to find ways that you I don't want to say force yourself because it's not like it's hard for me to read, but instead of spending the week off that I was having for vacation, you know, doing plotting, thinking about this, I was intentional, intentional about making sure that I had just a chunk of time to do absolutely nothing else.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I also think then that idea that when you're going out and about and you're doing, I talk a lot about this in my Mr.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Series masterclass, that it is important to get out in the world in whatever way that is for you.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be a five-hour road trip.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: It could be going to a park that you haven't visited in your neighborhood, going to a new coffee shop, a library, wherever, um, just to give yourself a new perspective and get yourself out of your headspace, especially if you're not feeling it as far as writing and your creative energy goes.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um and at the same time, making sure that you're balancing how much time you spend doing that.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't, I can't do book math on what the answer is to that.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think we have failed miserably sometimes at that.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, at what specifically the valley, because we've failed at a lot of things.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we have failed a lot of things.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: I would say learn from all those failures.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Even just like we were talking about at the beginning of the podcast.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: The idea of on the drive down, we're like, all right, well, we're gonna spend, we were here for three days.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna spend, we're gonna go to the Rose Bowl, we're gonna spend a full day and a half, two days of just going hard on all of the content that we want to start for 2025.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: While also realizing, wait a minute, we have these other priorities.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I don't think we've always been great at finding a way to initially like map out our schedule because it does feel like it's so enmeshed in our personal life.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I think just like understanding that, you know, we're you you can't fit everything in um whenever you're you know, even if even if we had set out to uh to try it like like we said we were going to do, try and get some work stuff done while we were on this trip, being okay and being comfortable with making that decision of like, you know what, I can do this later.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it's still we're not giving up on our goal of doing this.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: We're just we're changing the timeline.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um because we've we we actually did some of the research.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: We we still got some of that done and we had fun doing it, but we needed time like it's been awesome to just kind of recharge creatively.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, and so this feels like uh a funny time of the year in some ways to be talking about it because I know many of you darlings might be setting a New Year's resolution or have already done that and say you're saying, like, okay, you know, this is the year I'm gonna publish my book.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about that on the last podcast.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to do that.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and maybe one helpful strategy is to map out the things that you can't do and come to the realization of not everything is going to be done all at once.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: And the list of what you'll want to do is so much longer than what you're gonna be able to potentially manage, at least initially.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: With that prioritization, like you're talking about, one of the things that we decided for 2025 is if we're working on the weekends on my book stuff, which we have to do because the tech guy has a full-time job and I write full-time.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: On our last podcast, we shared how many books I wrote last year, and I have even more books that I'm writing this year.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's weekends and vacations like this where book stuff has to happen.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: But in the past, we've often like worked for a couple hours on a Saturday, worked half a day on a Sunday.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we have committed to making sure that we're like consolidate, consolidating that.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe it's just like we work on a Saturday afternoon and then we take Sunday off.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: And not only do we consolidate it down for that day, but like if we're gonna work a Saturday afternoon, go for a hike Saturday.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Speed check reported ahead.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and uh there's a speed check ahead.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um so, or if we work Saturday morning, we go out to dinner and go to a movie or you know, whatever it is on uh Saturday night.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: So we're balancing that and not just committing one of our one of our two days off during the week to just fully working.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess what I want the darlings and the new writers to take away from this is to have a sense that even at this stage in my career where I've been writing for 15 years and I have multiple series published, the onus is still on us to do all of the other things that go into writing.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there's still such a myth that somebody else is gonna do that piece for you, that once you write the book, everything else just sort of magically falls into place.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we're gonna do a whole episode about how that is not true.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely not true.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I yeah, that and we we will I don't want to get into that now because there's a lot uh that goes in into that.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but but it is uh it it is important to know that just for the purposes of this podcast anyway, that there's a lot of work that that happens after you're done writing.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: And in my opinion, it's some of the most fun part uh parts of the job.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Fine too.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's all they're also the parts that I think take as much or more effort than actual writing.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh because you can put so much work into this stuff and then just have it, you know, just flop too.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: So um, but it's super creative, it's fun to do.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh and and you know, but we'll get into the details on that stuff for the other episode.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, we did an episode last year that was like everything that goes into launching a book.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so the next version of that that we want to share is everything that happens after you launch a set book.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um and this is all sort of part of that.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh right, right.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um so the that that is something though that I think yeah, I know you get questions about a lot of the time, and and you know, we're since we're talking about work-life balance and stuff, that uh, you know, a lot of people a lot of writers, most writers, I would say, though definitely most writers, don't have the luxury of having um when it's part of that car hanging off the back of it, um uh they don't have the luxury of just writing.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they the they do work full-time jobs.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so how how do you recommend that somebody that works a full-time job but wants to be a writer goes about it?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like how do they how do they achieve the balance?
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think this, like his setting some priorities at this stage while you are also setting your writing goals for the year.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if that's 200 words a week, if it's trying to get a chapter written a week, if you are setting a goal to finish a book by the end of summer, whatever that is, carving out that and then taking those same chunks of time to know that you're gonna need that for everything that happens after you're done with the writing.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then figuring out, like, okay, if I am, or for somebody who has a newly published book out in the world, that same sort of thing, like there's that initial excitement and enthusiasm.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's like, oh my gosh, there it's never ending, right?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't go away.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so to find some strategies to map out, maybe you carve out two hours on a Saturday, you know, if you're working full time or you you dedicate Tuesday nights to doing your social content, like trying to batch that in any way you can, which is what we have share.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: We have not always been great about, and we're trying to continue.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: To be better about.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think last year I really improved batching for content for sure.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I was really intentional about when I respond to email and things like that.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: I always want to respond, of course.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: But if I responded every day, I wouldn't get my writing debt.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I did things like where I know that I'm going to respond to emails in chunks of time twice a week because that's not going to interfere with my writing and coaching time.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so doing the same thing, I think, like finding ways to be intentional about where you're putting your energy in.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and then and then they're um utilizing things like this.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like I would really encourage that people don't do is a time if darlings don't do it as a uh as a regular part of your just enjoyment and everything, is take a road trip.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, pick a spot that you've always wanted to go that's like uh you know a five or six hour drive.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that freaks a lot of people out.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's not bad because the beauty of a road trip, unlike an an airplane trip, is you can stop as many times for as as long as you want along the way.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so like this trip from LA to uh back to Sunnyvale, we've already stopped in Ventura.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're probably gonna stop in San Luis Obispo, uh, you know, which is one of our favorite places to visit.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you you just you get to see so much.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: And we've done, we we've built that into kind of the the book work that we've done over the years, where you have a book talk in a certain place, and rather than fly, we'll drive.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: And we've found some of the most amazing things and made some the most incredible connections in all the towns that we stop at along the way.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, intentionally going to different places, um, like that outdoor bookstore in OHI.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um we never would have seen that had we uh, well, we saw it on Instagram, but we never would have visited it had we not been on a road trip and decided, oh, that's only like a 45-minute detour to go over there and and see it.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, I think I think I I I'm a big fan of of uh road trips, but that way you get to work in some work type stuff with just a something that's super enjoyable and it helps you achieve that balance a little bit more.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: Or we're also trying to think of like, oh, hey, well, when we got in the car this morning, we're like, we have a five-hour plus drive home.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, right.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: We this is just time that we're in the car together.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: What if we do a podcast?
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why not show everyone?
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I want to always shut down that myth of like we don't have a chauffeur in our Subaru.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is not like some kind of fancy life as an author, um, which I still can't believe that people are convinced that all authors, you know, are jetted around the world and picked up with bonbons and a bottle of champagne.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: Spoiler alert, that's not gonna happen.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we love our life the way it is.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Amply, yeah.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want this chauffeur and and uh bonbons.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: No, I definitely don't either.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: But um, yeah, if if you have if we have this like dedicated chunk of time, then how do we use that time um while we're on the road?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: I know, otherwise we have to just sit here and talk to each other.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: No, I don't want to do that.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's gross.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: No, that the that's like we have used that time over the years uh to develop a lot of a lot of plots.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I don't know if I already said it, but we've we've we've uh plotted many a murder on the road over the years.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and even when uh Sky Guy was younger, our family trips were like this.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: They involved the same kind of thing that we're doing now, and and he was part of that.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: So he has probably seen more independent bookstores than any other kid on the planet.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, and that was that was, you know, uh after after the first several book talks and everything, it that was something that we did intentionally, right?
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: Is that we would go to wherever your book talk was, whether it was the you know, like the Hood River or something, you know, they we'd drive out and we'd get you all set up for the book talk, and then I would take him and we'd go find like the toy stores and playgrounds and candy shops and all some museums, all sorts of fun stuff.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so he kind of grew up like visiting all these great places, and then he he turned it like he learned to be like, oh, I got to see all this great stuff, and mom hasn't seen it yet.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: So then when you were done with your book talk, then he got to be a tour guide and and show you around to all the great things that he had, you know, been able to see while you were chatting with readers.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I know this one will be all over the map, but it works because we're on a road to so we're oh I sure did it again.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: But there is something to be said, you know, the old adage of like, if you do what you love, you'll never work a day of in your life again.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: I absolutely love what I do, but it is also work.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I think that's the important key takeaway of this week's episode that yes, writing like the fact that we get to create stories and make up fictional worlds, or use the viewpoint that I'm seeing in front of me as a place to kill somebody in a future book.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: Or going up into the mountains town.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I know.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm looking at that cliff right there when I'm thinking, hey.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: They'll see it out.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, they probably could see the ocean there for a minute out the back.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um This is all so much fun, and it is also work.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: So figuring out ways that you enhance that work and embrace it, and also not get Wait, darlings, don't freak out.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: We're going in a tunnel, it's not gonna sort of make us dark all the sudden death.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: Woo, it's spooky, that was good timing.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Tunnel side.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um don't get sucked into the zeitgeist and the culture that writing a book isn't work.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: The the actual act of writing is is work, and then everything that you do related to writing is even more work, like the tech I said.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and and that that's a good point because like for me especially, and this is something you've helped me work on over the years, because I admittedly terrible at it, um, is that for those darlings out there, the the prospective writers, the new writers, people who want to start writing, that have a job outside of the writing or book world, even if you love writing, like it it is still work.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so you just have to take that into account that because my one of my I don't want to say flaws, but one of one one of the one of the challenges I face all the time is I do my day job and then I I want to work on all this creative stuff, uh uh you know, working for your your book stuff and social content and website graphics and you know, all sorts of new projects and everything.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: But the the thing is, and you're always like, ah, but I don't want you to worry.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, no, but I love that work, I love it and everything.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: And and it's true, I do, but but at the same time, um, it's work.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, if I get mentally exhausted during my day job, I'm not gonna be as effective uh if I'm trying to then work every single night on book stuff or every weekend, all weekend long on book stuff.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's trips like this that like I talked earlier about like Hara said earlier, it would which is help be recharge creatively, because I'm like, okay, and now that we've narrowed the list down of priorities that we're gonna do, I'm like, okay, that's a manageable piece that I can work on without getting burnt out.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because the burnout rate is gonna be high.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's really daunting if you are a new writer starting out and you know that like everything is falling on your shoulders.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that's always my like counterpoint to you, or you're like, no, well, I'll just work until midnight, three nights in a row.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, you physically can't do that.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to completely burn yourself.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: That was like 20 years.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: Come on.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: 930.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: 930 is a nice time to go to bed.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: No, um, but you just like not only will the work not be great, but you're gonna burn yourself out of our stuff as well as your work job.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: So Yeah.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'll and I'll be uh uh I'll be the first to tell you like bad things can happen if you fall asleep with your hands on the keyboard of your laptop.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not the same as falling asleep with a book in your face, or it's pretty close.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I I I guess that is the big piece that I want Darlex to be aware of for this one.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you can't do it all.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: You might want to do it all, but you just can't, and that's okay.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: It it is okay.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's the hard part, right?
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: Is getting getting to the point because it's taken me years to get to the point of like, well, no, I can't do everything.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think I realize that every time, but getting to the point where I I can't do everything and I'm okay with that.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's that's when you can.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: The funny thing is, once you get to that point, you will find that you can truly be successful at whatever it is you want to do, because you will bite off manageable chunks and then you will prioritize things so you're able to get things done uh in a you know timely fashion rather than trying to do it all at once and having it take 10 times longer.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh well, on that note, I think it might be time to say uh until next time from the road.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time.