S01E38: When Q3 Is Reviewed

Samantha and Matilda are wrapping up their Q3, and delving into what they have planned for the last quarter of the year!

Next week Sam and Matilda will be starting a NEW series about professionalising, with an episode on scheduling.

Where to find Sam and Matilda:

SAM IG: @sammowrimo

Website: www.samantha-cummings.com

Book to start with: The Deathless - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Deathless-Frances-June/dp/B0915V5L6F

Most recent book: Curse of the Wild (Moons & Magic Book 1) https://amzn.eu/d/fVXwW3j

MATILDA IG: @matildaswiftauthor

Website: MatildaSwift.com

Book to start with: https://books2read.com/TheSlayoftheLand (book #1 of The Heathervale Mysteries)

Most recent book: https://books2read.com/ButterLatethanNever (book #3 of The Slippery Spoon Mysteries)

Mentioned on the show:

Nothing this week but don't forget to subscribe, tell all your friends, leave a review and follow us on social media! 

Transcript:

Welcome to your next step of the Self Publishing Mountain.

I'm Matilda Swift, author of quintessentially British Cozy mysteries.

And I'm Samantha Cummings, author of Young Adult Books About Magic, Myths and Monsters.

I've written the books, changed their covers, tweaked their blurbs, tried tools from a dozen ad courses, and I'm still not seeing success.

Now we're working together to plot and plan our way from barely making ends meet to pulling in a living wage.

Join us on our journey where we'll be mastering the pen to snag that paycheck.

Hello and welcome to Pen to Paycheck Authors podcast.

I'm Matilda Swift, here with my co-host, Samantha Cummings, and we're here to write our way to financial success.

We're two indie authors with over a dozen books between us and still a long way to go towards the quick the day job dream.

If that sounds familiar, listen along for our mastery through missteps journey.

Each week we cover a topic to help along the way.

This week's topic is Q3 reviews.

Before that, what are your wins and whinges of the week?

Ooh, okay.

My win of the week, I'm just going to say today because we had such a good day.

So today was our mastermind meeting.

We met up in manchester, very rainy day.

My whinge is that it was like ridiculous rain.

But yeah, my win is that I really feel like we covered off so much stuff in our meeting today, that the future is bright and very well laid out.

So I feel like really...

Yeah, like I'm really amped up.

I really like it's so nice to have like the clouds parts and the sun beamed down on you.

That's what it feels like.

I feel like this is it now.

I can feel like the success coming.

So that is my win of the week.

How about you?

I've got a very tiny wind in that I feel like I'm getting a little bit sick so my throat is not sounding fantastic.

But that is really due to my win in that I have since our last podcast lived a thousand lives.

I have done everything.

I have lived my best life.

I've been on the writing retreat with other Cozy Authors in York for a week.

After that, I've seen friends, I've seen family.

I spent the day with you.

I've talked about everything.

We have made our like best future, planned it all out as if it's real.

I've done everything.

So it's been fantastic.

The writing retreat was amazing and it really made me like solidify something that I felt a bit back and forth about before.

So before the pandemic, I said like, oh, I want to be a full time writer because I want to, you know, not have a day job.

I want to focus on writing.

And then during the pandemic, I really was too stressed to write.

I had a very disruptive time.

And I was like, oh, gosh, I'm so glad I don't rely on this for my income.

I'm so glad I don't have to write.

And then for that, I kind of, the feeling's not back in me that I wanted to write full time.

I was like, oh, but you told yourself in the pandemic that it was a good idea that you weren't.

But I realized this week that actually it's just my best self when I'm writing.

It's not that I want to write full time because I don't want to work.

It's that I want to like fully immerse myself in my days in a thing that I am passionate about and good at and dedicated to, in a way that it doesn't give me the same fulfillment in my day job.

It was really nice to have that experience and to have a group of authors in the house where we would get up, have breakfast, do yoga, set our intentions, do writing.

I got so much writing done.

Then we'd have discussion groups on all publishing business things.

Then we'd go out in the evening for dinners.

Then we'd just chat about writing and everyone cared about the same things.

And it felt like, why isn't all of life like this?

So it was just funny.

And then, yeah, it was kind of like when we meet up, but like for a week.

So yeah, so it really resolved that for me and made me feel like, no, I'm not just being like a throw your toys at the pram.

I don't want to work.

I am being a person who is pursuing their passion for a good reason.

So that was lovely.

And yeah, just absolute winds all around.

I feel like a snowball that is like rolling downhill.

And now at the stage where snow is just clinging to me, I'm growing and growing and growing.

I feel unstoppable.

I feel like everything is going and it is amazing.

That's yeah, that's so fun.

And I love like when you're telling me all about your week and everything, like the excitement coming off you makes me excited just to be witnessing your glow, like just to witness your snowball is really nice.

Yeah, I'm so glad you had a good week.

But hopefully this doesn't put a damp note on how you're feeling.

But today's topic is our Q3 review.

So we might as well get straight into it.

How do you think your Q3, I was going to say third quarter, but that felt really weird.

How do you think Q3 has gone for you?

I don't think it goes down for my day, because I love doing these quarterly reviews, which sounds crazy because it's such a horrible concept in the abstract.

Like the idea of having to kind of face up to what you did and didn't do.

But it feels so freeing to actually look at it.

The bigger issue that I've had for years, it's just like they're bearing my head in the sand of things I didn't have the time or understanding or energy to deal with.

Actually now, this is like when you have those tasks that you've procrastinated over for a week and it takes five minutes.

It feels like that.

I'm really enjoying using Q2 for your views.

Even just to say, because quarterly is not so frequently that you're not getting meaningful done, but it's not so infrequently that you are forgetting stuff.

It's a good measure of time when you could do something significant.

My Q2 review, I kind of realized I hadn't really done anything or hadn't.

I had only kind of grown the tasks from Q1.

And so my Q3 review was to like really undertake them.

And actually, I'm just going to show you on the screen, I've got two solid pages of notes where I literally took everything from my kind of Q1 and Q2 together and split them all out in small tasks and figured out when and how to make those things happen, which felt so productive.

So what I mostly did in Q3 was take a lot of things that I, that they're enormous and I'd set so many big goals in Q1 and Q2.

So Q2, I took all those things and I broke them down to small, actionable things and a big thing that I did was just get myself really, really organized in terms of having kind of daily, weekly, different systems and then even like kind of annually, ways of organizing myself and having to-do lists, targets, schedules.

I'd got all that in place and it feels like such a relief.

It sounds like it should feel more stressful having everything, you know, planned out to the minute, but that's not what it is.

It means I just, because there are things that you just have to do.

Like every week I have to edit this podcast.

If I didn't have it on a schedule, I would leave it to last minute.

I would stress about it.

I would think, oh, I can't start it now, it's too late.

But getting into schedule is like I do on Monday lunchtimes.

That is when it gets done.

It takes that amount of time.

sometimes it takes a little bit longer.

If it's a technical issue, I finish on Monday evenings, if so, done.

My newsletter, I plan it out in advance.

I've got kind of a rolling long-term schedule.

I write it when I'm roller skating.

So I do a bit of roller skating, sit down, take a break, write a paragraph of the newsletter.

It's done easily.

It's now, it's less work than it used to be, even though I've gone from monthly to weekly.

So that is the big thing about my Q2, is that I really, oh, my Q3.

I really had to figure out ways to action things that were too big to tackle in one bite.

So that's my overview.

I've got some things that I didn't get around to, but that is my kind of exciting part of it.

How about you?

What did you do from yours?

I did the same.

So I had it on my list to try and get my, I mean, and this has kind of just been rolling on throughout the year, but Q3, I really wanted to get my, all my docs in a row, so my production schedule and everything, which is obviously we've talked about this in the podcast, set up a JIRA board and really looked at my processes, like how long it takes me to edit, how long it takes me to write things, and try to set myself up some sort of schedule that I know that I can follow each time for a book, and that was on my list to do, and even though I've still got tweaks for that, I did follow it through the whole process for the book that I'm releasing next week.

I can't believe it's next week, and I feel really good about it.

I feel like I could make it better, but I did it, and I feel like that was a really big challenge that seemed like such a big job, to plan out the whole process of a book.

But actually, I've done this so many times, it's not that big of a process.

It's okay to write down everything that has to happen, and it feels great to put a date to things.

Like I showed you my Geo today, and how I added dates to things.

It's so detailed.

It's detailed, and I have little things where I can put done, or in progress, or still to do.

And it just feels like, I feel like I've got a really good grasp on that.

So I feel like that was a great thing to tick off my list.

I really feel like I'm going into Q4 and beyond with better practices.

I did have on my Q3 some things that I've done, but haven't kind of continued with.

So I did have on my Q3 to set up some rolling ads on Facebook for my books.

And I started it and I did run some ads.

And then I decided that I don't feel like I'm at the right stage to be running continuous ads when I don't have a full complete series.

So I did it and I did that the whole process, made some ads, spent some money and then made a business decision to stop, which was fine.

So it's like, when I'm ready to set them all up again and everything next year, I feel like that's not such a scary hurdle.

So even though I didn't, I can't fully say that I did it like that.

I've got continuous ads.

I know like, I know what I'm doing.

Yeah, I know the process.

And yeah, I feel great about spending money.

I also did the big thing of setting up Canva Pro that was on my list to like just try and professionalize myself and spend some like again, like spend money on myself.

So setting up Canva Pro was, was something that I kind of had on my list and was a bit scared to do it.

And then one day I was like, do you know what?

It's not even that much.

It's not that much money.

And just for like a single person account, it's like a hundred pounds for a year.

And the amounts of like the amount of money I have saved from doing that, like every time you create a graphic or something, it tells you how much it would have cost you.

And like, I will be over a hundred pounds now with the stuff that I'm making.

So every time-

What's the amount of time for not searching through all the images?

Which one's free?

Don't have to think about it.

Yeah.

A hundred percent.

Like that is such a time saver for not having like, I can look at anything, any image, any font, any design.

And I don't have to be like, Oh, is that one a free one or not?

It's life changing.

It's so silly.

It's like the best thing that I did.

And I love it.

Yeah.

It's so freeing.

So yeah, I am happy that I did that.

I would say a couple of things that I haven't done that are-

Actually, I know I'll keep talking about some other things I've done.

So I also had on my list, I've got a list in two places, so I'm like looking at different ones.

Another thing I had on my list was scheduling book funnel stuff.

And I am well and truly versed now in book funnel.

I've got my art on book funnel.

I've done email swaps.

I've done book promos.

And that is now like a process that I've got built in, is to set up continuous things and always be on the lookout for like promos that I could join.

So, yeah, I feel like, like, obviously, apart from like working on releasing a book this month, this quarter, I've been so busy and it's been really good.

Like, I feel like everything that I've done, I'm glad I did.

There are things that I haven't done.

And I'm okay with that.

Email automation has once again been pushed slash kicked into Q4.

I might also go through my list for my actual list of what I did and didn't do.

Yeah, tell me all of your things.

Yeah, so I took my...

I think the problem I had in Q2 was I just made a wildly overambitious list of things to do that I sort of started with them and then just didn't make enough progress.

And so my Q3 list, I just kind of wanted to break them down.

It wasn't necessary I was going to start all of them.

Some of them are kind of for later in the process.

But I at least broke all of them down and made myself like decision points.

So what I had on my list broken down was to have regular socials, which I didn't do for ages and have just got into and now feel really liberated about.

So I feel glad we had this podcast last week.

And I also, one of the authors in my writing retreat is great on socials.

So it just felt really like, you know, I'm just going to do something.

I'm not going to hold myself to a high standard.

I just want to see if I can get into it and have fun with it.

So tick for that, but just very recently.

sales focused, on boarding and nurturing.

I haven't done much more on boarding, but actually I had such a good experience.

I've gone to a weekly newsletter, which kind of means I get to separate out my weekly and monthlies.

And in my monthly, I'm putting a backless book, kind of just very clearly like, this is a backless book, read this book.

And all I did, I'm trying to form my experience to see what works.

All I did this month was put the cover on.

I think I put like a title, so I'm trying to pick like a seasonally appropriate book.

So I picked an autumny book, because mine you can read independently.

They're part of a series, but you can read standalones.

And I just wrote, I just copied in the first three paragraphs.

And people get to do and bought it, maybe more than they have for any backless book that I've ever featured in a newsletter.

So tick for that to feel really good.

Still want to do more with like the onboarding part, but fine.

And we talked about this in the writer's retreat this week, so I've got some more ideas for it.

Lead generation, check more people in my newsletter, monthly book funnels, yes, tick for that, Facebook lead gen.

No, I haven't done that.

But it says only after automation improves on my list.

So that's fine.

That's to do.

Amazon ads, I have been rubbish at.

I have done some Amazon ads.

I read a bit about Amazon ads, but I really have not done enough.

So disappointing.

The same and Bookbub ads, I put them on my calendar to do in future once I've got some other sorts of ads going.

Automation upgrade, I didn't do.

And I don't know why.

It's just a big job.

So that I didn't do.

But I did make myself like a really clear, like weekly and monthly calendarization.

I'm holding up to Sam on the...

I can't really read it.

But it just feels like I took everything and kind of tried to make it into a process.

So that was my Q2 goals.

I broke it down for Q3.

My actual Q3 goals were implement next steps on Q2 experiments, which I think overall I did.

There's a big specific category that I didn't do that I want to move on to Q4.

Replug my schedule.

So like look at everything.

I look at all my books when I schedule.

Big tick.

Make a launch plan.

Done that in Jira.

Big tic.

Set long term goals.

Medium tic.

I think I am trying to stay agile.

I kind of have a sense of where I'm going business wise and finance wise.

So I think I've done enough for now.

So that felt so productive for Q3.

Like all of that was Q3.

But I haven't done one big category of things.

So my Q4 I'm going to say is just that one thing, and it is just ads.

I'm going to nail it.

Okay.

Just the thing that everyone complains about and hates so much.

Just going to do it.

Yeah, I think I just had me paying attention before.

Now I've got a bit of time.

I'll just crack on with that.

Nail it.

Yeah, that's a good plan.

If ever there was a time to do it, it's now because you're already now set up.

You're writing a new series.

You have ticked off so many things on your list that you had just lingering.

To just dedicate the next quarter just to doing ads, I think is such a good use of your time because you're such a good researcher and you love to gather all the information.

And if you're saying that that's all you're gonna do, then I feel like you're definitely gonna win at that game.

So, yeah, good for you.

Yeah, and I think it definitely feels like I have been setting up everything else.

Everything else is kind of in place properly.

That if I do it, it's not, I won't ever feel like, oh, I wasted a bit of money by not having done that first.

I won't feel annoyed at myself.

So yeah, all I need to do now is pick a platform, focus on that for a bit and kind of get a sense of how to get at it.

I think I'm going to go for Amazon ads because I've got a long established series.

I've got a book that is currently very responsive to organic pushes.

So it's the book that I had on Bookbub that was on in April and still very regularly keeps up around the same, like a good number on 100,000 in the store.

So and it will drop down to 200,000, then pump itself back up again and I'm doing nothing to it.

So I think if I can give that some more ads juice, it will, yeah, it will hopefully respond well.

So I'm going to give that a try.

There is no reason not to.

And I will hopefully succeed in Q4.

You definitely will.

I wish my Q4 was that like succinct, like just one thing and I'll be fine because my Q4 list is heavy.

So I'm going to go through mine.

I'm going to show you my Q4 list.

It's my Q4.

It's got one word on it.

It just goes out and the line three times.

Yeah, I'm not.

I feel like my Q3 was my light quarter.

Because I knew I was publishing a book, it was more like everything was just geared around that.

So I feel like that was basically just one task, even though it broke down into a million little things.

It was just focusing on one thing.

And so now that we're going into Q4, I'm just like back to my usual self and just starting on the project.

So I've got some really, really simple and obvious stuff.

Like I want to complete my business plan for 2025.

And that means buying a new calendar for 2025, getting my new planner for 2025.

I've got mine already, I'm very excited.

Yeah, I know.

You're way too, like so far ahead of me.

So I'm, yeah, I desperately can't wait to get that.

I love the idea of being organized.

Yeah.

And this is the first year that I've ever really stuck with a planner.

I've never in my life completed a planner.

I mean, we're at the end of September, and I have done it basically every week so far this year.

And that is unheard of for me.

So I am like a new woman and I can't wait.

So I'm really looking forward to doing like my business plan for 2025, setting up my production schedule, which I've basically started.

So it's just before the end of the year, I just want to have my production schedule and endure it and to know what dates I'm going to be doing things.

So I'm really looking forward to that because like, that's the fun part, planning.

I love putting dates on things.

Trying to meet those dates that is scary.

I am going to be writing a new book in Q4, and I'm also going to be editing a book in Q4.

So yeah, their writing is from scratch.

It is my alternate NaNoWriMo book because NaNoWriMo is no longer a thing.

Everyone's boycotting, which is fine because I just do it on my own anyway.

But I'm also, last year, I ran a little writing group where we did planning and writing.

And there's only about four or five of us.

There was like a group of 10, but four or five active members.

And it was so much fun to have like that little group doing work.

So I'm doing that again this year, but I'm going to try and businessify it.

So it's almost like a little experiment to see like, can I turn this into something I could sell to people?

So I'm going to effectively starting a little side business on top of this.

And yeah, just thinking about the future.

We've got a lot of spare time by hand.

You know, just nothing else to do.

Write a book, you know, start a course, lead a group, edit a book.

All the fun stuff.

To me, Q4 is like, it seems like a vast landscape.

Oh, so many things can happen.

It's three months.

What am I thinking?

And one month is Christmas.

Yeah, I know.

I'm feeling so optimistic.

It's so stupid.

But I love just like, I love setting myself.

I just love setting goals and we'll see what happens.

As per all the previous quarters, email automation and building my email list is on there.

What will happen with that?

I don't know.

But I do a hundred percent need to sort out my finances by the end of the year, because this will be the first year that I will, I'm like, registered as self-employed.

So I need to make sure that I've got everything sorted for self-assessment.

So that's like, that's going, I really dig into that sooner rather than later, but I just, I just don't want to, but it's on the list because I literally cannot not do that.

So it'll be a nice thing to tick off and be like, yes, I have, I've been an adult.

I've done the things.

I've looked at bank accounts and made lists of spends because we all know that the list of incoming money ain't that big, but I can at least tell HMRC how much I've spent.

Yeah, it is practising the process of doing it.

yes.

So I'm actually looking forward to that because I think that will make me feel less fuzzy about stuff.

Yeah, at the moment, it's just a big question mark.

Like, oh, how does it work?

What have I spent?

Are you submitting for 23 to 24 or 24 to 25?

24 or 25 because there's nothing else.

There's no point doing it for any other year.

Yeah.

I mean, just in case you're not aware, maybe for anyone listening, the UK tax system is pretty relaxed state-wide.

So 24 to 25, you in fact don't submit, you don't have to submit until the end of January 2026.

So you got ages.

Yeah, I just need to make sure.

You got to submit the end of September 25.

Yeah.

Just so you know what you need to do.

Yeah.

If I don't do it now, I'll just put it off for as long as possible.

So if I at least end the year with everything written down and in a legible order, then I'll feel like I'm starting next year with a bang.

This is so organized.

I don't know if it's all accountants, but both accountants I've had from my sub publishing business in the UK, they have an end of September deadline for receiving your accounts.

Even they don't have to submit it until January, it just gives them time to question stuff and process stuff.

So they're dead on the end of September and I do it at the end of September.

So you know what, I felt like so good this year that it's in my diary for next weekend.

So it's in my diary.

It's not the last day of September, which is my normal day for doing my accounts, it's the 30th.

It's like really the 27th.

So I'm pretty professional.

Yeah, that's early.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, also, I know because I've done a couple of years in a row, it doesn't actually take that long.

It's just it's one of those tasks that I don't enjoy it even slightly, and everything about it feels dull.

So I just, I don't want to do it early because I could, because what if I got hit by a bus the day after I did it?

I'd be like, oh, that was such a waste of that last day of my life.

yes, very true.

What a way to think about things.

That is how I think about things.

I want to just wring every bit of joy out of my life.

So I'm not going to do my tax and have to do my taxes.

And it's not like I'm leaving till January, right?

If I were a real troublemaker, I'd be leaving till January, I'd be paying the penalties for that for my accountants.

And you can't even submit to January, you just pay HMRC penalties.

So I've never, I have never been late, but I've always been as late as you can be without being late.

Yeah, just on the edge.

Just a little rebellious enough, but not rebellious enough to get a slap on the wrist.

To call me any problems.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, yes, so I will do mine soon.

So if you want to look at anything together, let me know.

I do need to start early as well, because I've got a new accountant, they want a slightly different system of information transfer.

So fine.

But also, in fact, my new accountant, I picked them specifically because they are local accountants, and I live in a very arty area.

So they kind of had a lot of people who have different sorts of businesses and including sort of creative businesses.

And they're so nice and they encourage people to come and do their accounts in their office and just sit there all day, bring their computers down, bring their records down, do it in their office so that like if you have to, in five minutes go and ask someone, what, where's this go?

What does this mean?

You can do that.

They're like, we'd rather you did that, that you send it to us and we didn't know what we're looking at.

So I may even go and sit in my accountant's office next week.

It's a big, big office in a converted old mill thing.

And it's got like a pool table and it's nice and warm.

It's got a coffee machine.

Actually, I think it will bring me luck because that's way better than just doing my own ass.

Yeah, that sounds so nice.

Yeah, and having them there to ask and to like just, it's so much easier to do things that are face to face and to be able to ask questions.

And then for them to be able to look at it and be like, yeah, okay, this looks fine.

Or to look at it and say, no, do this before you go.

That's such a good time saving.

And it's just nice to interact.

I'm gonna be a weird person because I know a lot of people don't think this, but I love interacting with people in like, in any capacity with jobs and things.

Even though I always put it off, like I always think I hate it.

I love it.

I love talking to people on the phone.

I love like just getting to like, talk to random people that you may never ever have to talk to again, or like, want to see you.

So that's my favorite kind of person, someone you're never gonna see again.

Because then you just, I feel so confident asking them weird questions.

And people just mostly answer whatever you ask them.

Which is just, I wouldn't be like, if there's really just me a question, I'd be like, go away.

People answer everything.

Yeah, I had a great phone call with Sky, because I'm in the process of switching over, this is such boring life, admin, sorry listeners.

But I had a phone call with Sky about switching over to Sky Internet.

And I'm gonna be honest, I think I was the best phone call he ever had.

We laughed so much.

I made all of my best jokes, really like had such a good rapport going.

And yeah, it was a great time.

We were on the phone from, I feel like it shouldn't have taken this long.

It should have only taken 10 minutes.

We must have been on the phone for 40, 45 minutes.

My boss kept like, I was doing it at work, and my boss kept walking past, probably thinking like, who the hell is she talking to?

And I'm just like in the kitchen, like, ha ha ha ha.

It was great.

I loved it.

Good time for all.

yes.

That is peak, peak time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I think bring, yeah, find an accountant that you can do that with in future.

He'll just enjoy your chit chat.

Yeah.

Just like, I just need a good interaction.

Just let's just entertain each other for a while and pretend like work isn't super dull.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I was gonna say, going back to your Q4 things, just kind of on the topic of like, not making them dull or not go anywhere.

I started the year with big goals and I kind of went my way down to smaller and smaller goals.

I think the thing that helped me move things on from Q1 to Q2 to Q3, it was like treating them as experiments, so saying if I've got a big list, I don't need to complete everything, but I need to do at least a touch on everything.

Is that what you're doing?

Or are you trying to really accomplish, finish things in Q4?

No, I think, like you say, it's just touching on things.

If I don't complete my business plan for 2025, by the end of the quarter, it's not the end of the world, because I feel like my business plan is a rolling document.

I don't want to secure things, I don't want to fasten down all these hatches and make all these rules whilst I'm still in the process.

So it's like being a free creative person who's not making a living wage on this.

Like it's like all the nice, fun experimental phase of doing this.

So I'm like more than happy for like my business plan just to be like a rough draft and my production schedule to be like completed up to like Q2 next year.

It's just like you say, it's just like, I just want to touch on everything and make sure that I'm like, I'm keeping the ball rolling and not fizzling out at the end of the year, which is easy to do.

Like I think as well.

Yeah.

What you mentioned about, you want to just have the business plan be rough and then see how it goes.

I think some people that will sound like, oh, then why bother doing it?

Like, I'm not going to make a business plan because I don't quite know what to put in it.

I think this year, we have found so much benefit to doing something, even if it's just a rough version, then I'd be able to see how you went compared to how you thought you would go.

Because that's going to help inform you when you really are ready to make a serious business plan.

You then know, oh, you know what?

Like we're doing with our quarterly plans, right?

We're kind of just practicing the process of making quarterly plans.

And I have seen that, really, there's a limit to how much you can get completed in a quarter.

So you need to divide things between either a large number of things you touch on or a small number of things you complete.

The same way like a business plan.

So it's, I would say it's benefited as no end this year to start big things with a sense that like, I'm just seeing how I how I do.

Also, like writing processes and like, I've done a lot of looking at my routine and my longest longer term schedule, just be able to see if I plan this, what goes wrong with it?

And then how can I work around those problems in future?

Yeah, that is how I work as well.

I am a sketch first, draw in like the lines later.

Like that's the way that I've always been.

I would much rather have a rough sketch of something than try and do something perfect first time.

I'm not that sort of person.

I'm not, I am, I'm a, like we talk about this, I think, a lot on the podcast is I'm a throw spaghetti at the wall person and see what sticks and then maybe try and make some shapes out of that instead.

It just has had my brain works.

I mean, it's not gonna surprise you to know that like, that's not me.

I normally-

No, I know.

I normally prepare and perfect things.

And I think that has hampered me and slowed me down, and has been so useful to work with someone who's got a different framework and to see the benefits of it.

And, but also I think for me, it feels more reassuring and comforting to be able to do that with somebody else.

If I'm by myself, and if everyone's by themselves, you kind of, you fall back to what feels most comfortable to you, and you're not gonna put yourself in like a bit of, you know, kind of not necessarily jeopardy, but, you know, trying something new, because why would you?

There's no one else to kind of bounce it off.

You only get to see, I tried a new thing, but it was new and scary, it didn't work.

I should go back to my old things of just perfecting everything, but actually having someone to bounce it off and get different perspectives and seeing someone else who works differently to you, super useful.

Yeah, I do think that we have both benefited from that this year is my, like, they say, fair attitude towards a lot of things and to your much more structured way.

And like your structure has helped me plan, like plan things so well.

Like you told me about this planner that you were getting and I bought planner as well.

And we both went through what we were doing and we both have the same calendar on the wall.

And so your dedication and like commitment to having those very like very detailed plans has guided me in a way that I never would before.

And then obviously my attitude of I'm just going to try and see what happens has made you feel less stressed about maybe making a mistake and like and being okay with that.

And I think that's them.

Yeah, we've we've both gained a lot from trying each other's methods.

Yeah, it's been so good.

I know it's weird because it feels like it's the end of Q3, but it feels like the end of the year.

And I don't really know why I feel like I've made a years of the progress already.

Also, obviously, because I'm, you know, already in my year wound down, wound down because it's basically Christmas.

So I'm already at the end of the year.

Yeah.

What was the night of drawing in?

Normally we record mix, it was bright outside so recently, and now it's dark and cold.

So yeah, it does.

I know I think it's also Q4 is like your last chance to kind of do things in this year.

So I'm already sort of thinking head to my kind of end of year review.

And, and trying to and that's really helpful to kind of like try and put a very definite full stop on the end of the year and saying, have I achieved everything I want to achieve?

I'm quite looking forward to having a small achievable thing at the end of Q4, just so that I can reach the end of the year saying like everything I started this year, I have carried through and completed.

And that's going to feel like very satisfying.

I think I'm just really excited to start 2025 because I've got such like fun, exciting things I want to do.

And so I'm already like, I get to this part of the year and I'm usually like quite bummed out about September.

And I don't like winter.

I'm not a winter person.

I know this is where we differ.

So by the time it gets to September, I'm usually kind of like starting to get really bummed out.

But I said to my boyfriend last week, I think it was like, I've never had such a good September.

I've never had like this feeling of feeling like, like something's happening, like the change in seasons feeling really good.

I'm just like, yeah, like I feel like I am in like you've got mail or something.

And like, oh, and I'm in New York in autumn and it feels great.

I can really feel like swanning around town, like the cranberries playing in the background.

I've got like a mid calf length skirt on and I'm just swishing around.

Yeah, carrying a pumpkin.

Yeah, yeah, I'm really like having such a good autumn, like start to autumn and as much as I hate winter because I've got so many fun things like coming up and like the start of next year.

Yeah, I feel this is the most positive I felt at the end of the year.

Yeah, I'm super excited.

Yeah, I do think that autumn is a big help towards that because looking at things on a, I don't know, either a year schedule or a month schedule, it just makes things feel either like too big or too small.

And kind of having this last quarter is it feels to me like, we're heading into the dark season of the year where we, you know, in our part of the world, in the cold, the damp, but it's like, oh, we've got this last, last little chance of the year to do loads of things.

And I am, this is my last quarter in which I'm not releasing anything.

I am actually going to release a novella that I've had for a while.

That is like my pre-quarter series.

I'm going to put it on Amazon, because I kind of want to have something out this year.

No particular reason.

It just feels like I quite often put something on my birthday and it'd be nice to have something on my birthday.

But like, this is my, I almost feel a bit like a squirrel putting away, like hiding away a bunch of nuts, or I'm like a bear getting ready for the Fat Bear contest.

Like, I'm storing things up for next year, and I'm getting ready to really explode.

And especially since we did, like the most recent kind of big thing that we did was make their schedules in Jira.

And I was very fortunate last week, I was with a lot of authors that I had my launch plan, I kind of had my production launch plan, and I showed it to everyone and got feedback and had some really useful comments on what they felt was missing, or how they could help me with different parts of it.

So I've made that for book one, I have now copied it for book two, and I'm going to do it for book three.

This coming week, and then it will have just like my, literally everything I need to get done for my release next year on a schedule.

There are days I have to just know when I have to sit down, take it off, and I can get things done, and I don't have to think about it.

I just have to get to a date and be like, this is the day I said I would do this.

Now we'll do this.

I'm so excited.

Yeah, I know.

It's so sad, isn't it?

Like we've put things in our calendar like, on this day, I've got to do this.

But it's like opening an ad bank calendar and being like, oh, instead of chocolate, there's a small task for you to do, but you're going to feel great when you do it.

Because for me, the big issue is just like, is having to think about having the back of your mind all the time, and then thinking like, I won't do it because I have to plan.

There's like seven steps to it.

I don't have time to think of all the steps, but now I've thought of all the steps and I've put them in the calendar.

And I only have to do that big job once.

Yeah, I think that's the key.

And it's so like anybody who's like a crazy planner, anybody who just loves planning everything will be like, well, of course, it feels great knowing that you put things in your calendar and then it's done.

But yeah, I'm very much or have been in the past to think of it on the day and think, oh, I should do that now, or think of it on the day and think, oh, I'll do that in the future.

And there's been no set path for me to follow.

And now I'm setting my own path.

And it does feel very empowering to feel like I'm in control.

Like I really feel like I'm in control of this beast that is the publishing business.

Yeah, and also like I guess, because we've been talking about like the future of the podcast today, and like all of our plans for that, I feel really amped up.

Like I could scream.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think this is going to be the week.

If we can, if we definitely can fly, it's happening this quarter.

That's what my cue for goals as well actually is like, fly.

Oh, if I was ever going to fly, it's going to be on Halloween.

So look out on the news.

It'll be this Halloween.

Yeah.

This Halloween's it.

Yeah.

I've got a broomstick in my living room, just ready and waiting to go.

I have a broomstick in my flat all the time.

For this Halloween, I'm going to, do you know the old Victoria baths that they've converted into like an event space.

This is like an old swing bath site.

You know, was it a swing bath for movie kids, and it's an old heritage building.

This will make you feel very old.

They're having like a silent disco there for Halloween, where you tune in to the music, the DJs from clubs that no longer exist.

Clubs you would have gone to as a kid, because we grew up in the same area.

The clubs we would have gone to as teens, that just no longer exist.

So there's a channel for jellies.

So that's the channel I'll be on.

Just, yeah.

And it's just like the middle-age version of clubbing.

But I think it finished in midnight.

And it's in a commercial heritage building.

That's so fun.

We have Halloween, so we'll get dressed up, right?

What date is Halloween this year?

Halloween is...

That's ridiculous.

Halloween's always on the third of October.

What day?

It's Thursday.

Okay.

I know the dates.

You're that bad at planning.

You're that bad at scheduling.

What day?

In the past, I have often taken Halloween off because to me, it is a holiday.

I'm not taking it off this year.

I know.

I know.

So I'm not taking it off this year.

But I mean, I'm effectively not going to do any work.

Oh, I'm also, this is just, yeah, I'm going to be practicing fine.

I'm just going to say this now, just for fun.

I'm actually going to Alton Towers that weekend for like the Halloween weekend.

Okay.

So I'm super excited to be celebrating Halloween this year.

This podcast has got an incredibly niche local.

I know.

Sorry.

If anyone's in the manchester area, come join these activities.

Yeah, I'll see you at Alton Towers.

Into our lives that you can all relate to.

But yeah, I mean, it's nice to have fun things planned in.

I feel like this year feels very different, not just because of our writing stuff, but also I think this feels like a real, the first year post pandemic that things have felt very open and lively.

And it has been such a good year to then really push towards all this work that we're doing.

Yeah.

So it feels like the world's opening up just for us.

The world's like, I see you guys coming, let's go.

Yeah.

And then you see like crazy things in the news, so why not fly?

Yeah.

Why not be the air flyer?

A millionaire author who flies on Halloween.

Yeah.

This is it now.

The universe is conspiring with us.

We've manifested it.

That's how good you are at manifesting.

You can't believe it even happens.

I am, I am Mulder.

I'm Fox Mulder, I want to believe.

I'm actually shocked I don't have that poster behind me.

I need to get that poster in this space behind me.

Because that is peak me.

I think you should write it.

Yeah.

You should write it on Nicholas Cage, because I think he also gives the same vibe.

I know.

I absolutely love David Duchovny.

So I would love to just have a picture of him on the wall.

It feels like wrong.

I don't.

Okay.

That's a new plan.

Let's also go to the Q4 goals.

Yeah.

Q4 goals.

I need an x-files poster.

I want to believe.

x-files poster, you're going to fly, and then also all the publishing things.

This is a big Q4 you've got going on.

I think I'm going to stick with just my ads plans.

Yeah, you stick to the ads.

I'll take everything else.

Don't worry.

It's on me.

I'm sure of the responsibility.

Hopefully, everyone listening has thought of their Q3, you know, evaluation of their Q4 goals, and maybe come down somewhere between Sam and I in terms of scope of your goals.

But hopefully, you do have Q4 goals.

We are always open on socials for hearing more about those, so do please message us.

We are on Instagram, Pen to Paycheck Authors.

We've got a great Instagram, lots of good content on there.

And we are, even today, we talk about more things we could add on there.

We are also in the future going to be expanding to have a newsletter with more great content we can share and kind of more resources and more.

So we'll be sharing the and more in the newsletter.

So do sign up.

We will let you know when it's available.

Until then, keep listening and follow us on Instagram.

That's where we're going to kind of release the information as well.

And also, kind of ongoing request, recommend us to a friend.

We're looking for more writer friends.

We're looking to build a community of people we can share our exciting goals with, big and small.

For next week's topic, we're starting a new series on professionalizing.

We're going to have an episode on professional schedules.

Do you have any initial thoughts on that, Sam?

yes, I do.

So I think this is because I, I kind of am scared that I'm going to fall off this amazing train that I'm on of being, like just being so good at following all of my routines and things.

Like I'm, I'm worried that I'm going to burn out.

But I know that I'm, I know that I'm not, but I'm scared that I am.

So I'm really looking forward to having this discussion about the schedules I've got in place and like how to keep myself on it, like how to make it consistent.

And there's another word that I can never remember.

But effectively, yeah, I'm just looking forward to talking about, like sticking to schedules and not freaking out about just like being a professional person.

I think having a conversation makes it feel better.

Yeah.

I also realized as I said this, that I have, you've infected me with the schedules plantation and I'm a schedules person.

So this is our niche niche again.

So yes, next week we'll be saying two, two pronunciations in the same word.

Yeah.

So when we're talking schedules, Oh no.

I can't do it.

That's the that's the question in pronunciation is schedule.

It does sound, it sounds angrier.

It sounds more formal.

So my yeah, my big schedule concern or concern, the thing I really want to work on is during the week we had, we had set times of day to write in.

And Jen, who was on this podcast a few weeks ago, and I, she was on the retreat as well.

Both of us, we were on a table together, and we did sprints, we did 25 minute sprints.

And it's so effective for me, just to have that time when you are saying like, I'm just writing, but I can't do it by myself.

I am terrible by myself.

I, because the clock's not the boss of me.

I'm not going to listen to a clock.

So if the clock says you're going, I'm like, well, I've got more important things to do.

I've got to go and research this thing or answer that email.

So yes, I need to get better schedules because I know what I'm capable of.

I really like going on retreats to kind of figure out what I'm capable of and find out how much I can write per day, how I feel, if I push myself.

I know I'm capable of a lot more than I let myself, not let myself, than I make myself do at weekends.

And I want to find a way to be more productive and feel rested because I just flip-flop between the two and end up doing neither at the moment.

And I end up just staying up late to finish what I'm going to do and then I wake up by the next day.

And then it's a vicious cycle until I get to end the weekend and I'm in order myself.

So I want to figure out a way to get better schedules in place and make it fun because it was so fun and easy to retreat.

It felt really nice.

And we were done like mid-afternoon and I'd done so much work and in the evening I do like a little bit of prep work for the next day to make it all easier.

So yeah, very doable.

And I think I want to figure out what's getting in my way and stop that.

So I'm looking forward to chat about it.

yes, me too, very much so.

Well, I guess that's it for our Q3 wrap up.

It felt so productive.

So hopefully everyone else has also had a productive wrap up for their quarter and thinking ahead.

And I said, follow us on socials, subscribe, tell friends, tell family, tell people you love and hate, everyone to know about this podcast and get some more productivity in their lives and feeling, feeling like they can do anything, which is how I feel right now.

And I would look forward to being even more enthusiastic next week when we will see you again and hear from you all again.

And we'll speak to you next week.

Goodbye.

Goodbye.

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