Author Diary Entries

Learn my current writing and planning process for the book I’m working on right now, Her Bad Idea. It’s an enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, fake relationship romantic comedy, and it’s Book 7 in my Polyamorous Passions series. 

I have been dying to write this book for so long! It’s the first in Scarlett’s trilogy, and it’s about how she needs to enter a dance competition in order to make money to save her failing burlesque business. It’s a lot of fun! 

I’ve been working on this novella on and off since November. Other things in my business have taken priority, so this is something I’ve been a bit less focused on. As a result, it’s been put on the backburner several times. I currently have it slated for publication in June 2020. I’m about one-third of the way through writing the book so far. 

Since I’ve recently picked up the book again and started to work more on it, I wanted to share with you my process for planning the book, and how I’m writing it. 

And by the way—if you want the backstory on the Polyamorous Passions series, then you should definitely read the previous 6 books in the series! You can grab them at your favourite e-bookstore by searching for “Polyamorous Passions,” or access all of them on my website at SaganMorrow.com/books. 

Okay, so: how am I going about planning Her Bad Idea, the seventh book in my Polyamorous Passions series?  

Tune into this episode for what I’m doing, broken down into 5 crucial steps you can apply to your own book planning and book writing process… 

Know someone else who would enjoy this episode? Click here to Tweet about it.  

Resources & links mentioned in this episode:  

• Learn more about all of Sagan's books at SaganMorrow.com/books .
• Episode 46 of the Indie Author Weekly podcast: Tracking your book word count (plus a spreadsheet template) .
• View Sagan's colour-coded sticky notes on poster paper system for task list management: photos and videos available on her Instagram feed and Instagram Stories at Instagram.com/saganlives . 
• Episode 44 of the Indie Author Weekly podcast: How to use mind mapping as a tool for outlining and writing your book ideas . 
• Episode 16 of the Indie Author Weekly podcast: How to organize everything when you're writing multiple books in a series . 
• Tune into Indie Author Weekly on your favourite podcast platform at SaganMorrow.com/podcast .
• Rate & review this podcast on iTunes .

Let's chat about this episode:  

• @Saganlives on Twitter and Instagram .
• Hashtag: #IndieAuthorWeekly .
• Email [email protected] .
• Share your thoughts (or submit requests for future episode topics) in this survey at SaganMorrow.com/question 

Send fan mail! Click HERE to leave Sagan a voicemail & share your thoughts about this episode.

Support the show

This episode of Indie Author Weekly follows up on Episode 50, where I shared my polyamorous background. Today, you'll get more details about my novels: Polyamorous Passions romantic comedy series. 

FAQ:  

1. What is Polyamorous Passions? 
2. Why did you decide to write Polyamorous Passions? 
3. Why write these stories as books (instead of a screenplay, for example)?
4. Why did you choose this genre of contemporary romantic comedy?
5. Why novellas instead of full-length novels? 
6. Where did the idea for Polyamorous Passions come from?
7. These books are different than any other story that I've read before! (A few things that set this series apart from other romantic comedies and chick lit...) 

Polyamorous Passions follows 3 best friends as they each embark on their own journeys into consensual non-monogamy. Books 1—3 focus on Emma, Books 4—6 focus on Helen, and Books 7—9 will focus on Scarlett (Book 7 is slated for publication in summer 2020). 

This contemporary new adult series is suitable for anyone interested in real-life polyamory & open relationships, positive female friendships, alternatives to monogamy, and explorations of sexuality. Each story can be enjoyed as a stand-alone, but readers often say they get the most from it by reading all the books in the series. 

Polyamorous Passions uncovers the struggles (and benefits) of ethical non-monogamy and illustrates what polyamorous relationships can look like. These stories reduce stigma & provide new perspectives about different relationship styles, while entertaining the reader through fiction. 

Polyamorous Passions follows Emma (easygoing recruitment manager with no issue dating multiple men simultaneously—even if they do), Helen (ambitious career woman in a 10-year relationship with her soon-to-be husband, who falls head over heels for her wedding photographer), and Scarlett (burlesque dancer with a long-standing unrequited crush, whose only hope to save her failing business is an irritating Humphrey Bogart-esque dance partner she’s forced to work with) as they navigate the next phase of their lives in the transitionary period of their late 20s to early 30s. 

In the vein of Sex and the City & Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Polyamorous Passions uses humour & everyday conversations to share relatable real-life issues & complex life experiences in a compelling, entertaining format.   

READ THE SERIES: SaganMorrow.com/books, or search “Polyamorous Passions” on your favourite e-bookstore platform.  

Resources & links mentioned in this episode:  

• Learn more about all of Sagan's books at SaganMorrow.com/books .
• Episode 50 of the Indie Author Weekly podcast: Background about my polyamorous lifestyle .
• Episode 33 of the Indie Author Weekly podcast: Why write novellas vs full-length novels . 
• Tune into Indie Author Weekly on your favourite podcast platform at SaganMorrow.com/podcast .
• Rate & review this podcast .

Let's chat about this episode:  

• @Saganlives on Twitter and Instagram .
• Hashtag: #IndieAuthorWeekly .
• Email [email protected] .
• Share your thoughts (or submit episode topic requests) at SaganMorrow.com/question 

Send fan mail! Click HERE to leave Sagan a voicemail & share your thoughts about this episode.

Support the show

Find out what made your host Sagan Morrow start writing her Polyamorous Passions series in the first place, and a peek behind the curtain of her polyamory lifestyle, in this episode of Indie Author Weekly. 

Today is Episode 50! I’m so happy to be releasing this milestone episode, and it seems like the perfect episode to answer a question I get all the time from different people, when they start reading my books. 

The question they ask again and again is, “why did you start writing this Polyamorous Passions series?” 

Variations of this question include inquiries about whether I also have a polyamorous lifestyle, where the idea for this series came from, and what made me want to tell these stories. 

I don’t typically talk much about that here on Indie Author Weekly, so again, it feels like Episode 50 is a great milestone to provide some background on it! 

This is actually going to be a two-part series: today, I want to share more about the background of polyamory and what led to me writing the books, and in our next episode, I’ll talk more about the stories themselves. 

Questions addressed in this episode of Indie Author Weekly include...  

1. Are you polyamorous?  
2. What is polyamory, anyway?  
3. How does polyamory affect your relationships, with your spouse and with the people in your life and with your business?  
4. What made you want to write fictional stories about polyamory?  

This episode also features...  

• What makes non-monogamy ethical vs non-ethical.  
• The difference between polyamory and other types of non-monogamy.  
• My polyamory manifesto (the guiding principles of my polyamorous lifestyle).  
• What my spouse and I do for ensuring our polyamorous relationship is very loving and supportive.  

Resources & links mentioned in this episode:  

• Learn more about all of Sagan's books at SaganMorrow.com/books .
• The Ethical Slut by Janet Hardy & Dossie Easton . 
• Opening Up by Tristan Taormino . 
• Polyamory Weekly podcast . 
• MoreThanTwo.com . 
• Tune into Indie Author Weekly on your favourite podcast platform at SaganMorrow.com/podcast .
• Rate & review this podcast on iTunes .

Let's chat about this episode:  

• @Saganlives on Twitter and Instagram .
• Hashtag: #IndieAuthorWeekly .
• Email [email protected] .
• Share your thoughts (or submit requests for future episode topics) in this survey at SaganMorrow.com/question 

Send fan mail! Click HERE to leave Sagan a voicemail & share your thoughts about this episode.

Support the show

Learn a few of the things your host, Sagan, has been doing lately to get into the right mood to write scenes of her upcoming romantic comedy, Her Bad Idea, which is Book 7 in the Polyamorous Passions series... and how you can apply these ideas to your own writing! 

My ability to focus has been a little bit compromised over the past few weeks, because I’ve had a flare-up of anxiety. It’s been months since I last had to actively deal with my anxiety, so it’s been testing me a bit! As a result, I’ve been prioritizing self-care and doing the most urgent, important tasks in my business, while pushing other things back a bit. 

Creative writing is a good outlet for me when I’m experiencing things with my mental health, but even so, the focus part has still been a challenge. I’ve been a bit more scattered than usual. As a result, I’ve been making the most of getting myself into the right mood to write various scenes of this book. This makes it easier for the story to flow through me and get on the page. Having the right mindset can do wonders! 

Here are a few of the ways I’ve been getting into the right mood for writing various scenes in Her Bad Idea….  

Resources & links mentioned in this episode:  

• Learn more about all of Sagan's books at SaganMorrow.com/books .
• Episode 45 of Indie Author Weekly: getting into the author mindset when you're struggling to write your book .
• Tune into Indie Author Weekly on your favourite podcast platform at SaganMorrow.com/podcast .
• Rate & review this podcast on iTunes .

Let's chat about this episode:  

• @Saganlives on Twitter and Instagram .
• Hashtag: #IndieAuthorWeekly .
• Email [email protected] .
• Share your thoughts (or submit requests for future episode topics) in this survey at SaganMorrow.com/question  

Send fan mail! Click HERE to leave Sagan a voicemail & share your thoughts about this episode.

Support the show

Learn 3 tips for how to write books when you are getting to the end of a series in this episode of Indie Author Weekly.  

... Because that is where I’m at right now! My Polyamorous Passions series will have 9 books in total, and each of the three trilogies within this series follows a different main character. In other words, this means that every three books, I begin a new story arc. Books 1 - 3 followed Emma’s story, Books 4 - 6 followed Helen’s story, and I’m currently writing the first draft of Book 7, which will follow Scarlett’s story until the end of this Polyamorous Passions series.  

Sidebar: If you’re curious about learning more about those books, you can visit SaganMorrow.com/books for full information on all of them.  

Also, another sidebar: I shared 8 tips for how to keep track of everything when you’re writing a book series in a previous episode here on the Indie Author Weekly podcast. Tune into Episode 16 for details on that.  

Okay, now, when you get toward the end of the series, it can feel a little daunting. Basically, you don’t want to mess things up! More than one reader has told me that their favourite character is Scarlett, which makes me so happy, because I love her too… but it’s kind of funny, because I think I’ve been putting a bit of unnecessary pressure on myself.  

Frankly, it was much easier to write Helen, I think for two reasons: first of all, she’s very different from me, so it was really easy to separate myself from her. And second, she’s not a particularly likeable character in the first few books of the series! So it was fascinating to explore things from her perspective and get to know her, and see how she develops into this really likeable, very strong-willed character. Readers love Helen once they get to her books in the series.  

Besides the characters, it can also be nerve-wracking to try to tie up loose ends, or make sure that everything comes together perfectly, or ensure that you don’t forget about something.  

So that’s possibly one of the biggest obstacles that can arise when you get to the end of the series: it can feel rather daunting because you don’t want to mess stuff up—and that often means that we get stuck and start avoiding the writing process.  

With that in mind, I have 3 tips that have helped me get past that stage, and I hope it will help you, too…

Resources & links mentioned in this episode:  

• Learn more about all of Sagan's books at SaganMorrow.com/books .
• Episode 16 of Indie Author Weekly: how to keep track of everything when you're writing a series .
• Episode 44 of Indie Author Weekly: how to use mind mapping to outline your book . 
• Tune into Indie Author Weekly on your favourite podcast platform at SaganMorrow.com/podcast .
• Rate & review this podcast on iTunes .

Let's chat about this episode:  

• @Saganlives on Twitter and Instagram .
• Hashtag: #IndieAuthorWeekly .
• Email [email protected] .
• Share your thoughts (or submit requests for future episode topics) in this survey at SaganMorrow.com/question  

Send fan mail! Click HERE to leave Sagan a voicemail & share your thoughts about this episode.

Support the show

Learn how 4 different authors outline their books and get started with writing a new story on this episode of Indie Author Weekly... 

Today we have a slightly different take on our usual format! One of the most popular episodes here on Indie Author Weekly is an episode I did way back, all about my process for how to outline a book. If you want to hear about that, you can tune into Episode 3. 

Since so many listeners are interested in that topic, I thought it would be fun to get a variety of different writers’ processes for how they go about outlining and starting to write a new book. 

With that in mind, I reached out to some writer friends and asked if they’d be willing to share a little bit about their unique processes. They very kindly wrote in their answers, so today I’m going to read their incredible insights with you! We have four different writers sharing their processes with us today. 

Plus, after each author shares their methods for how to outline and start writing a story, I've distilled their processes into 3 key takeaways each so that you can apply it in practical ways to your own writing. 

Hit play on today's episode to get the book writing tips and find out real-life methods that WORK for these authors to outline their own stories... 

Resources & links mentioned in this episode:  

• Learn more about all of Sagan's books at SaganMorrow.com/books .
• Episode 3 of Indie Author Weekly: how to outline a new book .
• Kali Rainwater (Daimonika series): @KaliRainH2O on Twitter, writing blog on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17122329.K_B_Rainwater/blog), books on Amazon at www.amazon.com/author/kbrainwater. 
• Alana Westwood: AlanaWestwood.com.  
• Ashley Hoffmann (book: Nostrum): find on Amazon at bit.ly/nostrumbook or learn more at nostrumbook.com (Read full article about how to write a book in 1 month at https://medium.com/@ashhmarketing/how-i-wrote-a-book-in-a-month-ad309b77c494).  
• Episode 15 of Indie Author Weekly: 10 tips for how to edit your own work. 
• Episode 27 of Indie Author Weekly: NaNoWriMo prep tips.  
• Episode 32 of Indie Author Weekly: writing prompts for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). 
• MJ Beckett: @mj_beckett on Twitter & Instagram, or https://www.facebook.com/pg/mjbeckett.writing on Facebook. 
• Grab the time-saving tips cheatsheet at SaganMorrow.com/savetime .
• Tune into Indie Author Weekly on your favourite podcast platform at SaganMorrow.com/podcast .
• Rate & review this podcast on iTunes .

Let's chat about this episode:  

• @Saganlives on Twitter and Instagram .
• Hashtag: #IndieAuthorWeekly .
• Email [email protected] .
• Share your thoughts (or submit requests for future episode topics) in this survey at SaganMorrow.com/question  

Send fan mail! Click HERE to leave Sagan a voicemail & share your thoughts about this episode.

Support the show

Learn a handy—and very simple—trick for boosting your word count in this episode of Indie Author Weekly...  

I’m curious to know if this is something you struggle with! I find it really interesting, as a writer of novellas, because my stories are all quite short. Less than 30,000 words. And I feel very strongly that in some ways, word count doesn’t really matter: it doesn’t really matter how long a book is because the important thing is to tell your story in however many words you need to do your story justice. That’s all it really comes down to.  

That being said, sometimes, we get stuck in a particular part of a book, or the idea of meeting a particular word count goal can feel overwhelming, or we’re just really struggling to put pen to paper. If you are nodding your head right now and you are in this boat, then I encourage you to tune into Episode 45 of this Indie Author Weekly podcast to find out 3 tips for how to deal with it when you’re struggling to get any writing done.  

And by the way, if you are a writer and you haven’t experienced this struggle or overwhelm from time to time in your own work, then please, tell us your secrets, because you, my friend, are a magical human being!  

One more thing, before we get to our writing tip in this episode: I have a word count tracker spreadsheet that I use to set word count goals and keep track of the number of words written every single day, and you can now access the exact spreadsheet I use, totally for free! It’s one of the bonus resources you get on the “secret” version of this podcast, at SaganMorrow.com/secretpodcast. So definitely check that out if you want a proven template for tracking your own word count.  

Okay. So, here we are, trying, struggling, to increase our word counts. It can feel overwhelming and exhausting and a complete uphill battle.  

The good news with all of this, is that we can kind of “trick” ourselves into boosting our word counts. It’s a little sneaky, but it’s effective!  

Tune into this episode of Indie Author Weekly for my super useful and very simple trick for boosting your word count...    

Resources & links mentioned in this episode:  

• Learn more about all of Sagan's books at SaganMorrow.com/books .
• Episode 45 of Indie Author Weekly: 3 tips for how to deal with it when you're struggling to get any writing done .
• Bonus resource: word count tracker spreadsheet at SaganMorrow.com/secretpodcast . 
• Episode 15 of Indie Author Weekly: 10 tips for how to edit your own work .
• Grab the time-saving tips cheatsheet at SaganMorrow.com/savetime .
• Tune into Indie Author Weekly on your favourite podcast platform at SaganMorrow.com/podcast .
• Rate & review this podcast on iTunes .

Let's chat about this episode:  

• @Saganlives on Twitter and Instagram .
• Hashtag: #IndieAuthorWeekly .
• Email [email protected] .
• Share your thoughts (or submit requests for future episode topics) in this survey at SaganMorrow.com/question 

Send fan mail! Click HERE to leave Sagan a voicemail & share your thoughts about this episode.

Support the show

Learn 3 practical tips for dealing with the situation if you are struggling to get any writing done when you tune into this episode of Indie Author Weekly...   

For today’s episode, I want to talk about that ever-present issue that we all face: struggling to get any writing done.  

I’ve addressed this topic here on the podcast before and I’m sure I’ll address it again from other angles many more times in the future, because honestly, this is one of the biggest problems that any author, whether you’re an aspiring author or an active author, faces. Writing can be such a wonderful experience, and sometimes it flows freely… and other times, it’s just a struggle. So today’s episode is a little pep talk on the subject.  

A lot about “sitting down and getting the writing done” is all in your head. We struggle with writing because we’re afraid of failure or success, we’re putting pressure on ourselves to get it perfect, we’re uncomfortable about being vulnerable and baring our soul, and so on.  

The good news about that is that when we reframe the writing process and retrain our brain, writing is less of a struggle!  

However… if your office isn’t conducive to your writing style, or if you don’t know anything about your characters, or if you have no idea how to put a story together, then it doesn’t matter how much you’re “in the writing zone”—you’re probably still going to experience some struggles with the process along the way.  

In other words...  

Writing is a mindset, but only after you have all the pieces in place.   

Learn 3 practical tips for dealing with the situation if you are struggling to get any writing done when you tune into this episode of Indie Author Weekly!  

Resources & links mentioned in this episode:  

• Learn more about all of Sagan's books at SaganMorrow.com/books .
• Episode 42 of Indie Author Weekly: how to get comfortable with being vulnerable .
• Episode 44 of Indie Author Weekly: how to use mind mapping to write your book .
• Grab the time-saving tips cheatsheet at SaganMorrow.com/savetime .
• Tune into Indie Author Weekly on your favourite podcast platform at SaganMorrow.com/podcast .
• Rate & review this podcast on iTunes .

Let's chat about this episode:  

• @Saganlives on Twitter and Instagram .
• Hashtag: #IndieAuthorWeekly .
• Email [email protected] .
• Share your thoughts (or submit requests for future episode topics) in this survey at SaganMorrow.com/question 

Send fan mail! Click HERE to leave Sagan a voicemail & share your thoughts about this episode.

Support the show

Learn how to use mind mapping to write a book in this episode, featuring a real-life example to make it easier for you to visualize and tips for creating your own mind map. Use these mind mapping tips for authors and make it easy and fun to write your book!

When your host Sagan Morrow isn't writing romance novels and hosting this podcast, my day job involves teaching productivity tips and action-oriented strategic planning to multi-passionate creatives. 

I recently published an article about how to use mind mapping in your business on the SaganMorrow.com blog, and in that article, I talk about how mind mapping is a handy—and fun—tool for saving time, getting clarity, improving focus, and working more efficiently on your projects. And I’ve included a step-by-step guide in that blog post for how to use mind mapping in your business. If you’re interested in checking that out, visit SaganMorrow.com/mindmap. 

Right now, I’m slowly getting started with writing Her Bad Idea, which is Book 7 in my Polyamorous Passions series, and I decided to take my own advice… and use mind mapping as a tool to write the book! 

I thought it would be fun for this episode of Indie Author Weekly to share a bit about that process for mind mapping as an author. 

Mind mapping is a very straightforward practice. Basically, it’s a sort of organized brain dump and brainstorm of ideas. You’re getting a whole bunch of thoughts and ideas all in one space, and mapping them out to connect the dots between your ideas. 

It’s one thing to have all of your ideas for a book in your head or even in a Google doc, but it’s a whole other things to have them laid out visually and in a single space. With that in mind, I decided to use mind mapping to write Book 7 in the Polyamorous Passions series. I took out a large piece of poster paper, which is propped up on a handy stand, and I grabbed a handful of colour-coded markers and went to it. 

Okay, I’m now going to explain to you what this particular mind map looks like, but if you want to see an actual photo of it as a work in progress, then you can get that on the “secret” version of this podcast at SaganMorrow.com/secretpodcast. So, go check that out if you want to see the real-life visual of it as I’m explaining it here.   

All right, we have our poster paper and our colour-coded markers... 

Tune into this episode to learn about mind mapping for creative writing!  

Resources & links mentioned in this episode:  

• Mind mapping tutorial (with step-by-step guide) at SaganMorrow.com/mindmap .
• Learn more about all of Sagan's books at SaganMorrow.com/books .
• Episode 40 of Indie Author Weekly: connectivity in writing (my 2020 word of the year: connection) .
• Tune into Indie Author Weekly on your favourite podcast platform at SaganMorrow.com/podcast .
• Rate & review this podcast on iTunes .

Let's chat about this episode:  

• @Saganlives on Twitter and Instagram .
• Hashtag: #IndieAuthorWeekly .
• Email [email protected] .
• Share your thoughts (or submit requests for future episode topics) in this survey at SaganMorrow.com/question 

Send fan mail! Click HERE to leave Sagan a voicemail & share your thoughts about this episode.

Support the show

Do you know what you want to get from writing a book? Understanding WHAT you want to get from the experience is so important, because it will help you identify the best approach you should take for your unique book project: in other words, you need to know what you want to get out of writing a book in order to figure out HOW to go about writing it.  

There are so many different reasons for why we might want to write a book. Depending on what you want to get from the experience, you may want to approach it from one angle or another, or you might need to adjust where it fits into your priorities, and so on.  

For example, if you are writing a book because you have a cool story idea in your head that you think would be a lot of fun to write, and you want to write for the pure joy of it without sharing it with the world, then you will likely take a very different approach to it than if you are writing a book because you want to become a full-time author.   

Likewise, if your goal with writing a book is to win a prestigious award, that could also have an entirely different approach than if your goal is to make a lot of money from it.   

That’s why it’s really important to sit down and examine what is it that you want from your book writing experience, so you can ensure you’re going about it the right way. This will help you determine things like…   

• If you want to write a book on your own or if you want a co-writer.   
• If you want to self-publish your book or if you want to go the traditional publication route.  
• What genre, voice, and style you want to use.  
• Timeframes and deadlines for your book project.  
• Whether you want to explore mentorship, writer groups, and training.  
• How a book fits into your lifestyle and professional life, and what level of priority it gets.  
• Whether you want to tell people that you’re writing a book or not.  
• ...and so on.  

There’s no doubt about it: having a clear understanding of what you want to get from your book writing experience really does matter!   

TUNE IN to this episode of Indie Author Weekly to get a real-life example of the unexpected benefits you can get from writing a book, why understanding what you want to get from it matters so much, and more...   

Resources & links mentioned in this episode:  

• Learn more about all of Sagan's books at SaganMorrow.com/books .
• Episode 41 of Indie Author Weekly: 5-step process for how to plan your book projects for the next year .
• Episode 42 of Indie Author Weekly: The value of vulnerability in writing .
• Learn more about doing weekly check-ins (and how to save time!) with the time-saving tips cheatsheet at SaganMorrow.com/savetime .
• Tune into Indie Author Weekly on your favourite podcast platform at SaganMorrow.com/podcast .
• Rate & review this podcast on iTunes .

Let's chat about this episode:  

• @Saganlives on Twitter and Instagram .
• Hashtag: #IndieAuthorWeekly .
• Email [email protected] .
• Share your thoughts (or submit requests for future episode topics) in this survey at SaganMorrow.com/question 

Send fan mail! Click HERE to leave Sagan a voicemail & share your thoughts about this episode.

Support the show