The Author Life Podcast

This week J. Thorn and Crys Cain take a question directly from The Author Success Mastermind community: "where should writers, new to advanced, be focusing time and creative energy?" They define and discuss the focus of the three "levels" of authorhood and what challenges and priorities each level faces.

To read the full transcript or comment on the episode: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/12-focus/

Learn more about The Author Success Mastermind: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/

References:

This week, J Thorn and Crys Cain delve into the practical differences and approaches between writing different lengths and forms of stories, as well as the challenges authors face switching between the two.

To read the full transcript or comment on the episode: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/11-short-stories/

Learn more about The Author Success Mastermind: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/

References:

This week, prompted by Amazon's announcement of their new serial platform, Kindle Vella, J Thorn and Crys Cain talk about evaluating new opportunities in the industry: whether they're worth it, how to test them, and whether it's right for you.

To read the full transcript or comment on the episode: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/10-new-opportunities/

Learn more about The Author Success Mastermind: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/

References: 

This week, J Thorn and Crys Cain discuss whether structured learning is necessary to learning to write good stories, and the strengths and weaknesses of different ways of learning.

To read the full transcript or comment on the episode: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/9-learn/

Learn more about The Author Success Mastermind: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/

References

Turning the oft-asked question: "What should I hire someone else to do?" on its head, J Thorn and Crys Cain talk about doing everything, being a one-man show--when is it useful, and when is it not? And how do you negotiate the transitions?

To read the full transcript or comment on the episode: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/8-alone/

Learn more about The Author Success Mastermind: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/

How many times have you reached a rough spot on your current project and a new idea pops into your head? It's way better than what you're currently working on. All you want to do is work on this new idea! But... how many times has this happened? How many manuscripts have been abandoned for the new shiny? This week, J Thorn and Crys Cain discuss how they deal with "Shiny Object Syndrome," and hopefully share some tactics that you can try out.

To read the full transcript or comment on the episode: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/7-shiny-object-syndrome/

Learn more about The Author Success Mastermind: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/

References

Prompted by a question in the TASM Slack group, J Thorn and Crys Cain discuss writing systems, analyzing your pain points, and how to tell when something is not working for you or you're letting Resistance win, and how to address it.

To read the full transcript or comment on the episode: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/6-system/

Learn more about The Author Success Mastermind: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/

References

For a long time, J and Crys assumed that everyone wanted to be a full-time author, but is that actually true? This week, they discuss industry and and indie author community expectations, and how that's filtered down to the individual level. They also talk about what it means to be a full-time author, and why you might not want to be one.

Read the full transcript or comment on the episode: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/5-full-time/

Learn more about The Author Success Mastermind: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/

References:

This week, J and Crys talk about The Author Success Mastermind family and what a mastermind is (and how TASM's branding is confusing!) They also talk about the kinds of benefits you get from different kinds of communities such as Facebook groups, writing groups, and masterminds.

Read the full transcript or comment on the episode: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/4-tasm/

Learn more about The Author Success Mastermind: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/

References:

This week, TASM member Angela heard an author on The Rebel Author Podcast mention that they'd slowed down to three books a year, and that prompted her question:

What's normal? How many books do you complete in a year?

J and Crys dig into the definition of "normal" (spoiler, there isn't one definitive definition), what the root concern of this question is, and how to turn it around and use it to create better systems for your writing life.

Read the full transcript or comment on the episode: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/3-normal/

Learn more about The Author Success Mastermind: https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/

References: