The Hidden Side of Being an Author: Beyond the Writing Desk

When people think about being an author, they often imagine a cosy and glamorous life filled with soft lighting, inspiration, coffee cups, and hours spent typing away at a rustic desk. But the truth is, my desk isn't nearly as Instagram-worthy as people might hope, and the life of an author is a lot more complicated—and a lot more admin work—than that.

Let me walk you through the week I just had (because let’s face it, a typical day doesn’t exist in the author world), so you can see the weird mix of things an author might get up to when I'm not trying to finish writing The Dynasty Codes series for you or working on the new fantasy stand alones.

The errands of author life: not just writing

The truth is, being an author today means juggling many hats. Yes, there are creative bursts where I’m fully immersed in writing, but there are also days filled with organising, emailing, and a lot of running errands. Here’s just a glimpse of what this week alone looked like:

• Gazebo hunting: Spent some time scrolling through Facebook Marketplace looking for a gazebo (fun news coming soon on that!).

• Tested and bought the gazebo: Met the seller in person and made the purchase. I am now the proud owner of my very first pop-up gazebo!

• Bunnings adventure: I walked to the local Bunnings to pick up a 13 kg folding table, only to realise after paying I had to carry it back uphill in 35°C heat. (I’ll admit, there were plenty of breaks and some serious sweat involved, but hey, I counted it as my daily workout!) Yes, I should have realised before I went down there, and yes, I could have asked to keep it there while I went to get my car and drive back. But I'm too stubborn, and the weight seemed manageable. It was just the awkward carry shape that was the trouble!

The paperwork and admin Mount Dooms

Okay, that's dramatic, but sometimes it does feel like that scene at the end where Frodo crashes on the mountain with the lava flowing everywhere. Alongside the more physical tasks, there’s the endless paperwork. Finances, stock management, and planning—oh my! It’s easy to forget that all these behind-the-scenes tasks are essential to running an author business. Because that's what it is. A business. And I know that's not what some people glamorising being an author want to believe.

• Finances update: I took some time to update my author finances. Seeing the numbers track toward ROI is always satisfying—until I had to pay for another print run of Origin Curse and watched my ROI dip. But that’s part of the game! Stock is necessary, even if it means dipping further into the red for a little while. (I admit I'm a bit of a nerd about finances and love my spreadsheet set up.)

• Print run arrival: The latest batch of Origin Curse books arrived, and of course, I had to remember to take a reel of the unboxing for social media (I'll get better at this, I swear!). It’s not my favourite thing to do, but I know it’s part of the marketing effort. This is where I get stubborn and wish I COULD just sit and write. I never know what to say on socials. I have so many ideas when it comes to writing books, but then when it comes to writing something for social media ... crickets.

• Stock updates: And, speaking of stock, I communicated with a local bookstore that had run out of my books. So, this week, I’m heading to the post office to deliver a fresh batch just in time for the Christmas rush.

The ‘business’ of being an author

More on that bit above. If you’re an aspiring author, one thing I wish I’d known early on is that writing is only part of the job. The rest is business—serious, hands-on business. As an author, you're not just a creator; you're also the CEO, marketer, and operations manager of your own small business. It's taken a lot of time for me to get into that groove, and I'm still trying to get better at it. It's a life-long thing. [Insert random cliche about marathons-not-sprints that we all gag at now.]

Anyway, here's a quick run-down of things you are expected to do now as an author:

• You have to manage your own promotions, marketing, events, stock, and distribution. Everything, really. Yes, even when you go trade.

• You have to work with designers, editors, and printing companies, all while adhering to their unique specs and timelines. So I recommend you start developing project management and briefing skills and how to communicate effectively in the publishing industry and the specs and details people need. Everyone has their own processes, so ask clear questions before agreeing to work with people. Find what process works well for you.

• And, perhaps most importantly, you need to budget your time. Which leads me to the big question:

Time management: writing vs everything else

The hardest part? Managing your time.

Writing is our sacred task. The big we all enjoy. And while we all wish for it to be the only thing we have to do, there’s so much more. One thing I’ve learned is that when I schedule time for writing, I sometimes have to treat it as 'Author Time', where if something busy and admin-y comes up, now and then I have to allow myself to swap writing for all the other tasks that go into being a business owner.

Can I squeeze everything into other times during the day? That would be the dream. But with work, family commitments, and a million other things, that kind of uninterrupted writing time is often hard to come by. We all struggle with finding enough hours in the day, so every moment of 'Author Time' counts.

Though, of course, one day the dream is to make this a full time gig.

Until then ... writing as much as I can and squeezing other things in is the reality.

All the many hats and juggling balls of being a modern author

Being an author isn't just about writing a book anymore. It’s about managing your business, balancing your time, and dealing with tasks that range from fun (like designing marketing collateral with your partner in book crime [shout out to Donika here for doing this with me this week!] to exhausting (hello, lugging large items up-hill).

And for anyone considering becoming an author, remember: writing is just the beginning. It’s a journey filled with paperwork, logistics, and a lot of emails. But it’s also a journey that’s incredibly fun and rewarding. Especially when you hear the incredible experiences of readers contacting you about how much they loved your books.

For the published writers out there: How do you manage all the responsibilities that come with being a writer? Are you balancing your writing time with the ‘business’ side? Let me know in the comments!

For the want-to-be writers out there: keep it up, and know that it's still a great thing to do. Find your best schedule, and do as little or as much as you can and want to. Everyone has their own race and own pace. Let me know if you have any questions about handling author life amongst life, school, work, children, study, everything ...

P.S. If you’re struggling with author finances, I’ve created a template to track everything from royalties to print runs. Feel free to reach out if you’d like a copy!

Writing at 'Stupid O'clock': What Author Life Taught Me About Resilience and Priorities

Author life has taught me a lot about fitting my creative dreams around a busy day job and family life 👇🏽

Juggling creative dreams around a job and family life is hard. We all know it. And I often feel like there’s never enough time, to the point I envy Stephenie Meyer's vampires and their lack of need for sleep. 😅 But honestly, these years of writing around life’s demands have taught me some invaluable lessons, and I often get asked how I fit everything in.

So here's a quick run down of how I handle writing books around job and baby and exercise and ... [the list of need-to-dos goes on and on ...]

✨ Building resilience – There are days when the words just won’t come, or life gets in the way. But showing up anyway—even for a tiny step forward—has been my mantra. Each morning when my 'stupid o'clock' (according to my dad) alarm goes off, and it's cold and dark and I want to roll over, I tell myself 'this is my origin story' and I get up and run through my morning routine. Even if it's condensed. Even if it's just 10 minutes.

✨ Determination and saying 'no' – Carving out time for your dreams isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. I’ve learned to fight for what lights me up, even when it means saying 'no' to other things. And saying 'no' to other things is hard. It's not expected in this society. So that's a big lesson: think about what you're going to say 'no' to when you have something more important you want to do. Is it no TV? No alcohol? No weekend layins? You've got to be strict with yourself and prioritise.

✨ Matching my life to my values – Writing isn’t just something I do; it’s part of who I am. I feel odd on the days I can't do it. Aligning my daily choices with that has brought so much clarity and peace. It took YEARS to do. YEARS to action. YEARS to allow myself that. So what are your values?

Try this: If you need to google a giant list of values, write all the ones that resonate, and then trim them down to your top 5 values (this is what I did), then I recommend this. It gave a whole new perspective to my lifestyle.

✨ Scheduling personal priorities – I’ve made writing time as non-negotiable as work meetings or daycare pickups. It’s not always perfect, or 'enough' time, but it’s mine. What you put in your calendar is what you prioritise, so get it in there. Even if it's only 10 mins a day. You know what they say: 'Show me your calendar, and I'll show you what's important to you.' So I HAD to get creative work and exercise on my calendar.

✨ Waking up early – Early mornings have become my creative sanctuary. There’s something magical about working while the world sleeps (and, importantly, my son, because I'm sure all parents know no work gets done with a toddler climbing all over you!) and letting the words flow. Now, I know some people are night owls VS morning larks like me. That's okay. It took waking up at 'stupid o'clock' for me, but your creative time might be late. Find your creative time, and use it.

✨ Working little by little – Dreams aren’t built in one day. I’ve learned to celebrate the small wins—500 words here, an edited chapter there—because they all add up. I still have moments when I mourn long, beautiful writing time with lots of words. Still feel like a failure when I can only have ten minutes. But then I check myself, and remind myself that at least I'm still plodding forward. And over a year, that's still a lot of progress.

I'll throw in the old '0.1% progress every day' nudge here.

This life has its challenges, but it’s taught me that progress, not perfection, is the goal. It takes a while to learn. I still catch myself in the perfectionist mindset. But writing isn’t always glamorous—it’s messy and raw and sometimes exhausting—but it’s also deeply fulfilling.

And it'll be the same for whatever creative lifestyle you're seeking.

If you’re chasing your creative dreams, I hope you’ll give yourself grace. Work on them bit by bit, show up even when it’s hard, and keep your why close. It'll help you through the tough times.

So, take a moment today to reflect on your creative dreams. What small step can you take right now to move closer to them? I like to remind myself 'Just one thing a day'. What one thing can you do each day to shuffle towards your goals?

Remember: even the tiniest effort counts.

How about you? How do you balance your creative pursuits with the rest of life?

#AuthorLife #Creativity #DreamsAndGoals #Resilience #Determination

Make Time for Boredom: Creativity in the Idle Moments

In your busy day, do you make time for boredom?

I remember days that stretched on forever as a child, where I felt I ran out of things to do and lay on the floor staring at the ceiling, tracing patterns in the paintwork with my eyes and feeling like time would never end.

Those days, I daydreamed about so much, and I played make-believe with so many ideas my current writer self would envy.

I wondered how I had so much creativity back then, and it was only in reading advice to embrace boredom—to even create time for boredom—that I realised perhaps this was it.

One evening, instead of meditating (my mind was too chattery), I lay on my floor like a star and stared up at my ceiling.

I traced the cracks in the paintwork with my eyes, and looked at the different patches of white.

I let my mind wander as I stared, and I let the emptiness of the moment take over.

Embracing boredom.

If anyone ever told me lying on my floor and staring at the ceiling would be of benefit to me, I’d have raised a brow and stared at them as if they were odd.

But really, it was brilliant.

My mind chattered itself out.

Ideas returned.

My inner dialogue mulled over many things, including ideas for books, blogs, work I could be doing for my coaching.

People I wanted to speak with. Interviews I wanted to hold.

It reminds me of the advice Neil Gaiman shared in an interview with Tim Ferriss, about how his routine was to sit at his desk. He’d either stare at the wall, or he’d write.

“You don’t have to write. You have permission to not write, but you don’t have permission to do anything else.”—Neil Gaiman

He said at some point it got boring staring at the wall and so he’d end up writing.

“You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.”—Neil Gaiman

But do you give yourself that time to daydream, to be bored, to let ideas flow?

This is your sign. Your permission slip.

It’s not wasting time to embrace boredom.

To stare at the ceiling or the wall. Or lie on the grass and stare at the sky as the clouds scud past?

You don’t need to have a grand plan to create ideas and enhance your writing.

You just need to give yourself permission to be bored, and let your mind chatter away to itself.

And if an idea hits, let it keep running away with itself.

Perhaps keep a pen and paper beside you, just in case!