If we don't check our mindset, if we don't clarify our intentions, if we don't view them and our goals through the lens of our own reality, then it's way too easy to start to focus on external outcomes and expectations and things we can't control and start to spin our wheels, get distracted, frustrated, and stall out. Welcome to the Write It Scared podcast. I'm your host, Stacey Fraser, a formerly repressed creative soul, turned fiction writer, story editor, and author accelerator certified fiction book coach. At Write It Scared, we tell the truth about why writing a novel is so hard by acknowledging that most writers grapple with two stories: the one they want to put on the page to the best of their ability, and the often subconscious internal story that prevents them from doing it. This show is designed to help you identify and rewrite the internal narrative holding you back while you discover and write the story you want to tell and learn all the tools to help you do that successfully. Join me each week for a new episode where we'll talk about writing to deepen our understanding of the craft and of ourselves as writers. Writing a novel is an inside job that we do not do alone. Welcome to Write It Scared. I'm glad you're here. Let's dive in. Hey writer, welcome back to the Write It Scared podcast, where we talk about the brave, messy, vulnerable act of writing our novels so that we can do it with more confidence, more clarity, maybe a little less self-doubt, and not feel so alone. I'm your host, Stacey Fraser, and I am so thrilled to kick off season three with you. We have a stellar lineup of guests for this fall, and we'll be talking about writing horror and cozy mystery, graphic novels, rom-coms, fantasy. We'll also be chatting about how to build a sustainable author career and balancing the art and business of publishing and discussing the indie versus traditional versus hybrid pathways of publishing. And of course, there will be some solo episodes from me on craft and mindset. But before we dive into the meat of this episode, which is all about intention setting, I want to let you in on something special. I've teamed up with 12 other book coaches and editors to create a bundle of free tools to help you write your novel. Plus, every time a writer signs up, a donation will be made to the Friends of the Library organization. And I will share more details at the end of the show, but trust me, you'll want to grab this resource while it's available. Okay, so let's talk about intentions, because that's how I want to kick off this season. In my small group, Coaching Cohorts for Writers, which started the 1st of September, we always talk about setting intentions first. Before we dive into story development or drafting or sometimes revising, we pause to talk about some really important questions. Because if we don't check our mindset, if we don't clarify our intentions, if we don't view them and our goals through the lens of our own reality, then it's way too easy to start to focus on external outcomes and expectations and things we can't control and start to spin our wheels, get distracted, frustrated, and stall out. So that's why in today's episode, we are gonna set the stage for the next three or four months together. So think of this as your gentle reset, your creative check-in. Now, fall for me is the perfect time to refocus, to regroup, and to recommit to my writing. And maybe that's true for you too. And if you've had a rocky summer when it comes to your writing, let me tell you, you are not alone. I am right there with you. Life fucking life hard this summer, and I barely wrote a single word in August. And I was MIA from my writing communities. They were like, Where'd you go? And there's nothing wrong with that. I had responsibilities that took priority. Reminds me of the rubber and glass ball metaphor. You know the saying that life is like juggling a bunch of balls, and some are rubber. And if you drop those, it's okay. They'll bounce back and you can pick them up later. But some of those balls are glass, and if you drop them, they'll shatter. There's no second chances with those. So my family, my health, my spirit, those are my most precious glass balls. Whereas work and writing, those balls are rubber. So if you're like me and maybe you had to drop some of those rubber balls this summer to hold the precious glass ones aloft, take it from me. There is no reason to feel bad. I hope you were able to go where you needed to be, or that you're still able to be there. And then when you're ready, dive back into the writing when you can, because the words will wait. And if you are ready to dive back in, or when you are, I invite you to join me, jump in, and set some intentions. So I'm going to share the same eight intention setting prompts that I give my group coaching writers at the start of each season. And if you can, push pause, go grab a notebook, and jot some thoughts down as I walk you through them. If not, you can come back to them. I will put them in the show notes so that they're easy access and you can get to them when you have time. But first, ask yourself, how do I want to feel about my writing this season? What would I need to shift so that I can nurture that kind of relationship with my work? So that you anchor into first. And then after that, write down three writing goals that you have for the fall of 2025. And I suggest making at least one of them a mindset goal, something that helps you foster that relationship that you want to have with your creative work, with your writing. Now once you've got your goals down, check them against the lens of your reality. Are they doable in three or four months? Or are you expecting too much of yourself? Be honest and recalibrate if necessary. And a lot of times if you look at the past, like what has worked for you in the past and what hasn't, what worked over the last three to six months and and what didn't, then it helps you see, well, sometimes life life's, you know, sometimes we have to loosen up our expectations a little bit. So again, be honest, recalibrate it's necessary. And, you know, there's no nothing that says that you can't change your goals if you need to and turn them into goalposts and you can move them around as your reality changes. So once you've redefined your goals, break them into specific action. What specific steps can you take on a daily or a weekly or a monthly basis to move you forward? And then ask yourself, how will I actually make this happen? What's my plan? And just as importantly, ask yourself how you'll get back on track if your life gets derailed. And again, looking back over the last three to six months, ask yourself what worked for you? What didn't? What needs to change this fall so you can move forward towards your goal and feel good about your writing? So maybe your goals were too lofty and you didn't even know it at the time. For example, I said in the spring, I am going to finish my structural revision this summer, and I'm going to be ready to query my young adult thriller in January. Yeah. No, that's not gonna happen. So, you know, maybe the goal wasn't that, but maybe it was just the wrong angle. Maybe it's just more about the commitment. Maybe the goal needs to be more about committing to the process versus committing to an outcome that I may or not be may or may not be able to control and I clearly wasn't able to control. So finally, ask, what am I willing to change this season to make my goals achievable? And my favorite prompt and way to think about this is what do I want to be brave enough to do this season that I haven't tried before? And for you, maybe that's getting feedback on your writing for the first time, or joining a writing community, or working with uh industry professional, getting some help from a book coach. Maybe it going to a local writing event or going to a conference. Again, think back about the relationship you want to have with your writing and the goals that you've set up for yourself that are in line with it. And then finally, always, take a moment to reflect on your progress so far in 2025. What have you already accomplished? What small wins or big gains can you celebrate right now? And you know, if you're just coming into writing and you don't have any writing wins, that's okay. Just look for the evidence in your life of when you've made decisions and you've set yourself goals and you've accomplished those. Uh look for evidence of where you show up even when it's hard. I always like to say, focus on the gains, not the gap. The gap is going to close itself if you show up and do the work. So take a breath here. You don't have to have all the answers. The point of this exercise is just to give yourself space to dream, to reflect, and choose with intention. So that over the next three or four months, you're not spinning out, you're moving forward with action that aligns with the intentions you set so that you develop more confidence in your ability and more clarity in your process. Reminds me of the quote by Nelson Mandela, which I'll paraphrase, but it goes along the lines of something like this: it always feels impossible until it's done. So just keep going. And speaking of clarity and confidence, before we wrap up, I want to talk to you about that exciting opportunity. As I said, I've teamed up with 12 other expert book coaches and editors to create something special for you. It's called the Polished Page Pack, and it's a bundle of free tools to guide you through every stage of the writing process. And the best part, for every writer who signs up, $1 will be donated to the Friends of the Library, which is an organization that helps libraries continue to serve their communities with access, education, and inspiration. So inside the Polished Page Pack, you'll find resources like how to plan your book without overthinking. Who doesn't need that? The right questions to ask so that your story actually works, high-yield world-building prompts, a framework to discover your novel's throughline, and even a free month inside a self-editing membership group, plus guidance on platform building and agent strategy and lots, lots more. Again, it is totally free until September 15th, 2025. And then after that, it's gone. So from the day this airs, which it should be on September 7th, you've got eight days. So if you're ready for some high-quality tools that will help you move your story forward, grab your copy of the Polish Page pack while you can, and I will drop the link in the show notes. Okay, writer, that's it for today's kickoff episode. Again, welcome back to season three. I'm so grateful that you're here. I can't wait to dive into another season of writing truths and sharing tools and resources and feeling encouraged together. So go set your intentions, make your plan. Remember, your story matters. You can be scared. You cannot know how to write it. That is okay. That does not have to stop you. Find the voices and the messages that you need to hear, grab onto them and just start making small steps in the direction of your dreams. I'll be back next week with our first guest episode for season three. We're going to be talking to graphic novelist Stan Yan, who is joining me to talk about his debut middle grade graphic novel, The Many Misfortunes of Eugene Orang, which will come out September 30th, 2025. And we dig into his creative journey. He talks about the highs and the lows of publishing, what it really takes to bring a graphic novel to light, and how embracing his own authenticity has fueled his storytelling and why representation matters. I'm very excited for this interview. If you are a writer, illustrator, or creative of any kind just trying to figure out how to trust your vision, this interview is a goldmind, and I hope you come back and also share it on your social media platforms too. Thank you so much for your time today. I will see you next week. Thank you for listening to the Write It Scared podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, please make sure to hit the follow button so you never miss an episode. And please leave a review. Reviews help other writers like you find the voices and messages they need to hear to continue to write their stories. Let's lift each other up. Remember, you can be scared and still be unstoppable. I'll see you next week.