Hello Indie Authors! I'm Valerie Ihsan, and Episode 32 of the podcast and it's April 8, 2020 as I record this. Main Topic: Myths About Productivity But first the personal update segment:  My planned launch for FOCUS and FINISH this month has been largely post-poned.  Meaning, it's live and available but I'm not doing an advertised hard launch. I just think right now people's heads are elsewhere, with the virus and the presidential primary elections.  In case you haven't heard about it, It's a 1:1 six-month coaching and accountability program that includes a customized author action plan in workbook format. If you are interested in joining the program before the hard launch, you would be a Founding Member, and would get a substantial discount and a really ROCKIN' bonus. Please let me know by email at valerie@valerieihsan.com and I'll send you an invitation and discount code.  Ihsan is IHSAN. INSTEAD of the hard launch, I've opened up my schedule to individual coaching sessions to support authors through this weird and unsettling time. A lot of people are unfocused right now and may appreciate the chance to talk and get a few priorities identified, so they can get back to work-at-home. Especially helpful to those who haven't worked at home up until now. This service isn't offered on my website, but you can go to my scheduler tool valerieihsan.as.me to book a one-hour session. It's $150 and will go toward the cost of Focus and Finish, if you decide to go that route. I'M READING: In fiction,  I'm in between novels. Reading a colleague's manuscript right now, but next up is: MY BOOK, The Scent of Apple Tea (because I want to write a second epilogue involving Kyle after he goes home after the story ends--exclusively for my mailing list), and then, EITHER "In the River Sweet" by Patricia Henley, or Little Women again. Just finished Untamed by Glennon Doyle and o.my.god. Totally worth the read. I heart her.  Non-fiction: Just finishing up Make Noise: A creator's guide to podcasting and great audio storytelling. Next up is either Brave, Not Perfect y Reshma Saujani or Better Than Before: mastering the habits of our everyday lives by Gretchen Rubin. Plus, lots of memoirs are on my mind (I'll explain why in a minute) and I've got a stack of them to choose from. I'm leaning towards H is for Hawk, but Well Enough Alone: A cultural history of my hypochondria, Traveling with Pomegranates: a mother daughter story, and Wild Within: how rescuing owls inspired a family are also calling me. So many books to read! A bit more time to read them, but not really. We're finally getting some lovely sun in our Willamette Valley and is inspiring the desire to get outside and work in the yard. Speaking of which... Just starting to feel productive again. After being laid off at my day job as bookseller at Tsunami Books in Eugene, Oregon, it took me a week to get settled into what I want to work on and a more standard flow of days. And my standard, I don't mean what my schedule used to look like. I'm happy to announce that my week so far has been a juicy delicious balance of balance. At the end of the day, I can boast having worked on a writing project, an editing-for-hire project, a nature walk with my husband, a house chore, some alone time journaling and/or hot tubbing, and T.V. time. Even an errand fits in there.  I'm staying up a bit later but also sleeping in a bit later and not napping, but am resting throughout the day so that at the end of the work day, I am not jonesing for bed at 7 p.m. and grouchy until I actually go to sleep several hours later.  Writing update: a couple times a week, I sit in on a Zoom Write-In. Sometimes called Parallel Play with Words, it involves a 45 minute writing session where everyone is muted, and then a 15 minute water-cooler break for chatting, bathroom, and gathering tea and snacks. And then we do it again another time or two. I've been working on my memoir again. (Thus, the interest in reading more memoirs right no