Episode 20: Sarah Woodbury and Staying in Your Own Boat

Writer Mom Life

 

Writer Mom Life Episode 20: Sarah Woodbury and Staying in Your Own Boat

 

When you’re in the trenches of writing in-between changing dirty diapers, it can be hard to picture that it will all amount to something. So talking with Sarah Woodbury was a great opportunity to see what a Writer Mom Life can look like a few years (and 40 books!) down the line. Sarah shares her story from writing her book, getting an agent, not being able to sell it to a publisher, then finally deciding to self-publish back in the “wild west” of the early days of the e-reader.
 
While it can be tempting for those of us just starting out to feel a little jealous of those who were around during the “golden age” of the Kindle, Sarah is amazed at how much easier it is now to self-publish, due to all the resources and connections and support available these days. And whether you have 1 or 40 books – you still have to market!
 
Sarah also shares:

  • How many words she writes per day
  • Her writing/editing process and her “posse” who help her
  • What she’d do if she were starting now (hint: the same thing she did 7 years ago!)
  • Why she doesn’t worry about individual launches or books anymore
  • How many books she’s sold
  • Learning to write in the middle of the chaos of homeschooling 4 kids

(Disclosure: some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that at no cost to you, we get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.)

Sarah’s links:

Sarah’s books
Sarah’s website

J. R. Frontera’s Tips and Resources

Today Daphne and I talk about the importance of “staying in your own boat”, a turn of phrase Daphne came up with at the end of our tip chat and which we both then felt was a fantastic way to sum up what we’re trying to say here!

In this day and age of endless information and resources at your fingertips, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by that gripping anxiety caused by FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)… you can feel like if you don’t do ALL THE THINGS you’re somehow failing at life.

You can feel like since you didn’t jump on the “fad” bandwagon at the ground floor, you now have no chance at all at being successful at [insert whatever THING here]. But that’s not true at all!

One of our goals with the Writer Mom Life podcast is to show many, many perspectives of the Writer Mom Life! We talk to writer moms who have had success NOW, after the supposed “golden age” of self-publishing has passed. And we speak to writer moms like Sarah, who’ve been doing it for awhile and have had success that way, too. Hopefully, hearing all these different paths to success, and all these different definitions of success, can help alleviate your own anxiety over “missing the self-publishing boat” or the FOMO pressure you might be feeling to do ALL THE THINGS NOW BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.

Remember, there is no perfect time to do anything, from having a baby to writing a book. Even if the best time to start something was X number of years ago, the second best time is NOW, so stop fretting (or waiting for a more perfect time) and get to it! 😉

There’s no such thing as “missing the boat”! You’re in your own boat! So pay attention to steering your own vessel and as Daphne says in this episode’s tips, “Stay in your own boat!”

Join our Writer Mom Facebook community to hear more personal stories from tons of other writer moms! Can’t wait to see you there!

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