Author Diary Entries
Author Diary Entries (formerly known as the Indie Author Weekly podcast) features your host, Sagan Morrow, as she shares diary-style personal stories of life as an indie author and her behind-the-scenes journey of writing and publishing books as an authorpreneur.
You’ll learn more about the books Sagan writes, her insights and stories of being an author and a multipassionate creative, and a peek behind the curtain of a writer's life.
The Author Diary Entries podcast is hosted by Sagan Morrow, a Kamloops-based writer with more than a decade of experience as a small business owner. She is also a hobbyist burlesque dancer and performs on stage as Babe Maverick.
Sagan started out as a blogger and freelance writer (and editor) around 2008. In 2016, she began teaching other freelancers how to improve productivity and time management through her online courses. She is an internationally board-certified Success & Life Coach who specializes in personal fulfillment, solopreneurship, and anti-hustle productivity.
Sagan writes the Polyamorous Passions romantic comedy series, and has published several business books in addition to her work as a romance novelist. She published her first work of fiction in 2018.
RECOMMENDED STARTING POINT: "Ep 179: Author Update (one year later)" AND "Ep 140: Welcome back to the podcast!" AND "Ep 50: What made me start writing the Polyamorous Passions series" AND "Ep 53: Top 5 episodes from the first year of podcasting on Indie Author Weekly (and why I started this podcast)".
The first 12 episodes of this podcast were originally published on a “secret” platform only for email subscribers, but you can tune into all of those original episodes right here. Access bonus materials to go along with podcast (including cheatsheets and spreadsheets relevant to the episode topics), plus full episode transcripts, sample chapters of her novels, and additional resources, at https://saganmorrow.com/secretpodcast. This podcast was rebranded from "Indie Author Weekly" to "Author Diary Entries" in April 2025.
Learn more about Sagan’s published works and upcoming novels at https://saganmorrow.com/books/. Connect with Sagan on Instagram & Threads: @Saganlives
Author Diary Entries
028: NaNoWriMo prep tips (10 ways to prepare in advance for writing your next book)
Learn the top 10 tips for how to prepare for National Novel Writing Month in this episode of the Indie Author Weekly podcast! These NaNoWriMo prep tips are a great resource for preparing in advance for writing your next book, regardless of whether you plan to participate in National Novel Writing Month this November, or if you are writing a book at any time of the year.
National Novel Writing Month takes place every November, and the idea behind it is to challenge yourself to write a 50,000-word novel during those 30 days. It’s a fantastic organization with lots of great writing resources and an easy way to track and graph your book. Your podcast host Sagan Morrow has participated quite a few times over the years!
The best trick to succeed with NaNoWriMo is to prepare in advance for your month of book writing. How much strategic prep work you do ahead of time can directly correlate to your success with actually completing the 50,000-word goal by the end of the month. So that’s why this podcast episode is a must-listen to help really set you up for success if you are planning to participate in National Novel Writing Month this year.
(Keep in mind that you can really apply these tips any time you’re gearing up to begin a new writing project. So whether or not you choose to participate in NaNoWriMo, you can absolutely still benefit from these strategies for how to prepare to write your next book!)
Tune into this episode of the Indie Author Weekly podcast to get your writing prep tips now...
Access sample chapters of Sagan's novels, transcripts of each episode, cheatsheets and spreadsheets relevant to the episode topics, and additional resources, at SaganMorrow.com/secretpodcast.
Resources & links mentioned in this episode:
- Learn more about Sagan’s books at SaganMorrow.com/books
- National Novel Writing Month
- Episode 5 of the Indie Author Weekly podcast: how to write a book in 10 days with Camp NaNoWriMo
- Tune into the “secret” version of this podcast to access the (free!) character writing prompts worksheet at SaganMorrow.com/secretpodcast
- Episode 3 of the Indie Author Weekly podcast: Getting started with outlining & writing a new book
- Episode 27 of the Indie Author Weekly podcast: Top 10 tips for how to build a story for your book
- Check out the Indie Author Weekly merch (mini notebooks, pens, and tote bags!) at SaganMorrow.com/shop
- Episode 13 of the Indie Author Weekly podcast: How to deal with writer's block
- Submit your questions at SaganMorrow.com/question
Connect with Sagan (@Saganlives) on Twitter and Instagram. Feel free to use the hashtag #IndieAuthorWeekly to chat about this episode.
