Three absurdly normal things you need to do...

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Hey there, amazing authors!

This week I’m hanging out at the Realm Makers Expo at the Union Station Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri - woohoo!! I’ll be taking mentor & critique appointments, plus moderating two panels (one on Hunger Games/dystopian fiction and one on fairy tales & folklore). I’ll also have piles of my books in stock at my booth (cleverly labeled #1006 on the map), and I’d love for you to stop by, chat, and get some great reads. Just click here to learn more and get your ticket!

Also, for any authors who are attending the Realm Makers Writers Conference and want some extremely sane, chill advice about thriving at writers conferences (even if you’re overwhelmed, neurodivergent, introverted, or just plain tired), check out this video I made last year.

Aaaand…now onto those three absurdly normal things you need to do like, yesterday. Assuming you have a time-travel device. And if you don’t, friend, we need to work on that shopping list, amiright?

Seriously, these are ridiculously “that makes sense” bits of guidance that often, reliably, I forget to do as an author, and then have to double back and fix later. So I’m passing them on to you!

To Save Time:
1.) Label your digital documents in a way that makes sense to your brain - aka, you can look at it and go “oh yeah, I know what that is.”

I did warn you that these would be absurdly normal, didn’t I? When I’m in that perfect magical headspace of organization, I’m careful to title/label docs so that I can actually find them later (or easily search for them). But when I’m in a rush, excited about an idea, or just tired of being on draft 510,000th of a new story intro, Present Janeen can get lazy. Present Janeen thinks that labeling documents in a sane, sensible way is for lame people. Present Janeen is tired.

Then Future Janeen goes “what the CRAP, woman? Where is this file? What on earth did I name it?”

Be kind to your Future Self. Take twenty extra seconds and label the file/document with a name that makes sense.

To Save Money:
2.) Take photos of your receipts for later reimbursement. I mean it. If you have a receipt from shipping books or buying a new author resource to learn a new skill or whatever, just take a picture of it right now. I’ll still be here.

You can also get a free app like Expensify to upload and track your expenses. But if you want something absolutely basic, just take the photo and email it to yourself. Tada! Now you have it saved as a business expense and you can download it, save it to a folder, and/or input it to a spreadsheet later on. Receipt paper gets blurry and messy really quick, friends.

One other thing I do is select the “email receipt” option when possible. It takes a little more time to type in my email address, but then I have the proof of purchase already in my inbox.

To Give Breathing Space:
3.) Take the extra snack bar/blanket/pillow/neck massager or what-have-you so that you can cope with life craziness at author events & conferences.

Look, it used to be a point of pride for me to pack as light as possible. Yes, even when I knew I had all kinds of chronic conditions and sensory issues. For some reason, I wanted to look normal, blend in, “be professional”, and all of that. Now I know better.

Being professional doesn’t mean ignoring what your own body needs to thrive and do well - even if it feels like you’re surrounded by people who just seem to effortlessly plow through life.

Nowadays, I still pack as light as I can, especially because I often carpool with a friend (and cart along my many, many books). But I also include extra, unobtrusive snacks (blood sugar crashes are no joke), a travel weighted blanket (so I can sleep well at night), and yes, a small neck massager (my body likes to store ALL the tension in my neck and helpfully turn that tension into migraines - no thanks!).

What’s one of your absurdly normal tips or tricks to create Author Margins - get more time, money, and breathing space?

Share in a comment - OR tell me in person at the Realm Makers Expo!