Ep 53: Book Launch Jitters and Joy

In today's episode we are talking about rest, and how to deliberately let go of ‘being busy’ and give ourselves a break. We talk about some of the reasons we keep ourselves busy, and share our favorite ways to rest and refresh. We’re indulging in a twenty-minute nap, reading a good book, spending time in nature, or sometimes just giving ourselves permission to be. We agree that we all deserve a break – and so do you! Download and listen to hear what’s working for us – and then drop us a note and let us know where you stand (or lie!) on the subject of resting. Leave a comment, or email us at [email protected]. Find us on socials:@[email protected]

Maddie Dawson spills her jitters and joy around the upcoming launch of Set Your Life On Fire—and the whole wide range of complicated emotions that authors feel about sending a new book out into the world. The three of us trade strategiesfor staying on the joy side of the book launch process, share some laughs, and celebrate the release of Set Your Life on Fire in advance. We are excited about Maddie’s book, and we think you will be too. Did we mention that it’s called Set Your Life on Fire? It releases on November 10th, and you can find out more about it here. We’d love to hear your launch stories about books or other creative projects, and we’re also open to any good booger tales if you have them. You can email us at [email protected]. Track us down on Instagram here:@[email protected]@jennifermoorman

Today we’re getting rid of all of the boxes and embracing our bad-ass writer selves—and our books—for the weird and wonderful creations that they are. This episode is mostly about the books we love to read and write, but also about leaning intowho we are as humans instead of playing it safe and trying to fit in. The quote Kerry referenced but couldn’t remember about boldness is this: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” — Goethe.What bold step might you take today toward one of your dreams? We''re cheering you on!

Maddie starts us off talking about 'The Science of WellBeing', a popular course designed by Professor Laurie Santos that was originally offered at Yale and is now free to anybody online through Coursera (see link below). From there we launch off on a number of tangents, including changing your Happiness Set Point, what to do when we feel like maybe we shouldn’t be happy, how to handle the contagion of negativity and more. We mention a number of resources and here are the promised links:Check out The Science of Well Being here: https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being/Check out Marci Shimoff’s Living in the Miracle Zone podcast,full of interviews with positive people here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCmNObyOx_1ADDQ1u4Rl93WjFqMiDvNC0&si=MQKbr8pWOtCoQDBN or take a look at her book, Happy For No Reason here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/happy-for-no-reason-7-steps-to-being-happy-from-the-inside-out-carol-kline/497a5b2aa46b219e?ean=9781416547730The other book Kerry mentions is The Happiness Advantageby Shawn Achor: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-happiness-advantage-how-a-positive-brain-fuels-success-in-work-and-life-shawn-achor/fc502babc59db48a?ean=9780307591555As always - we'd love to hear from you! Drop us an email at [email protected] or find us on Instagram:@maddiedaws@[email protected]

Book lovers, both readers and writers, this one is for you! Don’t you just love a perfect title? We’re swapping stories about our most magical titles and the fun, surprising, and sometimes mysterious places they came from!Listen in, and then tell us about your favorite book titles in the comments! Or email us at mailto:[email protected]. You can check out our books and titles on our websites:https://www.jennifermoorman.com/bookshttps://maddiedawson.com/books/https://allthingskerry.com/bookshelf

Have you done any of these things?A)   Hide a book you wanted to read inside your math or history textbook? B)   Read while walking down the street? C)   Sneak a quick peek at your book a stoplight when you were driving a car? D)   Stay up way too late because you just had to know what was going to happen next? That’s the reading joy we’re claiming in this episode. So, if you’ve ever read a book out of a sense of obligation or that vague, guilty, feeling that it’s something you should do – this episode is for you! This is your permission slip to NOT finish that copy of Moby Dick that you’ve been working on for five years now. To skip over the next book on your TBR pile if you’re not feeling the love. To pick the book  you’re excited about instead of the big important book everyone else is reading if you’re just really not into it. Life is short – read what you love. Download and listen today, then drop us an email at [email protected], or find us on Instagram and tell us what you’re loving right now:@all.things.kerry@maddiedawsJennifermoorman

We get it. We’ve all been laughed at for being too woo woo,so sometimes we hide our magical selves away from people who might not understand. But in this episode, we’re all in with sharing our favorite woo woo practices. From writing down what we want as if it’s already done, to believingthat everything we need (and maybe even the universe) lives inside of us, to secret fireside gatherings of magical mystical women—we’re done hiding.Maddie’s book that we mentioned (after we finally rememberedthe name of it!) is Snap Out of It, in which lovable main character Billie is the Heartbreak Bunny, an on-call performance artistwho can heal anyone who’s been burned by that four-letter word, LOVE, by hopping about and whisking away sad mementos from their past relationships. It’s a Maddie book, so of course there is magic and healing and all the good feels. Download and listen today – and then tell us how you feel about woo woo and share any of your practices with us. Drop us an email at [email protected], or find us on Instagram:@all.things.kerry@maddiedaws@jennifermoorman

We asked debut author Jacqueline Pennewill (nickname HappyWanderer) to tell us her One Happy Thing—which not surprisingly turned into all of us talking about a whole lot of happy things. Jacqueline started us off with a heartwarming story about her son, and from there we traded stories aboutkids, writing, and fur babies. You can find out more about Jacqueline's YA novel, THE BOOK OF ETERNITY(and find buy links!!) on Jacqueline’s website here: https://jacquelinepennewill.com/book/the-book-of-eternity/About Jacqueline Pennewill:When Jacqueline was little, her parents gave her the nickname "Happy Wanderer" because as soon as she began walking, she frequently and happily wandered off by herself. That became a problem for her parents-but not for Jacqueline. In fact, she's stillhappiest when she's wandering, especially in her imagination. She flies with angels, swims with dolphins, and rides dragons through magical forests, with her puppy, Shadow, a black Shi Tzu, at her side. Jacqueline is forever grateful that her parents encouraged her imagination. She attended the School of VisualArts and has a background in writing and filmmaking. Her screenplay, "And Then She Was Gone," was made into an award-winning short film. She also played Lillian on HBO's Boardwalk Empire where she won a SAG Award for Best Ensemble Cast.Thanks for listening!

Join us for a deeply felt (and sometimes passionate) conversation that starts out about writing and publishing but ventures into art of all kinds—including the art of creating the life that you want to live. We explore the question of how we can stay true to our own creative vision in a world that often tells us we should do it differently. Whether it's 'writing to the market', painting according to a trend, or really doing anything the way somebody else thinks you should do it, we’re all about holding true to the stories we love to write. As always, we'd love to hear your experiences and thoughts with this.Find us on Instagram:@jennifermoorman@[email protected] check out our websites (and maybe sign up for those fun, creative newsletters we mentioned!)www.jennifermoorman.comwww.maddiedawson.comwww.allthingskerry.com

Is your 'To Do' list always longer than your 'To Done' list? Do youtend to fall into a spiral of beating yourself up for not having done enough, or for not being farther along your chosen path? Are you beset by gremlin attacks of ‘the shoulds’ (or ‘the should-haves’)? Do you have difficulty resting, or taking time off, even when you’ve been working hard? Welcome to the Super Slacker Club! The three of us are rightthere with you, and in this episode we’re sharing our own over-achiever tendencies, along with some of the solutions and reframes that help us relax into the truth that we’ve actually done a lot. Maybe even enough.As always, we’d love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected], or find us at our websites:www.allthingskerry.comwww.maddiedawsonwww.jennifermoorman.comOr connect with us on Instagram:@all.things.kerry@maddiedaws@jennifermoorman