You might be thinking is it normal for it to take two years to write and revise a book? And honestly, it depends on so many things. I've known writers who have blasted through a draft in three to six months. I've known writers who do it in one year, two years, three years. There's no right answer, but I will say that two years is not uncommon, especially when you're not writing full time. Right? Most of us have day jobs, we have family commitments and other things that compete with our writing time.

Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast. My name is Savannah Gilbo and I'm here to help you write a story that works. I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be overwhelming. So each week, I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable and step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right away. So, whether you're brand new to writing or more of a seasoned author looking to improve your craft, this podcast is for you. So pick up a pen and let's get started.

In today's episode, I'm taking you behind the scenes with me throughout my entire work week. I'm going to share what I'm working on, what big projects I'm focused on right now and basically anything that happens during the week, including any fun or interesting insights that come up as I work with other writers. If you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you know I've done a few episodes like this throughout the last couple years and they continue to be some of your favorite episodes. So I thought I would do one more before we wrap up 2024, so you can see what I'm working on and what's going on in my world at the end of the year. So that's what this episode is all about and, without further ado, let's dive right in.

All right, it's Monday morning and I'm recording this first update with all three dogs in the background, so forgive us if you hear any strange noises, but today is the one day a week I set aside to do business-related tasks for the entire day. A lot of times, these tasks are honestly kind of boring. So things like recording stats on various things. The podcast downloads email subscribers, things like that. I spend a lot of time answering emails and doing all kinds of admin type work, so if I'm speaking somewhere, usually there's stuff to fill out or files I need to share with the host of the event, things like that. Other times I will be creating slide decks for those kind of presentations, or sometimes I write podcast scripts. Usually it's a lot of little things that I need to do or things that I just need to do on my own, so it's usually not very exciting. However, today I am actually doing something really exciting, and that is I'm getting ready to record the audiobook version of the Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. So, yes, we are getting an audiobook and, yes, I am recording the whole thing myself. So I will be sure to let you know how that goes and I will probably do a whole podcast episode about what that process was like and things like that.

But for today, I just need to find someone to edit the audio files and get them all ready to publish on Audible. I've already done a lot of the research and I've found a few people who have given me price quotes and timeline quotes and things like that. So I just need to pick one and make that decision today. And then I also need to make a plan for when and how I'm going to record. So I need to map out exactly how long I think it'll take, when I need to have it done by to. You know, send it to the editor, give them enough time to get it back to me and then have a little wiggle room in case any other edits are needed all so that I can publish on the day that I want to publish it. So I need to get all that locked in today so I can actually start recording. And luckily I can record in my home office where I normally record the podcast. So that is all fantastic.

But one thing I know about myself is that I can't record more than a few hours per day without losing my voice. So I need to consider all of the recording and the talking I need to do in general. So recording for the podcast I need to do in general. So recording for the podcast, recording or doing any live presentations I need to do or any client calls or business calls that I have, and I'm also going to rerecord my notes to novel course before the new year as well. So it's not just about recording the audio book, it's looking at my entire schedule and considering all of the other things that I'm going to need good vocals for as well, which might sound like kind of a lot, and on one hand, it is a lot of stuff, but on the other hand I just need to map it all out and then it will be fine. So when I say I need to make a plan for the audiobook, it's a little more involved than just sitting down and mapping out like how long this is going to take me to record. It's all the other stuff that happens around recording for the audiobook that could cause problems and it's just going to take some massaging. So I need to figure that all out today, which I'm confident I can do Now.

I also mentioned I'm re-recording my notes to novel course and the reason I'm doing this is because every year or so I like to update what's in the program so that my students are always getting the most up-to-date strategies and techniques and things that are working for authors right now. And the more students that go through the course, the more I get to see patterns in what works, what doesn't work, where people are getting stuck, you know things like that. So when I do rerecord I can tweak how I'm teaching things to help my students get better results. So that's really why I'm rerecording, and if you're listening to this and you're a Notes Novel alumni, you will be getting free access to all the updates, so stay tuned for more information on that Past. Students always get free access to the updates, which is pretty cool. So as I work on the audiobook recording plan and schedule, I also need to be mindful of massaging that with my plan for re-recording the course before we reopen enrollment in January. So that's what I'm doing today, and I will be back later with a Monday evening update to let you know how it goes.

Okay, so it's Monday evening now and I'm happy to report that I think I sorted out a plan for recording the audiobook and re-recording the notes to novel course and I feel pretty good about it for now. I also chose an audio editor and secured my spot in their calendar. All good there as well, and, like I said earlier, I'm going to keep track of the process and do a full episode on what it was like to record the audiobook. You know where I had struggles, what worked well, what I wish. I did different things like that so that I can share them with you. And if you are ever going to record an audiobook someday, then hopefully you can learn from my experience and whatever mistakes I made, because I'm sure there will be some. I've never recorded an audio book before, so I'm pretty excited to see how it goes. I'm sure it's going to be kind of a fun challenge. So all of that's great.

I did the things I wanted to do. Now. The other thing I did today is I sent out a survey to all of my newsletter subscribers so that I could get a better sense of what they need and want, help with what kind of podcast episodes they want to hear in 2025, and things like that. I typically do surveys like these about once a year, and it's always really fun to see you know how things change or don't change. So I'm going to gather all those insights and I'll share some things with you that I learned on Friday.

But that's kind of it for me. I need to go walk the dogs and feed them dinner, so I'm going to let you go for now, and I will be back tomorrow morning with a Tuesday update. Hello, hello. I am back for a Tuesday morning update and this may surprise you, but I am going to be in business planning mode all day today and, as weird as this sounds, this is my favorite time of year to plan what I want my business to look like in the next year. So I'm going to sit down with a calendar and all the notes I've been keeping over the last 10 to 12 months and map out what I want 2025 to look like, and I'm really excited because I love doing this kind of stuff and I have some really cool things planned for 2025.

So not only will the audio version of the Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone come out, we will also be releasing the book version of the Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, so that's really exciting. We'll have more information for you on that soon. We're also going to start drafting the analysis guide to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. So full steam ahead there, and I am really excited about that. I also already know I'm going to open enrollment for another live round of notes to novel in January and then sometime in the fall. So mark your calendars if you've been looking forward to that.

I have some speaking engagements lined up already, which I know probably sounds crazy, but in reality, we all have to plan ahead or things just don't work out. So I do have some of those lined up and basically what I'm going to do today is I'm going to map out things on calendar pages. So I literally print out 12 pages, one for each month, and I just start mapping things out to see where I might have overlap, where I might have a lot of white space, where I might want to take time off, and then I kind of just let myself dream a bit about what I want to do, what I might want to change, and for me it's just a lot of fun. So that's what I've set aside the entire day for today, and I will be back later on to let you know how things went. Okay, it's Tuesday, late afternoon, slash early evening now, and I made some good progress on my plans for 2025 today. I'm not totally done, but I've got enough down where I can step away and let things marinate for a bit. It also helped to scratch the itch I've been feeling about wanting to sit down and capture some of my big ideas and some of my plans for the new year. So I feel a bit relieved to have finally spent some time looking forward and planning, which, again, I really love to do. So it was a fun day, but other than that, there's not really a whole lot to share about the day. It was a really quiet day, but I got a lot done and I feel good about where things are headed. So I think I will just end the update there. I have a lot more to share with you tomorrow, so I will talk to you in the morning for a Wednesday morning update. Hello and good morning.

It's Wednesday now and I have two calls with writers today who are in the line editing phase, and I thought it would be interesting to share the timeline of how long it took these writers to outline and write their books and a little bit about what they're going through in the line editing phase, Because who doesn't love a peek behind the scenes, right? I also think it's kind of interesting because these writers are writing totally different stories, so one's a romance and one is science fiction and I started working with both writers around the same time I actually think it was in the exact same week and now they're both in the line editing phase at the same time. So this is interesting, right. It doesn't always happen like this. In the past I might have started working with two different writers in the same week, but then life happens. One might go slower or faster. One might have a book they're publishing while they write the next one. You know things like that. So it's been kind of fun for me to see both of these writers track with each other as they went through the whole process. So I just want to run through a quick timeline of what each of their journeys looked like and give you kind of a realistic look behind the scenes of how long things take.

So the first writer who is writing science fiction she and I started working together at the end of July or in the beginning of early August 2022. And when I met her, she had a finished draft and I did a developmental edit for her before we engaged in the one-on-one coaching and she was able to use a lot of that initial draft as the baseline for what we worked on together. But there was also a lot to rewrite and develop as well. So, yes, on one hand, she had a finished draft before we started working together, but on the other hand, it was kind of like starting from scratch because we had to do some pretty major things like develop the antagonist, flesh out the conflict in the middle of the story and things like that. So in those two years it was writing and revising in different phases. We even re-outlined her entire book before digging into the rewrites, because there were so many structural changes needed after we developed her antagonist and his role in the conflict and things like that. So this makes me wonder and it's interesting from my perspective because I'm thinking would it have taken her significantly longer than two years to write and revise her book if she was truly starting from scratch? So if she didn't have that initial draft that we used as a baseline? And my gut really says no, I think sometimes it's just as hard to dismantle a draft that needs to be rewritten as it is to start from complete scratch. So I think, either way, she could have written and revised that book in that two-year period. And, like I said, she sent her book to a line editor in October and is now working through those line edits, which has been kind of fun.

Now, writer number two, I started working with her at the same time, so the end of July, early August in 2022. And this is the writer who's writing romance. So, coincidentally, when I started working with her, she also had a finished draft, but I did not do a developmental edit on that draft. So when we started working together, this writer told me that she knew something wasn't working with her story and she basically wanted to dismantle it and build it back up so that it worked. So she loved her characters and her idea, but she didn't like where that first draft had landed. So what we did is we took her idea.

We fleshed out a few foundational things, in this case mainly some plot elements and both of her lead characters' backstories. But she had a lot of fun ideas for her characters' personalities and how they became the way they were. So in this case it was kind of more like streamlining her ideas or getting rid of things that maybe were fun but didn't really do anything for the bigger story other than maybe cause some potential confusion. So we did that. We worked on the foundation for a while. We created a scene by scene outline which took about two months, and then we really fleshed things out in that outline and pressure tested it to smooth out plot holes, make sure character arcs were clear and things like that.

So we did a lot of deep work on the foundation and the outline of her story and then, as she wrote her revised draft, we would pause every now and then and we would go back to the outline, make sure any changes we made in the actual draft were reflected in the outline and things like that. So, for example, let's say she got to the end of act one, we would pause and go back to the outline and say did anything big change while you were writing Act 1? And if it did, how can we update that going forward so that your draft is kind of always showing the most up-to-date version of your idea? So, overall for this writer, she just sent her draft to the line editor in October as well and she's also working through line edits.

So what's really cool for me to see not only is it just fun, you know, to see these two writers' different timelines that coincidentally unfolded in the same way. At the same time, it's fun to see the line edit notes they got back because they both did so much hard, deep work on making sure the foundational elements of their story worked, making sure their outlines were as tight and fleshed out as they possibly could be. Again, you know we're not going to know everything in the outlining stage, but there's a lot we can do to almost use that outline as our first draft, our discovery draft, and then, you know, fix plot holes, character arcs, things like that. So these two writers did so much of that work and they spent so much time doing this hard work that the line edit notes they got were really actionable and really focused on what a line edit should be. So it wasn't like there were a lot of big plot holes or a lot of things that the line editor was like this doesn't make sense. There wasn't a lot of that. There were little things here and there, but it was mostly like this story works.

It's great. Now let's try to, you know, look at your sentences and your paragraphs and make it even better. So I hope that's interesting to hear, because I don't know. It's fascinating for me to just kind of compare and contrast. You might be thinking is it normal for it to take two years to write and revise a book? And honestly, it depends on so many things. I've known writers who have blasted through a draft in three to six months. I've known writers who do it in one year, two years, three years. There's no right answer, but I will say that two years is not uncommon, especially when you're not writing full time, right? Most of us have day jobs, we have family commitments and other things that compete with our writing time. So I really wanted to share this because I think it's important to see what the process looks like for real writers. So I hope it was interesting and helpful for you to hear as well.

When I come back at the end of the day for my update, I will let you know what else happened today. But, like I said, I have those two calls and I'm just gonna do some other random things as I have time for them. So I'll let you know what those things are later, and bye for now. Okay, so it's Wednesday evening now and my two calls went really well. Both writers are plugging away at their line edits and making progress. They're also working on lining up cover designers and making some decisions about how to actually produce their books and things like that. So all good there, very happy to see their progress.

Other than that, I did some editing for the StoryGrid Masterwork Analysis Guide of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. So for this one, abigail is doing the writing and I am doing the editing, which is a reverse of what we did for the first Harry Potter book analysis, and it's kind of fun being on the other side of the equation this time. In some ways it's really not that different, because Abigail and I worked very closely on book one and we're working very closely on book two together. But in other ways it's kind of like it's less pressure because, as the writer, abigail owns the final decision on everything. So it's fun for me to be able to support her and talk through things when she needs a second opinion, offer my agreement on things or a different perspective if I have one. All of that's really fun, and it's what she did for me when I was writing the Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. So I'm just doing my best to be a great editor for her, like she was a great editor for me, and I'm really proud of how this one's turning out.

I think it's going to be really fun for you to see our take on how JK Rowling did things like raising the stakes from book one, continuing Harry's character arc, introducing new characters and more of the world and things like that. So stay tuned. We will have more updates on this soon, but if you're already like I can't wait, tell me when it's out. Then you can go sign up for the waitlist at savannahgilbocom forward slash HP and we'll send you all the info as soon as we have it available. And also a shameless favor, ask, if you don't mind, if you did read the Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and if you enjoyed it, would you please go leave us a review on Amazon? We read every single one of these reviews and it's been really helpful to see what you liked, what you wanted more of and things like that. We're taking all of that into consideration as we work on book two. And if you do, go leave a review. Thank you in advance. So that's a large part of what I did today. I think I'm going to officially sign off for the night and I will be back tomorrow with a Thursday morning update.

Good morning, it's Thursday and it's Halloween today, so I am recording this update on Halloween and I'm recording it a little bit later than normal because I woke up, had some coffee and just kind of started working on accident, even though I meant to record this before I started working. So this morning, what I've done so far is I wrote my November peak behind the scenes newsletter, which, if you're on my email list, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about, but if you're not, basically this is a newsletter that I send out once a month to give my subscribers a peek inside my world, so kind of like what I'm doing on this podcast. I talk about what I'm working on, what's coming up on the podcast where I'm speaking at, or if I'm running any kind of live event in the coming months or things like that. But as I was putting together the newsletter this morning, I realized that four of the authors I've worked with are publishing their books this month. So not only is it a fun day because it's Halloween, but it's a fun month because four of the authors I've worked with are publishing their books. So I just wanted to give a quick shout out to these four authors.

Two of them you've heard on the podcast before. Jennifer Lauer published her second book this month. It's called Start Somewhere. It's the first book in the Strange Chronicles series. Stephanie Medrick you've heard her on the podcast before as well. She published her debut novel called Into the Fire. Margaret Mantor published her debut as well. It's called Air and Ashes. And then, finally, angela Haas published the second novel in her Keepers of the Universe series, and this one's called Seconds to Oblivion. So I wanted to give these four writers a shout out and just say congratulations, I'm so excited that your books are out in the world and I can't wait to see how readers react to them. So congratulations to Jennifer, stephanie, margaret and Angela.

Now, as far as the rest of the day goes, I have two calls that I'm looking forward to. The first one is with my Notes to Novel students, so this is the last coaching call they have with me before the program wraps up. We've been doing these calls once a week for eight weeks and it's been really, really fun to watch everyone's progress as they work on their books. And then I have a call with the writers in my membership. So we're doing an office hours call, which we do twice a month, and essentially this is group coaching. It's a group Q&A where writers can ask me questions, we can brainstorm things. Sometimes they submit pages for me to go over and I do that and I give them feedback, things like that, and these calls are always a lot of fun. So I'm off to do both of those now and I'll be back later to give a little update and let you know how things went.

Okay, so it's Thursday afternoon now and I'm doing my end of day update a little earlier than normal because on days where I have a lot of video calls I tend to want to go back into my introvert cave as soon as I possibly can. So since I'm already at my desk, I thought I would just record a quick update, let you know how the calls went, and then I'm going to get off technology and start reading a draft that I'm doing a developmental edit on which I am very excited about. So, as I mentioned earlier, today was the last group coaching call in my Notes to Novel course. We've spent eight weeks together and it's been really fun to see everyone take their ideas, turn them into outlines and then actually start writing. I love seeing stories develop so much and I love seeing writers confidence build week after week and I like seeing people make connections in the group and things like that. It just lights me up and I love it so much. So we had our last call today and on one hand it's always sad and bittersweet to wrap things up, but at the same time it's a great thing to kind of take the training wheels off and have everyone go off on their own to write their books.

The goal is always that my Notes to Novel students leave the course with everything they need to write a really solid first draft and they've spent the last eight weeks building out the foundation of their stories so plot, character, key genre elements, things like that. And then they've taken all that foundational work and they've turned it into a working outline and then they pressure tested that outline to catch any obvious plot holes or inconsistencies in character or whatever it might be. And if they do the work that's recommended in the course, they walk away with that. So a working outline that's pressure tested and a log line and a synopsis that are kind of those high level summaries of their stories. So we spend a lot of time looking at these things together. In the first few weeks we work on the log line and the synopsis to really get that big picture story down, especially as they develop those foundational elements like plot and character and things like that. And then they take that and turn it into a scene by scene outline and we work on that together as well. So it's been a lot of fun to see.

I never get tired of watching stories develop or writers grow in confidence, and so, yes, on one hand it's bittersweet, it's our last group coaching call, but I'm happy to see them also graduate the program and go off and write their stories as well. So in the last call we had today we talked a lot about what to do if you get stuck. We talked about how most of the writers I've worked with tend to feel negative emotions or they straight up dislike their stories at certain points in the process. So usually this happens when they finish outlining or writing one of the acts in their story, so like act one or something. Other times it happens when they finish an entire outline or when they finish an entire draft, so usually it's like at the end of a section, at the end of a draft. These are all common places I see writers fall into that self-doubt, that imposter syndrome, that perfectionism, things like that. And I just reminded everyone in the call today that if this happens it's totally normal and to just keep moving forward. So if you're listening and you happen to be in that kind of rut right now, then hopefully that was just the message you needed to hear today. But yeah, a big congratulations to all of my Notes to Novel season students. You made it to the finish line and I could not be more proud of all the progress you've made over the last eight weeks, so very excited for you and I hope that in a future, one of these Week in the Life episodes I can be talking about how your book came out. I would just love that so much.

Now, the other call I had today. This was the writers in my Story Lab membership. So these are all writers who have gone through the Notes Novel course and who want ongoing support and feedback from me. So today we had a group coaching slash Q&A call and we actually did a lot of outlined workshopping. So a few writers submitted sections of their outlines either parts they were stuck on or full sections like Act 1 or Act 2, things like that and then I put them on screen and I walk everyone through my thoughts and or how I would tweak certain things and why. So that was really fun and it's always helpful for everyone to see not only how people are approaching their outlines or thinking about their stories, but also how I would approach things or tweak things as a developmental editor. So that's what I had today. I had two big calls with two different groups of writers.

I had a lot of little things to catch up on as well, like writing that monthly newsletter, doing a lot of little tasks involved with the podcast but nothing exciting and, of course, answering emails and going through the inbox, which, unfortunately, is a little backed up at the moment. And, like I said earlier, I'm signing off computer related stuff a bit earlier than normal today because all my introvert heart wants to do is just sit on the couch with my dogs and read. So that's what I'll be doing and luckily I get to do that for a living. So I'll be reading a draft that I'm doing a developmental edit on and I'm super excited to dig into that. So that's my Thursday update. I will be back with another update tomorrow, so I will talk to you then. Hello, hello, happy Friday. I have what I think is a fun update for you today.

So I mentioned on Monday that I surveyed my email newsletter subscribers to get a sense of where people are at in the writing, editing and publishing process, to see what kinds of books people are writing, to hear what topics people want me to cover on the podcast and things like that, and I wanted to share some of the results with you because I think they're really interesting and also because I want to show you what I do with this information. So, after going through all the information, all the results, I learned a few key things, and one of them was that 50% of the people who were polled identified as beginners, while 45% identify as intermediate writers and only about 5% identify as experts, which all of this makes total sense to me and is very in line with previous polls that I've done. The second thing I learned is that, out of everyone polled, 85% of people have either started writing a novel and are somewhere in the middle of their draft, or they know they want to write a novel, but they haven't officially started writing yet, and this number makes sense to me, too. But I thought you might like to hear that you're in good company if you're also working on your first book or looking forward to starting your first book Now. I also asked what's the hardest part about writing a book so far, and 20% of people said it's developing the pieces of their idea into something that can support a full-length novel, and 30% said it's just getting to the end of their draft. So this information is gold to me, because it helps me prioritize what kind of episodes I create in 2025, what kind of resources to create, based on what you need and things like that. I also learned that 30% of listeners are writing fantasy, while 20% are writing romance. And then the next biggest chunk there was a tie between mystery crime, thrillers and sci-fi. So I just think this is so cool and it helps me prioritize what kind of you know guest experts I'll bring on the podcast, what kind of books and movies to do deep dives into, and things like that.

And speaking of types of episodes, I thought it was really interesting that out of those pulled, most people said they really liked the solo episodes where it's just me talking. But there was definitely an ask for more of the first chapter episodes. So Abigail and I are going to bring those back in 2025. And, to be honest, these episodes kind of just fell off our radar on accident because we've been working so hard on the Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which we published earlier this year, and then the Analysis Guide to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which we published earlier this year, and then the analysis guide to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which will be coming out early 2025. So they really just fell off our radar on accident and we actually love doing those episodes, so knowing that people enjoy them as much as we love doing them, that helps us prioritize them again and get them back into our workflow. So I just really thought this survey was fascinating. There was a lot that hasn't changed from previous year's surveys, but there was a lot that was different and interesting as well. I really liked reading all the responses and the kind words people sent in. I read through every single response and I'm so thankful to all of those who took the time to participate in the survey and share their thoughts. So if that was you, thank you so much. I really do appreciate it.

Now, what am I doing the rest of the day? Well, I have a few things on my list. So one is that I'm going to do some more editing on Abigail's draft of the Story Grade Masterwork Analysis Guide to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and then I'm going to finish reading the draft that I'm doing a developmental edit on that. I started earlier in the week, so I can't remember if that was yesterday or Wednesday, but I need to finish reading that. So it's a pretty fun Friday if you ask me, and I will come back later to share a quick Friday evening update, so I will talk to you then to let you know how it all went.

Okay, it's Friday afternoon and I don't have much else to report, other than that I didn't get to do any of the edits on Abigail's draft for the StoryGrid Masterwork Analysis Guide to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, mostly because I just ran out of steam and that happens sometimes, right? Luckily, abigail is not necessarily waiting on my feedback, so I can get to that this weekend or early next week, depending on how things go. But other than that, I am very ready for the weekend and I have no big plans this weekend. I mostly just want to relax and spend some time at home, maybe finish one of the books I'm currently reading and basically just keep things really, really mellow. I need a relaxing weekend, so I'm looking forward to that.

And to kick off the weekend, my dogs and I are going to be in the kitchen making dog food. So if you've heard any of these behind the scenes episodes before, you know that I home make my dog's food following a recipe from a company called Just Food for Dogs, and all three of my dogs are super obsessed with it. This week we're going to make the turkey that's called beef and russet potatoes. So basically, imagine it's like a stew but for dogs. So it's all human grade food good quality beef, good quality vegetables and things like that. And then the dogs, of course, get a dog specific nutrient blend added in and some fish oil and things like that. So we want to make sure they get all their vitamins and minerals. So, yeah, my dogs really love it, no matter which flavor I make.

It's really not that hard to cook. It takes me about 30 minutes to make their food for the whole week and it's really funny because every time I mentioned making food for my dogs, I get so many messages asking for more information, which I love. I love that so many of you want to make your pets food as well. So if you want to check out what I do, I will put a link in the show notes or you can just go to savannahgilbocom forward slash food for dogs all one word food for dogs and takea. Look around on their website. You can buy pre-made frozen food, or you can do what I do, which is get the DIY recipe, the fish oil and the nutrient blend and then make your own dog food at home. So you'll need to buy groceries and have a way to cook it, but it's not as hard as it seems. So one more time if you're interested, you can go to savannagilbocom forward slash food for dogs all one word or click the link in the show notes to browse around and learn more about feeding your pet fresh, delicious food. They do also have food for cats, so cat lovers are welcome to check it out as well. So, anyway, that's what I'll be doing tonight to kick off my relaxing weekend, and that is the end of this Week in the Life episode.

I hope you enjoyed coming along for the ride this week. I know I had fun pulling back the curtain and giving you a peek behind the scenes. I got to share a lot that I don't typically talk about on the podcast, because I'm usually talking about more craft, specific things like how to write, edit and publish a book, and, yeah, it was just fun to share some of the things I don't get to talk about that much. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. So that's it for today's episode.

As always, thank you so much for tuning in and for showing your support. If you want to check out any of the links I mentioned in this episode. You can find them in the show notes listed in the description of each episode inside your podcast player or at savannahgilbocom forward slash podcast. If you're an Apple user, I'd really appreciate it if you took a few seconds to leave a rating and a review. Your ratings and reviews tell Apple that this is a podcast that's worth listening to and, in turn, your reviews will help this podcast get in front of more fiction writers just like you. And while you're there, go ahead and hit that follow button, because there's going to be another brand new episode next week, full of actionable tips, tools and strategies to help you become a better writer. So I'll see you next week and until then, happy writing.