Speaker 1: 0:55

My constant was always going back and editing, and that was not working for me.

Speaker 1: 0:59

Like going back and editing a couple of chapters and then only writing up to chapter six, like that. It just wasn't working. So when I started leaving those notes and doing those magical revisions or just saying like add in a fun scene here with these people because I just couldn't think of anything at the time and just keep moving, it's great. But as far as the creative process of the first draft, I find that so freeing to just be able to keep writing and just keep moving forward and if I want to make a change I'll pretend that I've made it and then just keep going with the story.

Speaker 2: 1:32

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.

Speaker 2: 2:01

In today's episode, I'm sitting down with one of my Notes to Novel students who spent 20 years yes, two full decades trying to write the same story. Her name is Gina Elizabeth, and she would get to chapter four, five or maybe six, and then she'd hit a wall. She'd go back to the drawing board, start over and repeat this process over and over again and I know that will sound uncomfortably familiar to some of you listeners. But here's where it gets really good. After discovering she'd been missing one crucial tool this entire time, gina not only finished her novel, but published two books in a single year. So today we're going to talk about what changed for Gina from the moment she realized outlining was actually an option for someone who'd always been more of a pantser, to the day she wrote 10,000 words in one day because she had so much momentum and literally could not stop writing. If you've ever felt stuck in an endless loop of starting and abandoning manuscripts, or if you're wondering whether you'll ever actually finish that novel that's been living in your head for years, this conversation is about to show you exactly what's possible when you have the right tools and the right framework.

Speaker 2: 3:07

But before we get into all the juicy details, I want to read you the back cover copy of Gina's novel Hunted, which is the first book in her Bonded in Blood series. Here's what it says shapeshifters have long been hunted by humans, facing imprisonment or death as retribution for the actions of the first Soul Shifter. For the past eight years, aslan and her shapeshifter brother Liam have concealed their identities in the safety of Frenhill's small town. But when the king's oppressive reign sparks revolt, they must call upon the Shifter resistance for aid, igniting a conflict that will change the face of Alembria forever. Amidst the turmoil, aslan reunites with a long-lost ally and saves a mysterious Shifter, stirring up emotions she can't seem to ignore. As Aslan navigates betrayal and desire, she must also confront the shadows of her past and the looming threat of the King's forces. With Alembria's fate hanging in the balance, aslan must find the courage to embrace her dark powers and decide where her loyalties lie before it's too late.

Speaker 2: 4:27

Alright, so that is the back cover copy of Gina's novel called Hunted. We are also going to discuss her prequel novella called Hide, which I will link to in the show notes. Alright, so grab your favorite beverage, settle in and let's dive right into my conversation with Gina Elizabeth.

Speaker 1: 4:44

My name is Gina. I am a new indie romanticist author. I'm also a manager of a locally used bookstore. I'm a dog mom, a cat mom and a military spouse.

Speaker 2: 4:55

So we're here today to kind of talk about two different things. One is your novella that came out in 2024, and the other is your novel that came out just earlier this year, in 2025. So, first of all, huge congratulations. That's two books. I know one's a novel, one's a novella, but two books in a year, that's amazing.

Speaker 1: 5:13

Thank you so much. Yeah, the novella really was written like very shortly after the novel and kind of a spur of the moment. Like you know what, I am going to write this um cut scene from the novel and I am going to publish it beforehand. So I kind of actually had to like push back the novel's publication.

Speaker 2: 5:31

But it was really good, which is so cool. I want to talk about that later, but I actually want to start us with the novel because, like you said, that came first right and then you decided to jump into the novella. So take me back to like the very first nugget of the idea that you had for your novel yeah.

Speaker 1: 5:48

So for the novel, I mean it's kind of a mixture, I would say. Like back when I was I don't know 12, 13, when I was a young lass, I had an idea, I had these characters in my mind and I always knew that I wanted to base my character Aslan off of. I was inspired by Tamora Pierce's Wild Magic and Dane. In that book she can speak to animals telepathically and I always found that super interesting because I love animals, and so that is kind of where it started. So that is kind of where it started. But then fast forward to really fully pursuing writing the novel in, like I think it was like 2021 or 2022. But that was just like I needed it to be more adult.

Speaker 1: 6:29

I was not 13 anymore. I wanted Aslan to be like in her younger 20s, but not necessarily coming of age, and so that's kind of where I really pursued the Notes to Novel course and tried to figure out like, what is the story now in her 20s? I've always struggled with trying to write the story, because I've attempted to write it over and over and over again and, yes, loosely she was based off of me in the beginning and now, like, definitely I pulled from my own personal experiences, but it was. It was hard trying to figure out like, what does this story look like now for her? And also I'm in my 30s now, but I was writing her as a 20 year old, so it's just a lot of a lot of trying to figure the story, the character, the evolution of it.

Speaker 2: 7:13

Yeah, and so what did that look like over the years, when you would kind of start and stop?

Speaker 1: 7:25

Was it always getting to the same sticking point or was it like every draft had a new sticking point or what was that like? Yeah, so I basically would write like a handful of chapters anywhere from like four to six, and really just not know where to go after that and was kind of pantsing my way through it and I didn't know those terms at the time like pantsing, plotter, planter. I identify as a planter. Now I definitely like to plot and then, like I'm working on book two currently. I plotted it out and I am like very much not sticking on track to where I've been with my outline and kind of just like I don't know.

Speaker 2: 7:59

It's a crazy world in a writer's brain, yeah, that's for sure, especially juggling more than one book to like spend your writing series. So I can imagine and I think that's pretty typical too it's like you start, you kind of fizzle out because you're having new ideas, you're trying to balance old ideas and you're trying to learn about how to write a novel, all those things, and like you have real life. You know you have real life, you know you have a job, you have fur kids, whether cats or canines, and like a husband, right, and you guys move a lot. So it makes total sense. I'm sure that felt a little bit frustrating and you probably had the self-doubt that we all have of like, well, who am I to think I can do this? Does that kind of sum up your emotional state at that point?

Speaker 1: 8:37

Yeah, you know, when the term imposter syndrome came out, I was like, oh yeah, that's me. Because every time we'd stop around you know chapter five or six I'd be like, well, ok, I don't know where to go after this. Or I would just see like so many different paths that the characters could take and I didn't know which one to choose. And then I would try and take one and I'd be like it's not quite right and I'd have to start over and over and over. And yeah, it was just, it was a lot.

Speaker 2: 9:04

Yeah, I think that's what a lot of non-writers don't realize, Cause I'll hear people say things like oh, how fun, you can literally make up anything, and it's like in theory yeah, but that's yeah, that's like really hard to deal with sometimes. Okay, so then we met in 2022, when you signed up for Notes to Novel, and I'm just curious you can tell me anything. You know that, gina. Did you have any hesitations or worries or anything before you signed up?

Speaker 1: 9:27

No. So I started listening to your podcast first and I recommended it to so many people. Like now that some writers are coming to me as well and asking, like how I got started, I'm like, yeah, I would recommend starting with the podcast. It's free, and then, you know, take the course if you can afford it. But I was really excited for it. Like I at that time I wasn't working, I lived in Korea and I had a lot of time on my hands, and so I told myself, if I have time, I'll pursue a writing career, and so that, like I just jumped in and yeah, yeah, that's funny.

Speaker 2: 10:01

So the stars aligned, you were like I'm doing it now, and so that was in 2022. And then, fast forward to 2025, your novel was published. So what happened in those three years?

Speaker 1: 10:09

Oh, so much so I it took me about. I would say like, well, after I took your notes, a novel course. It took me about four months to outline which wild concept plotting. That was a bit groundbreaking for me, that I could really kind of explore all of my ideas, and the first outline was just so silly. Like it was not good at all, so yeah.

Speaker 1: 10:35

Just stuff probably right, yeah, getting into that. So it took me four months to do the outline and then I started writing and I was really like up and down with trying to figure out like do I do, do I set a word count per day, or do I set like a time limit? And so that was kind of hard, trying to figure out what my routine was going to be. Yeah, it's fine now. It's just I just like to write every day and if it's a paragraph, it's a paragraph. If it's today, it was like almost 4000 words, like that's. You know for everyone.

Speaker 1: 11:09

At this point that I talked to, it's kind of like just do what works for you. If it's sprints, do sprints. If it's just writing, then just write. You don't have to have like a number goal for yourself.

Speaker 1: 11:25

So then I think it took me, oh man, six months to a year to like write the first draft. I really don't remember because there's been so many drafts since then, plus an overseas move and not only moving to Germany, then moving to a new house after you're like in a temporary area for a while. So, yeah, yeah, and then pretty much as I was getting through the editing process of Hunted and I think I was about to send it to my line and copy editor, I kept thinking about this backstory that I had initially wanted to write and include in the novel that you had gently but firmly recommend I not put in like an eight-year time jump in my novel, and I just couldn't stop thinking about it. I really wanted readers to experience that. So while I was sending hunted to my line and copy editor, it didn't take me that long because I already knew the story. I out the novella, I think in a week, and then I wrote it within two weeks. So it was awesome and then sent that off to my developmental editor.

Speaker 2: 12:24

So that's awesome, and so I want to highlight that for listeners, because sometimes people are like, oh, if I edit something, it's dead, and it's like no, it does not have to be dead. There are so many things you can do with it, whether it's a freebie for your email list or turning it into a novella, like Gina did. That's such a cool idea. And now, in hindsight, how do you feel about taking that out of the novel?

Speaker 1: 12:45

Oh yeah, I mean, when you recommended it I was like, oh my God, I really don't want that. I really want readers to experience this. But it hunted reads so much better without that eight year time jack. Because it was really like a weird percentage of my book was back when they were 13. And then it just randomly jumped and you're already like 20 percent through the book and it was just yeah, it was really weird. So I do lead by having it as its own separate entity now, and initially I had planned it to just be a lead magnet, but when I wrote it I was like this is way longer for a lead magnet.

Speaker 2: 13:19

I think this is and you loved it so much too. So it's like you know might as well put it out there, but I think that's awesome. So I'm glad you were able to repurpose that and I remember that conversation and I remember your face being like maybe, maybe I'll do that. I don't know, it's just so funny. Okay, so let's go back to like, because there's a few things that you said that are really interesting to me. One of them was you kind of embraced an outline, a version of that for you. So what if you can remember, like, what were you hesitant about when it came to outlining?

Speaker 1: 13:49

I don't know if I was hesitant as so much that I like I just didn't even know that was an option. I didn't do any research, I didn't really study writing. I think I took like one creative writing course in college and yeah, it was always just kind of like a passion, hobby on the side, um. But when I did start outlining, I think also it was just it's a lot of work, right, like yeah, we do have to deep dive, and it wasn't just like oh, I'm playing with my little Barbie dolls on my paper for making them do whatever kissy noises like.

Speaker 1: 14:21

It was really deep diving into the characters, their backstory, the plot, and I was just reading a book the other day that like there are two different types of writers. There are ones who really write plot based books and then ones who really write character based books, and I'm definitely a character based one and I think the outlining process was like it's harder for me because I don't really think about the plot. I let the characters drive the story. But it was so beneficial to really deep dive into what does the plot look like and how are the characters driving it, so that I could just make this well-rounded, hopefully, book.

Speaker 2: 14:56

Yeah, and I think ideally they both work together.

Speaker 1: 14:58

So I think it's like you said no-transcript because I'd been thinking about them for so long. But yeah, with some of my other characters I think it was just trying to figure out, like, who was going to be in my story. It wasn't necessarily building the characters that I found difficult, but like trying to build my cast and how they would be different and how they would be on page together. That was something I struggled with was like, if I have a huge cast, how am I supposed to like have them all together without it feeling overwhelming, and how do I tell everyone apart and you know who needs to help Ashlyn get to the end of this?

Speaker 2: 15:54

yeah, from like a character growth standpoint and a plot standpoint. So what was like? It give us a highlight of like how did you manage that large cast? What was one thing you did?

Speaker 1: 16:05

I think I remember talking to you or maybe it was one of the like Story Lab members but I was just basically asking questions of like okay, I have such a big cast, like how do I orchestrate all of them? And it was just simple. It was just like, oh, they could just say something here. And it was just simple. It was like, oh, they could just say something here. One, one piece of dialogue there. It really doesn't have to be too much, and it just gives you like a snippet of their personality, because in my brain so many other things are happening for them. But yeah, we're going to make it onto the page, and so that was. It's so simple, but it was just like mind blowing for me and because you have so much in your head, you're managing so much.

Speaker 2: 16:41

Yes, it sounds like you were like trying to create, or almost. The fix for you was knowing how and when to spotlight those characters versus I need to show everything at all times?

Speaker 1: 16:51

Yeah, absolutely, and I think that's true, like in my personal life, like I am just always over explaining. I've been told I'm an over communicator, and so I definitely see that within my work, too, of trying to figure out. Ok, I don't have to say every single thing, but I do need to show in very unique ways, like showcasing these people and spotlighting them and their personalities, to really have the reader see how different they are from each other.

Speaker 2: 17:17

Yeah, which I think is actually a great skill, because it's like you still were able to explain and get that information across, but you had to learn how to do it in a really creative, like concise way. So I think that's a great skill to have going forward. But OK, so then let's. You did like you know. I know the character work and the outlining work was kind of like we finally got us over the hill and now we're just writing. And you said that when you showed up to your desk, I heard you say something magical, which was that it wasn't really about like what to write every day. It was more how, what does my process look like? How am I going to show up and do stuff? What was that like?

Speaker 1: 17:50

Trying to figure out my process and my routine was difficult at first. I definitely in Korea, I didn't have, I had like a couch and I mean we have a very small department, so I had a couch in my laptop. I would sometimes go to the cafe and I created this routine of like, okay, cafe culture in Korea is so cute, so I would go to a cafe and I'd get a cafe. Yeah, I've been to like the zoo cafes as well. They're so fun. So, yeah, I would take my my stuff, I'd get my coffee and I would sit in there and I'd write for like at least an hour and that was. I love it.

Speaker 1: 18:35

I had already gotten to the point where I knew just writing, just write every day, and that'll be good for you. And then then I got into the editing process and then the routine changes. So it's just trying to adapt and see what works for for you and like I'm, you know, a new author. So now I'm getting back into my writing and I'm writing every day right now and trying to see how that looks, with like marketing as well and juggling everything. So we'll see what the routine looks like now as a published author while writing.

Speaker 2: 19:08

Yeah, I think the key is what you said, though being flexible and knowing that things can change, whether it's year over year or editing to writing or whatever. So I love that that's your approach, and the one thing that I think listeners are really going to pick up on is that you still haven't said I didn't know what to write. Every time I sat down, you knew what you were going to do. You just needed to find the process. So I know before you were saying like I'd get to chapter four or five or six and then I'd kind of stall. That's a big difference, right.

Speaker 1: 19:36

Right, right, right. And even even now, like I think I mentioned earlier, I'm have my outline for book two and I am kind of following it. But I'm also letting my characters kind of drive certain parts of the story and so it's really nice having an outline because I can just reference that and be like okay, I know that these are some points I wanted to hit, but it doesn't look like this exact scene. It looks like now because, based on what I wrote yesterday, maybe things changed and I just learned to adapt to wherever they take me.

Speaker 2: 20:06

Yeah, I love that and I think for the you know diehard pantsers or maybe even the plantsers, that kind of lean more on the I don't want to outline side, that is so key to just remain flexible in all things first of all. But when it comes to your outline, and are you keeping keeping your outline updated as you go, or are you just kind of saying it's a roadmap and I reference it as I go?

Speaker 1: 20:26

I do a little bit of both. So I like to add comments into my outline and I did like move a couple of scenes around recently. So I do definitely update my outline as I'm writing. I might not, as I get closer to the end, just because I get like a steamroll moment where I just I can't stop writing. I think the last day that I wrote the first draft of Hunted I wrote like 10,000 words in one day because it was the climax.

Speaker 1: 20:52

I was so excited and I'm also within my draft adding notes I think you call them magical revisions my draft adding notes. I think you call them magical revisions. And so I'll go back and I'll be thinking I already am not in love with the beginning of the story, but I'm just telling it to myself and it's my first time writing a second book in a series. So I'm trying to add in you know, all of the reminders from book one and I know there are things I'm just not hitting in this draft. So I'm going back and I'm adding comments like OK, I think here you need to add X, y, z, so I do TK rules as well.

Speaker 2: 21:26

Love it. So notes to future, gina, in your outline and I know that you said one of the other things in notes to novel was this or that helped you was this idea of writing forward. And I think, like probably some listeners out there, their minds are blown right now hearing you say I just leave myself notes and I keep going and you're so relaxed about it. Was it always that way or is that like a kind of a new behavior after you went through book one? Tell me about that.

Speaker 1: 21:50

You know, I actually adapted to it really easily because my constant was always going back and editing and that was not working for me.

Speaker 1: 21:58

Like going back and editing a couple of chapters and then only writing up to chapter six, like that. It just wasn't working. So when I started leaving those notes and doing those magical revisions or just saying like add, in a fun scene here with these people because I just couldn't think of anything at the time and just keep moving, it's great. But it's kind of like, um, then when you get done and you're going to edit, you didn't help yourself out a lot, but you helped yourself out a little. But as far as the creative process of the first draft, I find that so free to just be able to keep writing and just keep moving forward. And if I want to make a change I'll pretend, like you said, I'll pretend that I've made it and then just keep going with the story.

Speaker 2: 22:40

Yeah, and it's not the end of the world. I know a lot of people think like if I don't have it all figured out, it's going to be the end of the world, my story is going to fall apart, and it's like, no, usually that doesn't happen. I mean, in rare cases, sure, it could happen, but it usually doesn't happen. The further you go, usually you find out more and more and more, and so then you're able to answer those questions and plant the seeds and all those things in earlier scenes.

Speaker 1: 23:01

Yeah, and I also think it's probably one of the most efficient ways to write, and I really love efficiency, so it works for me too.

Speaker 2: 23:09

Yeah, and so, speaking of that, you said your outline took four weeks and then your draft took about six months to a year, right, the outline took about four months, at least the first month.

Speaker 1: 23:19

Ok, this for book two. It only took a month. But I also now am coming into this thinking like, ok, I know what's going to change. My very first kind was almost a zero draft, like I was basically writing skeletons of scenes and this was like I think you know these people are going to be here and you need to at least hit this like emotional point and that's what we need to hit here.

Speaker 2: 23:43

Yeah, I love that. So it's kind of like, as you pick up the tools and use them, you find different ways to use them, but similar ways to use them. But it gets easier to use a tool like an outline or whatever it is. So that's super exciting. So I like that. A. Your timeline in the beginning is pretty good and tight. I super exciting, so I like that. A. Your timeline in the beginning is pretty good and tight. I mean, a lot of people would love to outline in four months and then write their book in another six to 12 months. I think that's awesome. But now it's getting even tighter. So almost a quarter of the time you spent outlining book one was spent outlining book two, and we'll see what happens with your draft of book two. Yeah, that's pretty cool.

Speaker 1: 24:16

The only thing I haven't done and I think I rushed that outline a little bit just because I knew like camp naNoWriMo was coming up and I wanted to write for all of april book two there's so many new characters, so I have spent some days where I am literally just I'm building like a character spreadsheet at this point because there's too many to keep track of and I can't remember everybody's eye color at this point and I've made I pull, you know art from Pinterest. So I have a visual at this point and I have, like built these little family trees. It's awesome. I think I didn't do prior to drafting, but I'm kind of creating these characters and coming up with their names as I'm drafting and I just take an hour or two to kind of set myself up with what those characters look like and then I jump back into my draft.

Speaker 2: 25:05

Yeah, and that's an investment in your series anyway, because you're going to need to use it later, so I think that's awesome, okay. So one thing that people say often when they're writing book two is that there's kind of like different pressures, new pressures with it, where, a I wrote a book that some people really like and now am I going to live up to that? Or, b I've kind of written myself into this version of what needs to happen in book two and now I'm stressed out. Are you feeling any of those worries going?

Speaker 1: 25:32

into book two. I think I'm definitely feeling both. You know, I have a decent following of people who really enjoyed book one and the prequel novella, and so I'm really blessed to have that. But there are things that I probably should have done, like actually plan the entire series. I had a very loose idea of what each book looked like, and so now I kind of wish that maybe I had planned some of these other characters out a little bit more prior to really publishing the first book. But I'm also kind of like okay, this is the world and these are the people and this is the magic system, so you can deal with it what you will, but those are the rules that I've outlined for myself. So in that regard I'm kind of like all right, well, that's what it is and you deal with it and you figure it out, just like your characters have to figure it out.

Speaker 2: 26:21

Yeah, and it's funny because I think, no matter what, whenever we finish a book or publish a book, we're always going to be like, oh, there's something I wish I could have done better. So in my mind I'm like, okay, that's always going to be there. At least you wrote a great book, people are liking it, you're happy with it, and so, you know, could be worse, right? Yeah, exactly, I love that. And so if we kind of pivot now, so both your novel and novella are out in the world, we will, of course, put links to those in the show notes. Marketing or publishing wise, was there anything that stood out to you that, like you didn't know before, that you want to impart on listeners who might be doing this for the first time? Um, man?

Speaker 1: 26:59

I don't know, because there's still things I was just listening to your most recent student spotlight and learning stuff myself about, like BookBub. So, as far as marketing goes, I primarily am doing social media, which is not my favorite. But just where I live and the fact that I don't necessarily like live in Germany or pay the taxes it's all a military thing it's just a little bit harder for me to be able to like get into a local bookstore or, you know, go to events, because I'm in Germany, like it costs a lot of money to try and go to, say, even the UK, to be in some sort of event there and promote it in that way. So I am primarily relying on social media and I have taken a couple of courses but really, with the algorithms changing all the time, it's so difficult to keep up with it and I think really you and several other authors have really pushed like email subscribers is the way to go and that's kind of what I did with the novella.

Speaker 1: 28:02

As far as the arcs, I really wanted to find my target audience. I didn't use things like NetGalley just because I won and technologically inept and didn't understand it when I looked into it. And two, I just really wanted to focus on finding my target audience and with the novella I didn't have an application. I just said if you subscribe to my newsletter you'll get an arc of this, because it was like 160 pages.

Speaker 1: 28:27

It's not that much. You know. I knew I was making sales for that and relatively unknown, but what I was trying to do was just build my subscriber list. So in that regard, maybe that would help people in the future.

Speaker 2: 28:38

But as far as I think so yeah, yeah I mean I part with social media.

Speaker 1: 28:43

I don't have a lot.

Speaker 2: 28:44

Yeah, and I mean that's. I still think you're making a great effort on there too. So, for anyone listening who wants to see what Gina's done, I think you have done a great job and I do think it's smart to focus on your email list and, of course, there are ways to get creative about how to get your book out there, whether it's BookBub or whatever you want to do. But I think you've done a great job so far, Gina, Thank you. And if you look at your novella reviews, like you have glowing reviews on Amazon and I mean I think there's what just under 100 at this point.

Speaker 1: 29:11

Yeah, under 100 at this point, yeah, so on Amazon I think I'm at like 40 reviews for the novella, but on Goodreads I'm just over 100. And I think that's happened recently.

Speaker 2: 29:23

So that's really exciting that I had that. That's so exciting and that's all like a lot of. It is probably from those ARC readers that you found and you know, I know that ARC readers are sometimes hit and miss, where some of them will show up and read the book and do great things for you and then others goes to you, I'm sure, right yeah, but I had about like 400 subscribers sign up when I did that call for for the arc for hide, which was great, but, like you can see, I've only got like a hundred uh or so other views, and with hunted it was definitely different.

Speaker 1: 29:52

Like I wanted to focus more on finding our readers who are really going to like, give me good feedback. However, I had like 90 our greeters, which was way different from Hyde, but I got about 50% of them to actually review it.

Speaker 2: 30:07

So, even though it's not a lot of reviews, the percentage wise has been wise has been that that's great, yeah, and I think you know sometimes we discount the amount of things or reviews or whatever, but if you have 50 people in your house, that's a lot of people, right? Exactly. So there are also people listening who are like gosh, I would love to have 50 reviews on my books. I think that's amazing, gina, and it's not like your launch week, was it? You're going to keep promoting your books and getting people into your email list, so sky's the limit is what I like to say. But OK, so let's pretend that you're kind of giving yourself at the beginning of your writing journey maybe not quite at like 12, 13, but let's say in like 2022, when you really wanted to take this seriously. What would you tell yourself now, with all your hindsight?

Speaker 1: 30:52

I'd probably just tell myself that it's okay not to set such high goals for yourself. At the very beginning, I feel like I was pushing myself really, really hard and setting very tight deadlines for myself. I have since learned to spread that out a little bit and give myself some wiggle room.

Speaker 2: 31:13

Yeah, allow for life to happen, because life does happen. Yeah, how hard we plan, right.

Speaker 1: 31:19

I will just want to let everyone know and remind everyone that everyone writes differently and you shouldn't eat someone's yum and just write how you write. You know, just enjoy the process, enjoy the experience. You know everyone's different and that's OK.

Speaker 2: 31:35

Yeah, that's totally OK and totally celebrated. So I think that is great advice. And, gina, it has been so much fun to have you on today and let everyone know where we can find you around the Internet, and we will also include those links in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 31:49

So I am on Amazon. My books are both on there and on Kindle Unlimited. I am on Amazon, my books are both on there and on Kindle Unlimited. And then I am on Instagram and TikTok and I have a Facebook group and, of course, you should subscribe to my newsletter Love it.

Speaker 2: 32:02

Okay, we will paste all those links as well as where you can find Gina's books, her novel and novella. And maybe, at the time this comes out, I don't know book two we'll see, but thank you so much, gina, for being here. Any, I don't know, book two, we'll see, but thank you so much, gina for being here. Any last parting words? No, I think that's it. Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 2: 32:21

All right, so that's it for this episode of the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast. Head over to savannagilbocom forward slash podcast for the complete show notes, including the resources I mentioned today, as well as bonus materials to help you implement what you've learned. And if you're ready to get more personalized guidance for your specific writing stage. Whether you're just starting out, stuck somewhere in the middle of a draft drowning in revisions, or getting ready to publish, take my free 30-second quiz at savannahgilbocom forward slash quiz. You'll get a customized podcast playlist that'll meet you right where you're at and help you get to your next big milestone. Last but not least, make sure to follow this podcast in your podcast player of choice, because I'll be back next week with another episode full of actionable tips, tools and strategies to help you become a better writer. Until then, happy writing.