Second Act Success Podcast
Season 1 -Episode #17 - The Path to Becoming a Best-selling Author with Carola Lovering
Guest: Carola Lovering
Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate)

[00:00:00] Carola Lovering: there are so many different paths and directions that life can play out. And this is like advice that I'll give. And I, I feel really lucky that, I chased a feeling inside of me that I'm really glad that I did. And I think just listening to your gut and your intuition is, is really all you can do,

[00:00:17] Shannon: Are you at a crossroads in your career or in life? Well, don't worry because life's next chapter is waiting. This is the Second Act Success Podcast. I am your host Shannon Russell.

I'm a television producer, turned boy mom, turned business owner, podcaster, and career coach. If you are looking to start a new career or begin a fresh chapter in life, then get ready to be inspired with stories of women who have done just that. We will share advice and offer steps you can take to help figure out what your true calling in life really is.

It is time to shine. So let's turn the page and get [00:01:00] started.

Welcome to Second Act Success.

Today we are chatting with the incredible Carola Lovering. She is the admired author of Tell Me Lies, which is being made into a TV series for Hulu by Emma Roberts' production company. She has also written two other books, Too Good To Be True. And her latest must read summer hit Can't Look Away. Carola didn't aspire to become an author, but the story of how she got there is all inspiring. I also talked to her about a popular piece. She recently wrote for Marie Claire. It's about taking on too much as a working mom and how to know when enough is enough this article really resonated with me. And I wanted to have a chance to chat with her and really go deep about how balance is so important in life, not just for working moms, but for all of us. So let's get started. This is Carola Lovering and her Second Act Success.

[00:01:59] Shannon Russell: So [00:02:00] welcome to Second Act Success Carola. It's so lovely to have you here.

[00:02:03] Carola Lovering: Thank you for having me Shannon. So great to be here.

[00:02:07] Shannon Russell: Why don't you tell me about how your, career and your journey kind of started?

[00:02:11] Carola Lovering: absolutely. so I haven't always been a writer, actually. I was an English major in college. and I didn't know what I wanted to do with my career after I graduated. I, I really had no idea. It kind of seemed like a natural path for an English major to go into publishing. So I applied for a bunch of publishing jobs in like magazine publishing and book publishing after I graduated, and moved to New York and I didn't end up getting any of them. so the first job offer I got after college was in public relations where I worked for a few years, but I wasn't really fulfilled there. And I knew that I wanted to be doing something a little bit more creative, something where I could write, even though I hadn't done like a [00:03:00] ton of creative writing, I always had loved. writing in school. And I was on the communications team and I was looking to go into copywriting and some advice that I was given by. Somebody in the industry was to try to build up my writing portfolio if I wanted to be a copywriter. so that's what I started trying to do. And I started writing kind of like little freelance articles for publications, like Elite Daily and Thought Catalog.

I didn't end up going into copywriting. I actually ended up leaving that job in PR and then I moved to Aspen, Colorado, and I was working for like a startup in marketing. And I, I did a bunch of different things. I didn't, I, I really didn't feel settled in my career.

At the same time that all of this was happening, I was also in the wake of this toxic relationship that I had experienced in college for a couple of years afterwards, that I just had a ton of [00:04:00] feelings about it. Finally over, it was one of those on and off situations that like finally ended. I just had a lot of unprocessed emotions about the whole thing. And so I was talking to one of my best friends and she knew that I was trying to write more. And she also knew I was going through this, very like personal, kind of aftermath of this toxic situation. And she said to me, you know, why don't you. Try to write about this, like, write about what happened to you. Maybe it'll be cathartic and like at least, you know, you'll get some writing done. Maybe you can make it short stories or vignettes or something like that. And so I thought that was a great idea. And that's what I started doing. That was the beginning of Tell Me Lies, but I didn't know it at the time. Um, but it was, and Once I started writing about this experience, I'd been through, like, I just found that I couldn't stop and I was so inspired. I had never felt so inspired in my life. I decided I was just gonna keep going and [00:05:00] try to. write a novel and it, it felt really ambitious because I didn't know how to write a novel. I didn't have any like formal training in creative writing or fiction writing. I was a big reader, so I had that. I had kind of like studied books but I, I really didn't know what I was doing and it felt super ambitious, but I was like, I think what I'm writing could be really relatable to a lot of people. And so originally Tell Me Lies was kind of these little vignette, short stories that were a little bit separate, but what I did was I kind of strung them together and finished a draft.

[00:05:40] Shannon: So once you had the draft ready, did you start shopping it around?

[00:05:43] Carola Lovering: I went through the process of, of trying to find an agent, which was hard. It took me a really long time. I'm really not one of those authors who like can say that they found their agent immediately. It took me a while. It took me a couple of years. I had faced a lot of rejection. A lot [00:06:00] of agents had been like, oh, this is like, you know, it's good, but it's not for me. And I, I, I really almost gave up. But I had had this informational interview with an editor at. Atria Books, which is part of Simon and Schuster. when I was a senior in college. She was a editorial assistant at the time who had just taken over my cousin's job at Atria. And since my cousin knew that I was thinking about going into book publishing, she was like, why don't you talk to the girl that just took my job at Atria? And she can tell you about the industry, tell you about a day in the life of like an editorial assistant. We had talked five years earlier and I decided as kind of a last ditch effort with my book that I was gonna reach out to this editor, which felt like a long shot because you're really not supposed to. I would say like 99% of the time an editor is not gonna wanna read an [00:07:00] un-agented manuscript.

And so I didn't have an agent it's kind of a long shot, but I reached out to. This woman, Sarah Canton. And I said, you know, I didn't end up going into book publishing, but I did end up writing a book and I think it might be a fit for your list. Would you ever wanna read some of it? And she very kindly offered to read some of it.

And she ended up reading it very quickly and loved it and then was like, do you have an agent? I really love this. And I was. No, I don't have an agent. I really need an agent. That's what I'm, I'm trying to do. I'm trying to find an agent, but I can't get anyone to sign with me. And she, then referred me to a handful of agents.

I think once I kind of had that editorial stamp of approval on my manuscript agents were more inclined to work with me. And so I got a couple offers from agents. Signed with my now agent, Alison Hunter. And we worked on the book together for like [00:08:00] nine months and then ended up selling it back to Sarah at Atria she's now at St Martin's, but she was at Atria at the time. That's how I got my first book deal. so it was not it was not. Easy or seamless. It was a, it's been a journey, but that's how I got my start kind of as, as a writer, as an author.

[00:08:20] Shannon Russell: it really was. who, you know, in a sense that you just reached out to this random person, you had spoken to five years before, how cool is that? That you remembered her and she remembered you and it just took that someone to point you in the right direction of people and give that stamp of approval.

[00:08:36] Carola Lovering: Yeah. I was just really in this mindset of, of like, I had worked so hard in the book for a few years and I was like, I just wanna do everything in my power to try to make something happen with it before I like put it on the shelf.

I didn't really have like a linear path to my career until I got my book deal and was like, okay, I can, like, this is, this feels right. This feels like what I wanna be [00:09:00] doing. I had a lot of different jobs. Like I taught yoga on the side for a long time. I remember at points, my parents were like, what are you doing with your, with your job, with your career? And I was like, I'm writing this book. I really am. Like, I think, I think I can get it published. No, they were very supportive, but it was, it was just not always clear what I was gonna do.

[00:09:23] Shannon Russell: So once you signed and you, the book was published, what was that process like for you now? You're doing press for the book and you're now it's really real. And it's in other people's hands.

[00:09:34] Carola Lovering: it was incredible. It was. A total dream come true. I was really over the moon and I, around the time that I got the book deal, I moved back to New York. I had been living in Colorado, but I, I, I felt kind of ready to move back to New York, which is where I, I grew up outside of the city. And, it's, you know, just where publishing really is. And so I moved back [00:10:00] and it was. Super exciting. It was definitely a little bit scary, especially because Tell Me Lies is such a personal book to me. I didn't have any writer, friends, I didn't know anyone who'd like been through the publishing process. So I felt kind of like I was figuring out a lot on my own and I, I was definitely nervous about what people were gonna think I kind of was worried about people thinking that the book was gonna be like auto fiction, which it's not, I mean, it is a novel, it's definitely like steeped in emotional truths, but it's, it's also its own thing entirely. And I, I sort of had to just get used to the fact that, people were gonna read this thing that I had worked on in private for so long and people were gonna. Judge it form opinions about it, inform opinions about me. I think that that was just harder that being my, my debut and like the story being more personal to me than anything I've written since that was a challenge. And it was just something that I had to [00:11:00] kind of get over, , which I totally have now. But in retrospect, I mean, it was like such an exciting time. but it was definitely a little nervewracking,

especially

[00:11:09] Shannon Russell: to have it be so personal, like other people who read it, like me wouldn't have known that it's about you, but for you to put it out there and think that your friends or your ex or whoever would think it was about them, it's the emotions of it all.

[00:11:21] Carola Lovering: Yeah. I felt very vulnerable. Ultimately, I mean, I kind of think that that vulnerability, once you sort of give into it, it can be so empowering.

[00:11:30] Shannon Russell: When fans were coming up to you and telling you what they thought of the book, how was all of that?

[00:11:35] Carola Lovering: that was amazing. I really remember getting a lot of messages, from readers telling me how much they related to the book and how they really felt they saw themselves so vividly in Lucy's story, in, in her experience with Steven, which was so. wonderful to hear because that's kind of what had pushed me to write. It was, I really thought like[00:12:00] the relationship Lucy and Steven have, there's a lot of, there's a lot of shame around that relationship because, Lucy totally like. Degrades herself and lowers herself for this, this guy. and so there's, I think there's a lot of shame around a relationship like that. That makes it something that you don't necessarily wanna talk to people about even sometimes your closest friends and like, it, wasn't a relationship that I had really read about in any other book but I just felt like. I really thought that other people had to have had this similar experience, and so when I started getting messages like that, it was just really affirming and, and wonderful to connect with people and, and kind of know that I wasn't alone, but also know that like I had made someone else feel not alone.

There there's a girl who. she got the last line of Tell Me Lies tattooed on like the back of her shoulder. I love the line. I remember writing it. it's. "I smooth the front of my dress and walk back towards the [00:13:00] music," which to me is just, kind of the way the book is supposed to end. It's like Lucy. Being like, okay, I'm done. I'm gonna walk back into life and like live my best life , and so the girl that got that tattooed on her, the back of her shoulder, I remember she like DM'd me and sent me a picture of it and it was just a really, really incredible moment, like total career highlight for me to see that. And then she, I actually had a book event last night in. Watch Hill, Rhode Island.. And she was there. It was for my new book Can't Look Away, but she came and brought her copy of T ell Me Lies, and she was like, I'm the girl who got the tattoo. And it was really cool. It was really special. That's

[00:13:37] Shannon Russell: so special. Oh my gosh. Cuz there are, there are, I feel like I had a relationship like that. I feel like so many people can relate to that, especially in their young twenties, right out of college. You're still figuring it out. Oh, that is so amazing that you touched her in that way. And now years later, the book is being made into a television show on Hulu. Yes. Tell me about that. When you got the call, about [00:14:00] that being a possibility, what were you thinking?

[00:14:03] Carola Lovering: it it's, it's just really continued to be incredibly surreal. Um, so it was about a year, a little over a year after the book came out. I found out that Belletrist. Who's one of the producers, which is, Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss. They have Belletrist as their book club together and they are one of the producers. And when I found out that they were optioning it, it was just, so surreal. Um, I definitely tried to like manage my expectations because I know that a lot of things get optioned and then don't end up getting made. But I was still like, even the fact that someone wants to option this is so cool. and then it was about a year after that. I think it was like August or September of 2020, that it was announced that like Hulu had decided to order. The series. And that was the moment where I was like, oh my gosh, this is really happening.

Crazy. I remember when I was still working on the book and before I even [00:15:00] had an agent or a book deal, My friends I'd be talking to them about the book and they would be like, oh my gosh, can you imagine if this ever like, got made into a show and it was a total, total pipe dream, like didn't even really feel possible.

So the fact that it's happening is incredibly surreal and and exciting. I really can't wait. They started filming in February in Atlanta. And they're just about to wrap up. and then I'm told the show's gonna come out in the fall that we don't have a release date yet.

I got to go down to Atlanta in May and, and see the set and meet the actors. I had a chair. They had like a chair with my name on it. That's really, when it all kind of hit me, I was like, wow. And I got to see the sets and see some of the filming. I feel incredibly lucky and grateful that there are so many talented people working on this project. They've really stayed true to the heart of the book. Like it'll change for sure for TV and to become more cinematic, but the show has really stayed true to the core of the book in a [00:16:00] lot of ways. And that makes me really grateful. I'm hopeful that the book will be able to find even more readers now. which is the whole goal, you know?

[00:16:09] Shannon Russell: You're not working on the production of it in any capacity, but you're just attached to it as the author of the book.

[00:16:18] Carola Lovering: Yeah. So I'm a consulting producer, you know, honestly, that was more of like a courtesy to give for them to give me that title. like they've looped me in on stuff and what's going on. But I was given the advice early on in the process, like when Belletrist first optioned it, I remember my agent saying to me, like, if you really feel like you wanna be the showrunner and write the scripts. Let me know, but I don't necessarily think that that's what you should do because it's a whole different skill set that I don't have. I don't know how to write for TV. I have no experience doing it. I would love to learn and be able to do it one day, but for this book, like I just really wanted there to be like the highest chance [00:17:00] possible of it getting made. So I didn't feel like up to the task to adapt the book for television. Like I was very happy to step aside and let them find an amazing writer, which they did. Megan Oppenheimer, who is the show runner and, and wrote the pilot. And I think she wrote some other episodes. I can't remember, but she's incredibly talented and she's just done. She's done something with the book. Adapting it to TV that I could never have done. And I am just totally blown away by her and so excited for people to see what, what they've created. I think it's really gonna be a special show.

[00:17:39] Shannon Russell: That was really excellent advice that you got from your agent too. You made a really nice decision and the fact that, You trust them and they obviously love having you be a part of it in some capacity. I, I think It's gonna be amazing and I'm very excited as a fan to watch in the fall too.

[00:17:54] Carola Lovering: thank you.

[00:17:54] Shannon Russell: You've had two books since then. So who knows maybe if those ever get optioned and adapted to [00:18:00] television or to the big screen, you can be the one who's ready in that point of your life to, to move in that direction, kind of show run it.

Let's talk about, the next book that you wrote , How was it writing that now that you already had another book that was out there? Was it easier or a little bit more difficult?

[00:18:16] Carola Lovering: Too Good To Be True. I I wrote it before the pandemic. And then it came out during the pandemic. It came out in March of 2021. It was harder for sure. Because Tell Me lies had been. Such a cathartic writing process. It, it was like the book that was in me and that it just sort of came out on its own and spilled out and it, in a way made it very easy to write. With Too Good To Be True. I had to really brainstorm. I had to use a lot of brain power that like just hadn't been required for Tell Me Lies in the same way. And it was definitely harder. I had a lot of fun writing that book, but it was just a very different process. I just remember at points, feeling like it was really an uphill battle in a [00:19:00] way it was a bit more of an ambitious plot. It's way more of a thriller. There's just a lot of twist and turns. It's a more complex book, I think, in terms of structure and plot, like three POVs, multiple timelines. So there was just a lot going on, but I was. probably writing that book was when I had the most, freedom in terms of time. Like I was not working full time anymore. I was teaching yoga, but very much on the side and my days were pretty much open for me to write. I didn't have kids yet. I had a ton of time to write a ton of time. To think about the book and to kind of let plot lines and, and different, you know, character, relationships marinate. It was a totally different process. I had moved publishers because my editor moved to St Martin's. My new book deal was at St. Martin's. And I think we had decided not to have the book come out in 2020, because it was an election year my editor was like, I think it would be better if it [00:20:00] came out in the beginning of 2021. So. There was a lot of like time before that book came out, and that's when I started writing, Can't Look Away when I was pregnant. And then edited that book as a new mom, which was, definitely a challenge.

[00:20:18] Shannon Russell: did you have the pressure on yourself to get it finished before. You delivered him before he was here?

[00:20:23] Carola Lovering: Absolutely. So I had a two book deal, with St Martin's and I knew that I had to have a draft of my third book delivered. And I was really worried about writing with the baby. I had no idea what it was gonna look like. And so, I drafted Can't Look Away pretty quickly. Like actually more quickly than I've I've drafted anything. It was six months, of writing the first draft. And I think that I was really able to do that largely because of lockdown. So, yes, I totally had the goal of finishing a draft before he arrived, which I was able to do. I think a lot of books came out of the [00:21:00] pandemic. Which I think is probably why I was able to finish before he was born.

[00:21:05] Shannon Russell: So tell me about that book. It just came out this summer.

[00:21:08] Carola Lovering: Yep. It came out June 14th. and that book is, in terms of the genre it's sort of in between Tell Me Lies and Too Good To Be True. Too good to be true is, is the most thriller book I've written in, in terms of genre. And I, I, I kind of end up calling, Can't Look Away a romantic suspense. It's suspenseful, but it's also, it's kind of like part love story, part, contemporary fiction, part, domestic fiction and part suspense. It's about a woman named Molly and her story is told in two different timelines. So in the first timeline, she's in her early twenties living in Brooklyn. She wants to be a writer and she meets a guy named Jake, who is a musician he's in. Up and coming band called Danner Lane, just getting more and more famous around New York [00:22:00] and Molly and Jake fall in love. They kind of have this like struggling artist vibe together and just feed off each other's creative energies. They fall in love. Think they're gonna be together forever. And then the second timeline, which these two timelines are interspersed. Is nine years later. Molly's living in a fictional suburb in Connecticut called Flynn Cove with her husband Hunter. So right off the bat, you know that she and Jake have not ended up together. She and hunter have a five year old daughter and are trying really hard to get pregnant with their second child, but having some trouble and Molly is, she's just not really happy. She's not writing anymore. She doesn't have a ton of close friends in this town where she lives and she meets a woman named Sabrina. Who is a newcomer to the town. And Sabrina and Molly hit it off. They become really fast friends, but Sabrina is not who she tells Molly she is. And there's a third kind of perspective, which is [00:23:00] Sabrina's. And through Sabrina's eyes, we like learned what her motivations are for moving to this Connecticut suburb for becoming friends with Molly. Which I, I won't say anymore, I don't wanna give any spoilers, but that's really where like the suspense of the book comes in. And Molly's past, starts to catch up with her present

[00:23:19] Shannon Russell: I love it. I've noticed that, Can't Look Away is on a lot of the list for the best books to read this summer. Like I saw it on The Skimm. Good Reads had it on there as well. It must be exciting for you to see it on these lists.

[00:23:31] Carola Lovering: absolutely. I think it's a great book for summer. I mean, I hope that it's like just kind of an escape, that you can get lost in, on a beach or lake or wherever. It's fun and entertaining and, that's my hope.

[00:23:45] Shannon Russell: The future or do you have more books that you're thinking about? I know you're gonna be a little busy. You're having another little one this summer.

[00:23:50] Carola Lovering: Yes. So. I'm sort of in a similar situation as I was when I was pregnant the first time where like, as I, as I get closer to my due date, [00:24:00] I am like racing to finish something. I'm not locked into a contract right now. I. Hoping to get like a new book deal. So there's not as much pressure, which is nice, but I'm finishing up a draft of a fourth novel, which I'm hoping to have like a pretty polished draft. By the time this baby shows up, but T B D if I'll be able to finish, but it is similar vibes to my other books. It's suspenseful. And I probably can't say that much about it yet, but what I can say is. It's about a toxic friendship. whereas like, a couple of my books have, have kind of toxic friendships, but this book is like the toxic friendship is the main relationship in the book. So I'm really excited about it. Hopefully I'll be able to share more about it soon. Well,

[00:24:50] Shannon Russell: good luck. I think that sounds like a great angle and definitely interesting. You can have romance anytime, but we all know what it's like to have a close female friend that, might not [00:25:00] be the healthiest of relationship. So that's a very interesting angle I think for fans to read.

[00:25:04] Carola Lovering: Yeah. I think there's a lot to say about. the complexities of like a lifelong friendship as, as time goes on.

[00:25:10] Shannon Russell: I know you write different pieces shorter pieces, of writing. And the one that really sticks out to me that I was so excited to chat with you about today is the article you wrote for Marie Claire. That was called Red Means Stop, But I Forgot That. It just has so much meaning that I think we can all relate to. A lot of my listeners are women, our age that are kind of in this, position where we're trying to figure out the next step. Now that we're moms now that we're juggling career and motherhood, and this just really resonated with me. And I love to chat with you about what it was like for you to. Put it into words and get it out there for other people to read.

[00:25:49] Carola Lovering: Thank you for saying that. So I, I got in this car crash in November. It was right before Thanksgiving and I got home from the site of the [00:26:00] crash and. I think we like put my son down for a nap and I just, I was like kind of a wreck. I had all of these feelings and I, I wrote the article that afternoon. which I, I think is often when the best writing happens is when like, something is just so fresh. I mean, it was so fresh. It was all there on the surface. And I was just like, I need to write about this. I wasn't. Thinking about publishing it, but I was like, I just wanna write about what happened because I have so many thoughts right now. but yeah, I mean, I, I think that it's, I wanted to really explore that, mindset that I think a lot of us feel, um, of just being completely overwhelmed and saturated in that capacity that, you know, I just. Is relatable for a lot of people, especially post pandemic when not that like the pandemic's over, but now that, you know, there's so much going on again. I think it's just, it's kind of overwhelming. And I've had to teach myself in the past, you know, [00:27:00] seven, eight months since that happened, like to really prioritize and to say no. To remind myself that I can't take everything on that I used to be able to, before I had kids. And it, it, not that it doesn't apply if you, if you, if you don't have kids. I mean, I, I think that even if you don't have kids, it's people still feel this, still feel this intense, these intense feelings of being overwhelmed and, and just totally flooded. But I think trying to be. A mom who works and does it all and shows up for everyone and does all the extracurriculars. I mean, it's just impossible. Writing the article was really cathartic for me and, and was just a way for me to kind of process some of these feelings. And I've, I've really worked like in the month since I've really, I've really tried to become better at like, Saying no, and just not putting as much on my plate like, like, I know some people really thrive off having a packed [00:28:00] schedule, but it's just not me. Like I do better when I have less on my plate, when I have time to really recharge. It was really helpful for me to write that for myself and, and I'm. . I was also really glad to be able to connect with a lot of other, people about it. I mean, young moms. Yes. But really anyone

[00:28:18] Shannon Russell: It's, like you said, like you can go, go, go all the time, but something is going to give. And for my listeners who haven't read this article, I will link to it in the show notes and make sure you have a chance to read it because it's, it's basically just you on a normal day, juggling a million things like we all do. You have too much on your brain. You're not seeing the red light. That can happen so easily. And that's what had to give on that day for you to wake up. I think that's a really good lesson that you learned a hard lesson to learn, of course, but you know what, you need to be a better wife and mom and person, every day.

We all need to yeah. Kind of take that like self awareness and that self assessment to know what

[00:28:58] Carola Lovering: we need. Totally.[00:29:00] It was good to have that, that introspection and that as terrible as the experience was, you know, I'm so grateful that it wasn't worse. Like, as I, I said in the article, like it could have been so much worse and that's the scary part. Um, yeah, but it was definitely a wake up call and just a reminder to slow down and in more ways than one.

And in August, you know, when I'll have a newborn, I really don't have any plans. And I'm just, I'm really excited about that.

[00:29:28] Shannon Russell: Good. That's great. Just enjoy your time with her. So now that you kind of think back to when you were in the marketing PR world, kind of going towards wanting to be a copywriter, can you imagine your life then compared to how the twists and turns have ended you up here?

[00:29:45] Carola Lovering: No, it's crazy. I was actually saying this at an event that I did last night, which was my, my last book event for Can't Look Away. But like, there's, there's kind of this theme and Can't Look Away about, kind of the life that could have been [00:30:00] and I was saying, I don't really feel like I have that because I feel like I have landed right. Where I'm supposed to. which is a good feeling, but it is, it is wild to think back on that time in my life before I was writing Tell Me Lies and, there are so many different paths and directions that life can play out. And this is like advice that I'll give. And I, I feel really lucky that, I chased a feeling inside of me that I'm really glad that I did. And I think just listening to your gut and your intuition is, is really all you can do,

[00:30:34] Shannon Russell: right? Just following your gut. That's such great advice,

for listeners who are listening and maybe they're in a nine to five job, and they want to write, what advice would you give these women, writing is something that everybody kind of wants to do, but it seems so impossible.

[00:30:50] Carola Lovering: Yeah, absolutely. So. I think if you're real, if you're busy writing feels daunting and you know, you might like wanna write a book, but it [00:31:00] feels impossible. My advice is kind of two parts. Well, one is just do it, like sit down and. Get words on the page. Like They're not gonna be perfect. There's no writer or author that creates a polished first draft. That's just not possible. And so like, you might feel dumb writing whatever you're writing, but as long as you're putting words on the page, like that's a start, that's something that you can work with. People say to me a lot, oh, I could, I could never write a book. I could never write all of that. It feels daunting and intimidating to write that many words. But if you break it down into small sections, which is what I do, which is what writers do. My goal, on days when I'm writing is to write a thousand words a day, that feels doable to me, it, to me that feels like an achievable amount of words. You could even try to write 500 words a day, which is really not that much. It's like a big paragraph. And if you write [00:32:00] 500 words a day, at the end of like six months, nine months, whatever it is, like you will have a first draft of a novel. if you can just find the time, carve out an hour, two hours to write 500 words a day and just do it and get it done.

Like that's all you need. Make it happen in like little chunks and something will come together. What works for me right now is trying to write a thousand words a day, four times a week. And. That's what I can do. And I know that like the end of six or eight months, whatever it is, I'll have a, a draft of a book. And so I think that just kind of breaking it down into manageable goals hopefully will make the whole thing less intimidating, more approachable.

[00:32:45] Shannon Russell: That's excellent. You started writing when you were working full time. and other people can do that too. It's just finding that little time to sit there with your own thoughts and getting those words on the paper. So that's great advice. Thank you.

Where can our audience connect with you?

[00:32:59] Carola Lovering: I'm [00:33:00] on Instagram @carolatlovering. Or my website carolatlovering.com, There's like a contact button. If you ever wanna write to me.

[00:33:10] Shannon Russell: And your books are available on your website and anywhere any bookstore , Barnes

and

[00:33:14] Shannon Russell: Noble Amazon.

[00:33:15] Carola Lovering: Yep. There's links on my website. but Barnes and Noble, Amazon , Bookshop,, et cetera.

[00:33:20] Shannon Russell: Oh, Carola. Thank you so much for this. This has been so inspiring and I'm excited to read. Can't look away. I'm really excited to go and get it. And I hope all of our listeners check out all of your books and follow you on Instagram. I can't wait for the show to come out in the fall and good luck with your baby. I'm so excited for you to be a mom times t

[00:33:40] Carola Lovering: Thank you so much, Shannon. And I, I really appreciate it.

Thank you for a great conversation. have a wonderful rest of your summer. You too. Thank

[00:33:47] Shannon Russell: you.

[00:33:48] Shannon: Thank you for joining us. I hope you found some gems of inspiration and some takeaways to help you on your path to Second Act Success. To view show notes from this episode, recommend to guests with a [00:34:00] great story, and learn more about us. Visit secondactsuccess.co. Before you go, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. So you don't miss a single episode. Reviews only take a few moments and they really do mean so much. Thank you again for listening. I am Shannon Russell, and this is Second Act Success.