Katie Cross on Juggling Writing and Family

In this week's episode, we dive into the extraordinary world of Katie Cross, a prolific author who defies all odds by writing and publishing a book every month. Juggling ebook, paperback, and audiobook releases, Katie manages her remarkable schedule while prioritizing her two young children. This episode is a goldmine for authors seeking to understand the mindset required to achieve such a feat.

Join us as we discuss how Katie navigates her busy life, maintains her creative flow, and shatters limiting beliefs that often hold authors back. If you've ever wondered how to balance a demanding writing career with family responsibilities, or if you're looking for inspiration to create the author life of your dreams, this episode is for you. Tune in to discover practical insights and motivational tips to help you break free from what's holding you back and start your own author revolution!

🎧 https://authorrevolution.org/244

Transcript

Carissa Andrews: 0:02

Welcome to the Author Revolution Podcast, where change is not just embraced, it's celebrated. I'm Carissa Andrews International Best Selling Author, indie, author, coach and your navigator through the ever evolving landscape of authorship. Are you ready to harness the power of your mind and the latest innovations and technology for your writing journey? If you're passionate about manifesting your dreams and pioneering new writing frontiers, then you're in the perfect place. Here we merge the mystical woo of writing with the exciting advancements of the modern world, we dive into the realms of mindset manifestation and the transformative magic that occurs when you believe in the impossible. We also venture into the world of futuristic technologies and strategies, preparing you for the next chapter in your author career. Every week, we explore new ways to revolutionize your writing and publishing experience, from AI to breakthrough thinking, This podcast is your gateway to a world where creativity meets innovation. Whether you're planning your first novel, or expanding your literary empire, whether you're a devotee of the pen, or a digital storyteller, this podcast is where your author revolution gains momentum. So join me in this journey to continue growth and transformation. It's time to redefine what it means to be an author in today's dynamic world. This is the Author Revolution Podcast, and your author revolution starts now. Hi, guys, welcome back to the Author Revolution Podcast. This week, I'm really excited to be bringing on a guest who has been on the show before she has some amazing insights. And of course, this interview is no different. I am bringing back Yes, that's right, Katie cross. The last time Katie was on we talked an awful lot about her perception of direct sales, how direct sales can really help authors. I met her in person originally at Inkers Con last year. And now this time, we wanted to talk a little bit more about, you know what it's like to have a very demanding production schedule one where it's very consistent, you are doing a lot of things. She puts out a book a month, and not just a book, she puts out the ebook, the paperback, the audiobook, all happening every single month. So she's got her production schedule nailed down. And all of this is to say she's also a mom, who spends a lot of time with her kids who puts and prioritizes them first. And so how is it she's able to maintain this schedule? How is she able to have her mindset in place, locked into the point where this becomes her only option. And so we talk a lot about mindset in this podcast episode, because it was so crucial for her to be able to overcome some of her own hang ups, but also to be able to leverage all of the stuff that was really kind of bottled up inside her waiting to be let out. And so I'm gonna let Katie obviously describe more of that in this episode. So without further ado, let's get into it. Well, Hi, Katie. Welcome back to the Author Revolution Podcast. I'm so excited to have you back. How have you been?

Katie Cross: 3:10

Oh, so good. I'm so excited to be back. This is such a fun time, the first time that coming back, it's like, Yes, this is gonna be a blast.

Carissa Andrews: 3:16

I know what we were hoping to do this like this time last year, and life got into the way I know, you had like, you had a friend who lost a kid that was my heart just goes out to you and them and it was like all the things and so it's just lovely to finally be able to speak with you again and hopefully on better terms, like as your life calmed down a little bit.

Katie Cross: 3:33

I mean, I have a five and an eight year old and summer started last week. So it's, it's okay. It was wild. In the fall, things were pretty crazy. But we settled into a really good routine in the winter and now we're just enjoying summer so I'm excited to be back.

Carissa Andrews: 3:49

Right? Summer vacation is always interesting. If you hear a little knock on the door on my end, you're gonna know why because we got our kids, too.

Katie Cross: 3:56

I'm actually hiding in my closet because we have a really small house and like two bedrooms and one is our bedroom. One is my kids bedroom and the rest is just an open floorplan so I was like I'm gonna be in the closet. So that's why it looks like I'm in a closet. I am.

Carissa Andrews: 4:10

Yes. You and I were talking before we got started. That's where I started my audiobook career within my closet.

Katie Cross: 4:18

For sure that this is where I narrate my audiobooks for sure.

Carissa Andrews: 4:20

Yeah, it just makes it. I mean, it's so much so much sense again, like that little cozy place. There's no weird echoes. It's fantastic. And hopefully no one can find you.

Katie Cross: 4:30

I sort of feel like I can hide here a little bit.

Carissa Andrews: 4:38

I love it. Well, last time you were here we talked about how you lovers direct direct sales as an author, which by the way I love I've begun utilizing myself I have a Shopify store. It's fabulous. I am like so thrilled with it. And I kind of wanted to pick your brain on how like this time, how that's been going, number one and then how you continue to utilize it and stuff. A great way when you're doing all the things like balancing work, being a mom, obviously having all the kids home, like, what mindset do you deploy to be this crazy awesome publishing powerhouse?

Katie Cross: 5:10

Yeah, okay, perfect. Yeah. So direct sales is I mean, it's it's swimmin. Right along, right, I started, I really launched in like, December 2019, January 2020. So we're four years and counting in and it is the path for me, right? Like, this is the way I think I will always I will always probably emphasize direct sales in some manner. Just like everyone, I feel like we're all starting to feel the pinch of the at least in the US, it's probably different elsewhere. But there's a pretty tough economy going on right now. Inflation is rising, prices are rising. definitely seeing a fewer sales across the board, just because some of my readers are like I I'm, I'm just trying to pay rent right now. You know, definitely feeling a little bit of a pinch. But all in all, the cool thing about direct sales is there are still readers out there that will just buy IOC they buy my grocery list, right? Like, they'll just buy whatever I put out, because we forged a really great relationship with them even through like a tough economic times. But yeah, I mean, it's going great. We're still doing direct sales. I did a little stint with some advertising, testing through q1, we've turned it off now just to give me some breathing room and get my VA some time to catch up on some stuff. And Facebook advertising is a little wonky, so I was like, we'll take a little break and let the algorithm figure itself out. So I have absolutely no complaints. I just love the direct sales life. It's not perfect, but it's pretty sweet over here.

Carissa Andrews: 6:31

Hates right I can't remember do you focus only on eBooks and audiobooks or do you also do your paperback books as well through your drugstore?

Katie Cross: 6:38

I do paper for sure. Yeah, well that request and preorder paper I have like a chunk of people that every time I put a paperback preorder, they just automatically preorder whatever paperback so that I tried to I tried to submit the paperback pre orders a week or so in advance of the actual launch so that it prints and ships so that they have on launch day. And yeah, we love our paperbacks. And then I always I do a lot of in person sales like at cons and so I have to the paperbacks to do that.

Carissa Andrews: 7:05

I love that you bundle them as well. Or do you just do like the solo ones? Like no bundles bundles?

Katie Cross: 7:10

On my website. I don't really have a paperback bundle right now. Just because most of my people buy as the books launch. Right and bundles, like for paperback have never done super well for me. But in like cons and in person events. I definitely have like awesome bundles.

Carissa Andrews: 7:27

Hate when you do so many cool things. I mean, I was just a part of your Kickstarter that just wrapped up not super long ago. That was awesome.

Katie Cross: 7:33

It was your name? Right? Oh, it was really good. So I have wanted to break into the Kickstarter space for a while. But I wanted to had to have like a higher level offer to do that instead of just like, I think it's really cool. The authors are like, hey, I want to publish this book. Let's do a Kickstarter. I think that's phenomenal. It's just a different form of direct sales in a way because yeah, at least Kickstarter gives you you have emails, you have direct, like communication with the buyers, right? You're doing Kickstarter, but you are talking to your customer. So it's like a it's like a b2c business where it's business to consumer. But it's but it's through a different website, which is kind of cool. And I love the Kickstarter audience because they are just willing to spend money on unknowns. And I've watched that for a while. Like I've had a Kickstarter account for years and years. And I've just been so amazed as I watch Kickstarter as and I talked to my friends at these people they don't know, are just dropping all this money on collector's editions or whatever. So it was the 10th anniversary of me launching my first book and my most popular book myths Medical School for Girls. So I was like, let's do a Kickstarter, and my fans have been waiting for hardcovers. For a long time. They've wanted a special edition for a while. So my children's book illustrator agreed to do illustrations, we did a deluxe illustrated edition of Miss maples. When we did the Kickstarter we did about just on just barely under $25,000.

Carissa Andrews: 8:56

That's so amazing.

Katie Cross: 8:58

I was really excited about it. Yeah. And so we did a special edition Kickstarter. It was amazing. I mean, you're like a business or like I am. And so what was fascinating to me is 50% of sales came from Kickstarter. So that was really cool proof that the platform itself brought new, like people to me and some of those people might have been an established audience that had followed the Kickstarter. But there are people I didn't know that Kickstarter was bringing to me. So it's cool to prove that Kickstarter itself does a lot of groundwork, and they bring new people and those new people were buying at $100 average order value. Wow. A Ovie is wild like amazing. Yeah, like when I'm doing sales on my website. I'm excited about a $20 ARV right because books have a low price point. They're like 799 to 999 or whatever I priced them at 799 on my website. So $100 ARV on an unknown author was just amazing to me. So that was really, really cool to prove out. So now we have that I'm doing a new thing where every six months we're doing a new special edition in my Bianca books and I'm just so that my readers can get these special editions and these hard covers, and I can meet new readers that way. But also, it'll be fun to test out as an income stream, if we just have a new Kickstarter every six months. And if we can pull profit from it, I'm just testing like, this is a cool way to potentially diversify income streams. And I'm looking to see if it'll work, which is, I love that.

Carissa Andrews: 10:21

I love that you have that mentality to like, I talk about that a lot on the podcast, where it's like, just come at it with curiosity and see what see how it's gonna work, like test it and see what's gonna happen. And maybe it's for you, maybe it's not for you. Or maybe you think it's not for you. And you just have to unlearn what you've learned already, to relearn it and see what happens this time around.

Katie Cross: 10:37

You know, that's, yeah, coming at it with curiosity, and not judgment is a huge mindset that can be really hard to overcome at first because we feel like judgment protects us. Right?

Carissa Andrews: 10:49

Right. And we think when we, when we've locked in the knowing of something that maybe it's always gonna stay the same. But sometimes things shift, like audiences shift the way that people purchase just the way that we are. And the way that we come about our career shifts. It's like, We're different people than we were even two years ago, a year ago, five months ago, whatever. And so when you come at it from a different angle, sometimes it's just like, why why did this not work last time? This is so great.

Katie Cross: 11:12

Well, there's so many data points in a single test that you don't have the answer for, right? So we're testing this Kickstarter, potentially, like income stream out, but I'm not going to actually like Wait judgment on it for four books. Because it's so hard to say with one book with two books, you have some repetitive data points with three books you're getting there. But with four, and that's like the four volume set that I have, or four book volume that I have, that's when I can say, Okay, we've seen this data, we've seen a track like this, we've accounted for potential just like errors or like weird market fluctuations. We can say if this is actually a realistic thing, as long as I'm not losing money every time, right? Yeah, I think you're onto something there. And we always assume that because it was it will be and that's just not true. Right?

Carissa Andrews: 11:56

Well, yeah. And it's like, it's like those authors who come out their, their new launches, and they're like, it'll be fine. But it's not going to do a whole lot because none of my other series have done a whole lot. None of my other books have come you know what I mean, that mentality I'm like, but this could be your breakout line. What if you what if it was the right one? What if this is the one that hit just right, like, get excited for that be be envisioning that? Why are you already putting yourself on the wrong path? Before you get started?

Katie Cross: 12:19

Yeah, it's like, I've had people say it to me before, and all I've said is, yeah, probably because you say so. Like, if you're going to like approach it with that, with that, sort of, like, all my others is so bad, it's probably real, too, then you're already sabotaging your own success, because there's probably so many opportunities you're not taking, or noticing, because you're already in a mindset of this isn't gonna work. Yep. So it really like cuts down what is possible and what your success is. And I think we do that. We think we're it's self preservation, we think we're like, trying to get ourselves ready for the inevitable crush that's coming. But actually, we're just creating the monster that we're afraid of. It's so interesting.

Carissa Andrews: 12:57

It is so interesting, isn't it? It's that that law of attraction in motion, where all of a sudden, we're bringing to us the thing that we're fearing, because we're so interested in looking at the wrong side of the spectrum, that we're like, oh, this thing might happen. And so then we look for the evidence of it happening and validate ourselves.

Katie Cross: 13:13

Yeah. Your brain is a great evidence seeker like seekers, and you will find evidence for whatever you want to believe no matter what.

Carissa Andrews: 13:20

Yeah. Oh, my gosh, okay, so I gotta know how many books you've published your, your publishing so many books, how many books do you have now?

Katie Cross: 13:27

We tried counting for a podcast I did two days ago. And I was like, I don't know, it ended up being somewhere between 70 and 80. Titles. And titles encompass everything from short stories to novels to novelettes. Like, like, it's kind of the whole range. And the reason it's that way is because of the structure that I've chosen to connect with my business. So I write under the fantasy world of alcara. So it's all the same umbrella. And I had like, I tried clean, contemporary romance, I have a 10 book series. And I have like a five book Chiclet series and some, like short stories that I had done with those for the readers. But I just threw like four years now, two years ago, I can't remember a couple years ago, I threw all of those it was two years ago, two and a half years ago, I threw all of those into KU. And I took them down every route. And then I just stopped, I got rid of the email list the Facebook page, I stopped supporting it. So they're still out there. But I don't do anything with them. Because I wanted I found that splitting my focus between two genres was sabotaging the success of either and I didn't really want to be in the fantasy or the romance world. So I have all those titles. And then I have over 50 titles in alcara. I have something called the reader request series, which is where readers can I have a Google form that's always open and like every six or so months, I send it out and I say what short story would you love me to write? And then my assistant, look at that we mined the trends and we see what people are most excited about. And then sometimes we'll even put out a survey and have them vote. And then I write those short stories under the reader request series and they're all about 12,000 words or less. And so like I have those are i There's 10 of those. So Those are short story titles. They're all about 10 to 12,000 words. And then I have like some novellas that are anywhere from 10 to 40,000 words, I have novels that are 115 to 80. That you know, like they're kind of it's kind of all over the place based on what my readers are asking for. But right now, my current business model, at least through the end of this year, and I've been doing this for over two years now, almost three is where I'm launching a book a month. Some of that was novellas at first, but I figured out my prop my progress, I would do a new novel every three months, and then novellas in between but right now I do a new full length fantasy novel The first Friday of every month and audiobook paperback and ebook.

Carissa Andrews: 15:39

That is amazing. That was so awesome. Like when I heard that, at ingress Con last year, I was like, well, it's amazing. Like, what? This woman It sounds awesome.

Katie Cross: 15:50

It sounds really wild. And even when I every time I say it, I say it all the time. I'm like, that sounds pretty crazy. When I like say it out loud. I don't even write as fast as others. I know that there are romance authors that are kicking out new books, like every two weeks or more.

Carissa Andrews: 16:04

Yeah, that's amazing. To me, that blows my mind.

Katie Cross: 16:07

Yeah, I think that genre conventions can work for against you in that. But I do that because a I love writing. Like, I am such a stupid nerd for writing like I do, and love to write six to eight hours, like I will be on my computer six, eight hours writing a day when my kids are in school. Right. But yeah, there are days when I fingers to keyboard writing. And I don't mean businessing I mean actual like writing for up to six hours. And I love it I and I ended the day with energy. Like I'm not like exhausted, I'm not dead on my feet, I just really love being an all car I love developing the character. So that's first and foremost, I did it. I also wanted to do it every month as a cash flow generator, I wanted to try the rapid release, I wanted to see when I launch products people buy and so maybe I could run cash flow, so I don't have to advertise, and then have a slow growth audience goal where I'm not trying to rapidly pull in leads through ads. But I'm just trying to like build out this like established cash flow with audience I have and then have them helped me do a slow growth system where we gradually see increases over time, while I'm wanting these new products, which then buys me this back catalogue to have as assets to them produce more income streams. And diversification was kind of my long term picture here, because it got me writing, interacting with readers and you know, creating a cash flow that sustainable. So that's that's kind of, that's kind of the goal. And then on the side, we'll try out these like Kickstarters or I have a audiobook production company that I'm talking to that potentially wants to license some rights and pay me to re narrate some books of mine. So you know, it's like, we're able to then diversify with all the content that I have. So that's kind of this model.

Carissa Andrews: 17:53

Do you record your own audiobooks as well? Or do you use like an AI program? Well, how do you do your audiobooks.

Katie Cross: 17:59

So, like, a couple years ago, three years ago, three and a half years ago, I was almost insolvent, I was rock bottom, crashing stuff into the ground, things were really ugly. I started my wit's end like advertising, dissected. Atomy. And there's a long story back there. But basically, I realized, I've got to change what I'm doing. And so that's when I start looking at my data. And I said, when I put when I published books, I make money. So how do I publish books faster? And also, I have this huge back catalogue. So I reached out to some readers, and I said, what works and what I'm doing? What can I do better? And a lot of them were like, you don't have all of the books, we want an audio. And I was like, Yeah, cuz it's like, so expensive. Right? And yeah, like, I've been over $100,000 To get my back catalogue back up, and it would have been years for another audiobook narrator to do that, I would have had to basically like taken an audiobook narrator and like, use up all their time. If I wanted the same person, then you have to find them. And anyway, and I was like, they're like, Well, why don't you narrate your audiobooks and I was like, I'm a writer. And someone challenged me on it and so I just dove into the mindset and it was exactly what you said a few minutes ago, I was like I don't do this. It's not how we do it, like I'm not writing but I decided I realized a I could connect better with my readers if they heard my voice, they would build a connection with me instantly. And I loved that I would be able to bring the voices and books life in a way that I saw them and therefore I was trying to convey them through words and I we could also do it through this voice acting which was really daunting to me. But then I decided I also have this like treasure trove of product like wealth just sitting on the table right just left on the table. So I found you a couple Udemy courses about voice acting, audio book mastering nerdy like all this stuff. I just deep dived into it. I found a professionalism is Arthur, I love him. He would get on zoom with me and I would practice and he would tweak me and we tweak my settings and I'd send him samples. We do stuff back and forth and So finally, he's like, I think you're ready to just do it. And so I did, I just started narrating. And I was able to catch up my back catalogue, so that every single book I offer is an audio book. That's like 3040 titles. Wow, they created a system where I launched in paperback ebook and audio so that every single book comes out at the same time, because one of the complaints I had for my readers was, so many authors, the audio just comes out when it comes out. And as audio listeners only we never know when we're gonna get so it's hard to trust an author. And I was like, when I heard the words, it's hard to trust an author. I was like, oh, that's an opening for me. Like, how can I build trust, so that they're always coming back and bringing their people because they know they can trust me. And so that's what I did. And now I'm two and a half years in and the audio book process is probably my favorite. Like really, process even though I love the writing so much. I think it's a it's a step away from the writing. So it feels like it gives me a break. But I get to bring the characters to life and I'm in my closet. So no one really sees my like wackadoodle facial expressions or like when I get so frustrated because I have to repeat the same line like five times, right?

Carissa Andrews: 21:05

All the swear words that come out.

Katie Cross: 21:06

And when you are like, you're like I do accents. And so I have to like stop and practice and relist and stop and practice. And then like I have to make sure that if I haven't done the accent and like five days I have to go listen, practice it, you know, so I'm like trying to keep consistency and stuff. So yeah, it's, it's, it's been super fun process. I really love it. I'm actually doing my own mastering now Arthur taught me how to do the mastering. So the whole process is mine, which has actually worked a lot because it's opened up some opportunities for me. And now I have this whole backlog of audio that I'm able to start divvying out as assets, because I can prove that people are interested in buying my books. And so I have these companies that are coming to me and saying, Hey, we want to license you book for seven years or, you know, like I've just been talking to Spotify in a whole bunch of other things because I have all of this stuff and a lot of audio. But places are like you do an audio book a month because that's even more unusual than an e book a month. And it just gives me diversification power, which I really love.

Carissa Andrews: 22:01

That's amazing. Okay, so now I need to know I have to understand what does a day in the life of Katy looks like in the process of writing these books like creating the audiobooks mastering the audiobooks, how does this go? Like? What does it look like?

Katie Cross: 22:14

Okay, so let's assume my kids are in school, Got ti. Kids in school edition. So I just I mean, I get up with my kids get them to the bus and they come home, usually at 745, I'm home. And I give myself at about eight o'clock. But usually eight o'clock, I stand a lot to work I don't I don't sit a lot to write I'm either it depends on what my current deadline is. I normally have like, two to three deadlines in a given day, like in a given time period that I have different deadlines that are sort of like I'm just aware of, if I have a writing deadline coming up, then I'll probably dedicate eight until 10. To writing I'll just I'll just stand or sit and write for that long. And then I always go for a hike around 10 to 11 with my dogs. So for an hour hike, come back, I work until lunch like 12 to one. And then usually after I eat lunch, and I've written for about three to four hours, then I'll come into here and I'll record for at least an hour. So I almost always at least because I've been catching up my my audio is all caught up it has been for about a year, there's still a few things I'm now re recording. So I had different voice actors. But now I'm going back through and re recording them so that all of my books are in my voice. And it's really consistent and predictable for my readers. I do at least an hour a day. But like I was just under deadline this last week because I had to kick an audio book to my proofing team. So I was doing sometimes two hours. And then once that's done, I'll go back out and it's normally about two or three o'clock at that point my kids get home at four, I take my kids the bus, my neighbor brings them home. So then I'll write or I'll do business and email for a couple hours like if I need it. So I tried to do all the writing and creative first and then I put the business stuff off until the afternoon when I'm more tired. If I'm if I am tired, the audio book process is more draining for me than the writing process. And I think it's just because I'm talking out loud and I have headphones on. And I'm doing more emotive acting as I like kind of get into the story and just like stop and listen and that kind of thing. And then I'm done, close my computer at done for the day. And I hang out with my kids and I run my house and I have fun with my family and then I get up and I do that again the next day. If I don't have an audio project, which does happen, then I will just write from eight to four. And I'll have like, I write outside on my porch a lot when the weather's good. I do an hour hike. Sometimes I'll go stack firewood or something I'll kind of like clean my house in between writing sprints but there are days where I very happily written for at least seven hours and it's really fun.

Carissa Andrews: 24:41

To me it just sounds like it's really just the consistency of your routine like you know what's what to be expected and so therefore you don't deviate from it because you've already locked in what has to get done.

Katie Cross: 24:52

I always know the target. I think that that was a mindset to learn to it's like not not just have I need to finish this job. draft it's I need to finish this draft by this day, because I'm waiting for it because that makes a difference. Like right now the draft came on. I promised my editing team to have it by the 10th. But before I was like, I just need to get finished. I was like, no, no, I gotta lock this in. And now I'm like, oh, like, I gotta get that done. So it like kind of drives that, Okay, I gotta focus on this, because I've, you know, like, I have to get like, certain things have to move into place for them to work out. So yeah, I think that's the other the other mindset here, that's really key. That was the game changer for me. I mean, there's a lot, there's a lot to learn. But the game changer for me was, I took on a lot of people's beliefs and fears about this process. So, so many people said to me, like, I would hate writing, if I wrote that much, or I can't do that, because I my writing would suck. That was another one that hit really close to homeless people. Like I couldn't write that much because my writing would suck. Because I guess the idea is that they pour so much of their energy that they're just like putting words down because they're trying to meet a word goal instead of actually caring about the draft. And I sat with that for a long time. And I remember thinking, I don't know if this is my fear. Like, I think I've picked this up from someone else. But then I asked myself, so I was a pediatric nurse before I became a writer. And I remember asking myself, like, you know, this doesn't make sense, because I would work 18 hour shifts, there was one time during RSV season, I worked 12 hour to 14 hour night shifts every night for two weeks solid. And I never got worse, as a nurse. Like, I remember thinking like, I would work 12 hour shifts, and sometimes I'd be tired and be ready to go home. But I was never like, I'm never doing this again, if this I'm a terrible nurse, I can't get this IV. So I remember thinking like, I don't know if that's true. And the moment I questioned, I don't know if this is true, I realized I've been mentally holding myself back from being able to write for long stretches of time. And I it's sort of unlocked it for me, like I don't have to hold on to that belief from someone else, right. And this is what I get the most feedback on as so many people say to me, I would never be able to write that much. I would hate it. Or I would never be able to write that much my writing would suck. And that is okay, and maybe true for them. The problem here was not that they were saying it to me, the problem was that I was picking it up and making it my truth. And it wasn't because I forgot. All right. So once I unlocked that, and I was like, no, no, it's different. For me, this is where I'm happiest. I also said to my editing team, you have got to be 1,000% honest about everything in the stories, because we are proving out whether I can do a book a month, with high quality, like the stories cannot suffer, they cannot suffer, if it's not working will scale back to every two months. But I need to know if the stories are getting better or worse. And they knew so key plus the instructions. And they were very honest, there were some things that were like, this really isn't working. But it was specific to the story overall, they said your writing is getting better with every book like these are so much better than what you did before. So that's when I knew I had just been holding on to someone else's fear.

Carissa Andrews: 28:08

Right? Well, that's okay. I talk a lot about that with just like manifestation stuff too. Like when when we started talking about, like the millionaire author, Destiny kind of concept. The reason I chose that freeze was because it was such a trigger phrase, people were like, I'll never make a million dollars is not there on that, you know, like, like Millionaire was just like something that would make them cringe internally and was like, but does that have to be true? Like, does that have to be true? question it. And that's just I found that to be such a valuable pause moment where you if you can actually stop and think and ask yourself that question. It is it's going to unlock some things for you. And you're going to be like, maybe yes, but maybe No, maybe it's not actually true. And if it's not true, then what gets to be more true for you? You know, so good. Yeah.

Katie Cross: 28:54

It can be scary to like, question the assertions, right? Like, no, this is not true for me, like, No, I'm not a narrator. But then like to be willing to say, but I, I physically could be light. Therefore, you know, like I could be and that willingness to say, well, maybe, is really what took me into the path. I'm so grateful for today. Right? Like, yes, grateful for the stabilization that being an audiobook marca has given me. And I think really, you don't necessarily have to have the answers, but just that willingness to say, well, maybe. And sometimes it may be like, Nope, definitely not reaffirmed that. Like, well, maybe I could, and then you find a different path, which is really fun and really cool.

Carissa Andrews: 29:39

Yeah, cuz sometimes it just means taking that step forward, just coming from again, curiosity, and like making a decision just to try and that decision to try can open up so many new things. I mean, we talk about this a lot where we're trying to manifest things and sometimes when we're in the beginning stages of it, it's just little steps first, in order to and you just keep making those little steps until all of a sudden you look back in your life. Holy cow, I've got 80 books in my back in three different versions. A

Katie Cross: 30:06

nd I mean, yes, it's amazing. I, when, you know, I asked people ask me, especially parents asked me a lot of advice, like, how do you do it? How do you maintain this? And really, my overwhelming response is this might even segue us a little bit. But it's the the big or little things add up to big things over time. I cannot, cannot overstate how grateful I am, when all of those little things suddenly add up to finish manuscripts that when I look back, I'm like, if I hadn't done the little moments, I'd still be weeks behind where I am right now. And I'm so grateful in that moment that those little things added up to something big. It's huge, right? It all matters. It all counts. Absolutely.

Carissa Andrews: 30:45

So let's take that wrong to the whole being a mom with a crazy schedule, like how do you balance all of this stuff? I mean, your mom, your spouse, your friend, you're an entrepreneur, like how do you keep this production schedule and just still stay sane? Yeah,

Katie Cross: 31:00

I mean, it comes down to big rocks, little sand, right? You know, the the story of like, you have a jar, and you can't get all the sand and all the rot like you can't put the sand in and then get the big rocks, you have to put the big rocks and then sand. I think I just no way big rocks. And it's it's always like health and family first, right? Like, I still work out, I hike my dogs. I take care of my kids, we have like one on one time with each child, I like help around the house. So I know my big things. And then I just I just really sort of have like an organized approach to it. I know. Like, we're gonna do laundry on the weekends, it's a Saturday and Sunday thing. So I don't worry about it during the week, right? My kids are starting doing chores. So I know that 30 minutes of my day is going to be teaching them how to do the chores, and letting it be imperfect. That's the thing. Like, it's fine that the spoons and the forks are crossed in the drawer, I don't need to stop time to fix them. And I don't want my kids to see that either. So it's like, yeah, the floor could probably have been vacuumed better, but I'm just gonna let it be good enough, because my eight year old did or whatever. So I think letting go of expectations of perfection has been really powerful for me. And then really the the winner here for keeping this production schedule in the midst of all this is I just know exactly when I'm supposed to be where so that's what I mean by that. Assume a four week month, pretty much every month, anything more than that is going to be bonus for me, the first week of the month, all that I know, is I'm going to be finished like finalizing a plot and audiobook recording. And then I'll sprinkle in some like email scheduling and business stuff. The second week of the month, I am first drafting. That's it, like I'll spend an hour catching up with readers answering emails, assigning tasks to my team a day, if even that much, but the rest is just first drafting. And I do anywhere from 10 to 15,000 words a day when I first draft because I'm also writing up to six to seven hours, right. And sometimes I can do that in four hours. And then I have some time to whatever the third week of the month is second drafting. And that's where I go clean it up. That one's my longest. So sometimes that spills into the fourth week. And then the fourth week I do a big overhaul. Third draft usually takes about three days because I'm zipping through it. And then on the 25th of every month, the 25th that is when I send my book to editing. And on the 25th of the month, all of my edits from the previous month are ready to go. So I either start doing those edits so that by the first week of the next month, I'm ready to audiobook record, or I'm like editing and I'm plotting, I'm catching up on business stuff. I'm taking a break, I have about a five to six days span, usually where I can have a lot of fluidity and say what needs to be done. What's the priority because I don't have to be drafting right now. That's kind of what it has looks like when school is in session. Right? But my kids are and I also have had up until now like younger kids. So you only have like a three and a four year old like my four year old did T ball. But that wasn't a big deal. But now I have kids that are like we're looking at like football and baseball and soccer. So we have all these other activities. So what So next year, it's gonna be different for me. And I think this is important. Because next year, I I'm going to probably back off my publishing schedule. So it's every other month that I published because I just have a little more mom juice I have to give to the kids for after school stuff and still run the house. So I'll just back down a little bit and say, Yeah, I just know now I'm going to have to give me more time into into my kids, which is they are number one, right? So that's why I said I'm doing a book a month through the end of this year because we're stacked to be able to make that true. But in 2025 We'll probably be doing something different like the Kickstarter is actually by me time horizon. I can do up a lot of that setup right. Now the Kickstarter is by me some time and then just depending on some announcements that we have rolling out, we'll kind of see what it is but that I mean that's that's basically the gist, like I know when and where the big things have to happen and I'll Be like, okay, it's the second week of the month, I'm halfway through the second week, I'm only a quarter of the way through the second draft either have to pick up the pace, or I'm gonna have to pick up the slack and the third week, and I think I can do that because blah, blah, blah. And so I just in generally can, like, look at something and know, like I'm ahead of or behind the game and then react accordingly. Yeah, I think that's helpful.

Carissa Andrews: 35:21

Also, that's so good. Now, do your kids know about like your routine and your schedule, and like what mom does, so that they have kind of a grasp and concept on that as well?

Katie Cross: 35:30

Yeah, so well, they kind of do, like, I tried to be very clear, like, what what I so now that it's summer, all bets are off, right. And my goal is to like, really enjoy summer with them and be outside in the mountains. I live in the mountains of Montana, literally, in the mountains of Montana, we're at the end of a dirt road up in the mountains. And we want to enjoy this with them. So in the morning, I wake up at like six or seven, just whenever I naturally wake up, and I just the kids know, I'm going to work for a couple hours. And I usually try to get my writing in. And then I'll tell them like, I'm going to work until nine o'clock. And then it's Mom time. And we'll do mom time until like two or three. So we're doing our fun activity for the day we're playing, we're like hiking or dogs, we're just doing whatever. And then when they're starting to get tired, because we play outside a lot. And we have screen time. They know that when they're on screens, mom is also on a screen. So we all do screen time together for like an hour. And that's where I'll catch up with my team or whatever. And then then I after the hour, we close the computer, and it's back to like, whatever it is we're doing. And then usually in the evening after I put them to bed around eight, I'll log in and get like another hour. And if I'm not too tired, but if I'm too tired, I'll go back to bed, or I'll go to bed.

Carissa Andrews: 36:38

So yeah, it's very, you flow with it, though. I love that concept. Because there's so many people that get rigid about like, what their schedule should look like. And then if they get sick or someone in their family gets sick, or their kids have something that goes on, they feel like they're falling behind because they haven't given themselves permission to allow that ebb and flow of like how it gets to work for them. You know what I mean? Is Yes, so good.

Katie Cross: 37:00

I've been there. Like, I've totally been stressed out because I should have been here and it's the third week and I'm really in the second weeks work and the kids were sick and whatever. And my husband sort of just like, is this worth it? If you're like so miserable? Like, is it really doable? If you're so stressed about meeting deadlines, and it was cool that he asked that because it really forced him introspection, so that I could re calibrate expectations and my mindset into how can I approach this with a little more flow, and not such rigidity, right. And then it actually for me came down to trust, like, I just had to trust that either A, everything was going to be fine. If I didn't hit the deadline, like these are books, no one's dying, or be I'll just make it happen. So I have four days to finish this book, and have it ready for edits. And I haven't even started the third draft, which is usually where the third draft is gonna take about four days. And I'm looking at that, and I'm just like, I'm not gonna stress about this, like I'm choosing not to stress about this, because I trust myself to get it done. And usually going into that energy versus the stress, harried gotta get done, blah, blah, the same amount of work gets done, but with a lot less energy output, and I probably write better with just a better energy of trust. Absolutely. That has been it's, it seems woowoo. Like, I'll tell my husband, like, I trust myself to get it done. It's fine. And it usually does get done. And like, what's one of the day if I tell my team like, Hey, I'm going to do on the 11th instead? No one's like, got a gun in my head. Right? So it's, it's gonna be fine.

Carissa Andrews: 38:25

Everything's great. And I think you're you're definitely leveraging the Parkinson's Law, we're work expands or contracts to fit the time allotted for it, right? And so if you trust yourself, you know that like, you can go into that extra day, you're gonna you're gonna make it happens, like all those teenage college kids that are like doing waiting until the last minute, like the night before, or big papers do and they actually make it happen. 25 pages long, but yet they still manage it. Exhausting concept. Yeah, yeah, totally.

Katie Cross: 38:51

Like, at this point, I've just the thing that I've learned over and over again, is success is almost always just mindset. Absolutely.

Carissa Andrews: 38:57

I 100% agree with you. So what is your number one mindset strategy that you deploy? I mean, I think we've covered a lot of them, but like, what is your number one recommendation or MINDSET STRATEGY that you could not live without or think that other authors probably need to leverage more?

Katie Cross: 39:11

Okay, this is the hardest question I always ask. And I'm always so grateful. But what I have made myself, learn how to do and try to do with some grace is to ask people that are not me. Hey, I think I'm having a mindset issue. Can you tell me from your side what you see. And by example, for q1, it was a stressful kind of crazy q1, I had some stuff to figure out. There's some cashflow problems. And I basically said to my consultant and my bookkeeper, I said, I think I'm noticing some fear based decisions. I think I'm having some mindset issues. What do you see from your side that I can do to improve? And to ask that question? Yeah, it's like, yeah, you gotta be ready for like the feedback and like our egos take a blow but they work kinda like, do you really want to know? And I was like, I want to improve, like, I don't want to live like this, I don't want to be stressed, I want to do better. And I think I'm sabotaging myself. I just don't see it. But that has to be what's happening because they don't understand. And they're like, Yeah, I laid it out, right. I was like, Oh, I just took it and sat with it. Like, I think asking outside of yourself, right, like people that you trust, that you can explain in a very short sentence or explanation. This is what's going on, I think I have a mindset issue, can you give me insight from what you see of me, was really powerful. But then second to that, and sort of in conjunction with it is you have to be willing to sit with what they say. And that doesn't mean that they have your answer. That means they are making observations from outside of you that you can leverage to get perspective. But then you sitting with it, accepting your imperfections, figuring out your best path, and trusting that you'll find it is really the next step. And that's what I did. So I got that feedback from a bookkeeper for my consultant, and then from my husband, right, and like, That was scary, too, because he's so close to me, and, and it's all done with love, of course, like most people understand, like, I'm trying to improve and not be judgmental, and just work on this. So I need your help to do that. And usually some of the great love and then I sit with it, and have to breathe through it and feel the emotions and then decide the next step after that. I think that's my biggest mindset trick is it's not think straight on confrontation.

Carissa Andrews: 41:30

Yeah, it kind of isn't a sense. So I don't know if you're willing to share what you learn from, like that last example that you gave, but was there any, like powerful insights that came through where you're like, oh, my gosh, I really didn't see myself doing that thing. Totally.

Katie Cross: 41:44

It was control. Right. So I said to them, I was like, I think I'm, I think I'm struggling with control. But I'm not really sure. And I, I mean, to be like, let's be totally, like transparent here. This will be so great for this podcast. I said, I was like, I feel like there's a perception of success that I put into the world. That is true, but doesn't feel true. But people believe things of me that aren't real. And I don't know how to control that facade. Like I tried to be very open and vulnerable. But people are gonna believe whatever they want of me. And that feels out of control. And I was like, I'm just I'm just trying to write books, right? Yeah. They, they sort of gave to me, they're like, Yeah, I definitely had a control issue. I just didn't see it until they're like, Yep, you're trying to control this, you're trying to control this, you're trying to control this, you're trying to control this. And these are the results. And this is where it's failing. And I was like, Oh, yeah. And then they said was basically, you hold too much weight, and what your people's perception of you is, you're trying to control how people perceive you. And that's insanity. And you just need to like, let go of what people care about you, which is such obvious advice. But when you're looking at it from a perspective of like being in the public eye, people forming assumptions about you based on how you present yourself, even when you're trying to be like the most transparent open. That advice takes on a lot more ballast. And so I realized I had to get to a place where I didn't actually care what anyone thought of me, right? Like I what they think of me as their business, not mine. And not feel like I had to control public perception of whatever. Like as popularity increases, as more people read my books, I don't have control over that. I don't have control over what people say or think about me, but I was trying to write Sure, sure. Yeah. And so it was just like learning how to sit with that. And, and let go of that control and understand that this isn't my business what they think of me. You know, I mean, obviously.

Carissa Andrews: 43:41

I love that this is your lesson this year, too, because I've talked about on the podcast before, but my my word of the year is let go. So I have a bracelet. That's let go. So it's like, because I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm a double Virgo. And so I have control issues at times as well. Just I'm like, let go. Yeah. Trying to remember the song. Yeah. Just trying to like, chill out and just let things be and trust that it gets to work out and trust that, you know, the like you said, their perceptions don't matter. My perceptions don't even really matter. Unless I am putting myself on the wrong path. You know what I mean?

Katie Cross: 44:15

So it's like, background. Yeah, yeah. So it was it was a gut check. Because when anyone tells you you care too much what people think about you, it's not a compliment, right? And it was, it was done from a place of love. And I had to really sit back and be like, that's not true. Maybe it's true, please, it's totally true. Right? Oh, no doubt in that process for a bit and like understand, oh, they they want the best for me, they love me and I asked for this. Right and then like dig deeper. Like why why why? Why am I trying to chill and there were actual things like in the company that I was trying to control that my bookkeeper was like, why are you doing this? Like why aren't you giving this to Samantha my VA and I was like well, she's so busy. And she's like, but have you asked, and I was like, ah, you know, so I like once maybe. And I was just very humble. I was just like, I just had a whole dose of truth given to me. And I think all of this is correct. And I just want to ask what you think of this. So I basically put the same to my VA and I said, this is the control that I'm struggling with. This is why this is what I want, how I want to improve, what's your side of this? And she shared it with me. And then I was like, What do you want to do more of? And it turns out, I was assuming things totally wrong to read your viewpoint, right. Like, she's like, I could totally take on more hours. I'm not that busy. Like, that's, that's how our brain finds the truth that we want to affirm.

Carissa Andrews: 45:50

It really does. Oh, gosh, it sounds like. So the lesson I'm also hearing here too, is like, there is a fine balance between seeing the need for control, like having your weeks divvied out where you you know, your routine, you know, how things are going to work, you know, if you're ahead of the schedule, or behind the schedule, and all the things, there's a power in that because it holds you accountable and keeps you on track. But there's also that line where you cross over where you get to be too much control. So there's, there's a balance between having both. And I think it's so powerful to be in that balance, because you need to know when to let it go and give it to someone else, or have someone else help or get more feedback, like you just said, but still know, your, your flow so that those boundaries, because I think for people like us probably having those boundaries, having that schedule, it feels good to it keeps us like our minds happy. We're not We're not like like, I have no idea where we are right now. I'm stuck, I'm lost and whatever. It's it keeps us balanced in that in that place. But it does get to the point where if you're not willing to, I don't know, shift things or guess, you know, check your assumptions.

Katie Cross: 46:54

And what I learned too, is that I know when I'm in a healthy mindset around like, well, like, I need to know where I am in my process. So I can establish realistic deadlines, right, that's healthy, that's back. But there's, there's a shadow side to everything, right. So that balance that you're talking about. For me, I found that my rumble strips so to speak, I know when I'm kind of veering out of the lane is when I'm making decisions from a place of fear. That's when control I've slipped out of my lane, and I'm leaning toward control because I'm afraid of something, right, or I'm letting go so much that I just don't even make deadlines anymore. Because I don't care what happens. That means I'm also afraid and I'm trying to like let go. So for me that wasn't really ever happens. It's more like this, like fear base, I got to take over and make sure everything happens exactly the way I want. Which actually was was actually not good for my company. Like, they were saying you're gonna you're steering it into the ground by trying to hold the control when you don't let anyone else speak into these things. Like you need to stand up and be instead of sit down and do. And that was like the lesson I took away. And I was like, Oh my gosh, they're so right. And then as I've, as I've like said, yeah, maybe they're right, and I've looked at it, and I've sat with it. And it took time, I was like, not only were they stupid, right, but they were so like on target, I was gonna run my company into the ground, if I kept going on that path. And allowing other people to breathe into the work and to take responsibility opens me up to stand up and be more than sit down and do like the things that someone else can do that I can always be Katie, and like put that forward front for the readers that need me right and for myself. So it's taken months to kind of iron out and realize just how right they were. And it was very, it was a very humbling experience that I'm extremely grateful for, because it has changed how I look at how I look at myself and how I look at the world. So now there's a great deal more fluidity in terms of, do I need, like, there's a great deal more trust, I should say. So instead of like, I'm going to create the cash flow I want through monthly launches. I'm now stepping back and be like, I'm gonna let go of some of those reins and make space for the unexpected, right? So I love this right where I'm just gonna trust that if I don't launch every month, it'll be fine. So I don't have a scheduled lunch for August. And I normally would have been like, we gotta find something. But now it's like, actually, I have a whole bunch of irons in the fire. And there might be opportunities I don't see. So I'm just gonna like, let August be open and just see what magic can happen. Yes. Yeah, trust that even if I don't have a release in August, that maybe the lack of a release will build up greater sales for September so it would make up for it. Or something great is coming that I didn't see or maybe nothing and it was fine.

Carissa Andrews: 49:43

Right like so interesting that you're saying this right now because I just had the most crazy wild, like manifestation type situation happened today. There was a so back in February on my anniversary, my husband and I went to Barnes Noble. That's of course where we go because that's what we do to celebrate right? And Jensen Cheryl's book you are a badass, for some reason was calling to me. And I'm like, I don't know why I've got you're a badass at making money, but I need this book. And of course, I started reading it, and then I read, you're a badass at making money again. And I felt this call to have to be on her to see if she had coaching, basically. And so she had a coaching thing that was opening up in two weeks in April. And I was like I'm in. I didn't even know why. Like, I was just open to like, whatever was being led. And so then I went into her first like group coaching session. And I'm like, I don't, I don't know why I'm here. Like, I just really because I had no questions. Like everything. She was being asked for questions that I usually get asked in my own courses. And so I'm like, I don't know why I'm here. And in the same time frame, February, I started doing like, solo meditations, where I was just myself just binaural beats and that's it. And I got the hit right after right after that call. But I was supposed to, like the whole reason this was all lined up was because I'm supposed to ask Jensen Charile live, I couldn't, I couldn't text her. This was my brain telling me in my meditation, I have to ask her live on one of those calls to come on to the podcast. And that's why I was like, drawn to her in the whole thing. And it was like, it was like, it was very clear. Like I saw it visually in my head. And that the answers already Yes. Okay, because I promised my listeners on one of the podcast episodes that any hit that comes about, I'm going to I'm going to take this the notch and I'm gonna see what happens, right. So it was like, next week, I got all excited to go. I was like ready to ask her the question. I was like three away when the call ended. And we had to wait until the following the following call. So third call, I'm like third up on on the thing. And I finally get to ask her the question. I asked her, she's like, Oh, okay, well send an email to you know, meet and I'll take a look and whatever. A week went by two weeks went by, nothing happened. And I realized, Oh, I send it to the wrong email. I sent it to Nate and not the team. All right. So I reaffirmed reset, and just just in case you didn't see it because I send it to the wrong email. And then Nate responded, and he was like, Yep, okay, great. She'll take a look at and get back to you. Another week went by nothing was extended by another week by we've we've been sitting here like her for weeks. I think since I asked that question. This morning. She finally signed up for the podcast. She's coming on. No, she is yeah, it's on like, sometimes you just gotta trust it. Like you just follow those nudges and just know that it's gonna something interesting, exciting is gonna happen to you. And it's gonna come in at the right time. So August to me sounds like the same thing for you. Something amazing is coming. You don't know what it's gonna be yet, but it's gonna be epic.

Katie Cross: 52:28

Oh, my gosh. Jensen cero. Yeah. Right, just like my oh, gee, mindset person like about us? And then you are badass at making money? Yes, like, my first deep dive into that world. And I love her. So congratulations.

Carissa Andrews: 52:41

Thank you, thank you. But it was just like I had no, like, when I started, I had no like, no inclination, nothing about asking her this question. But it was an opportunity that came through meditation that I was just open for scared out of my mind to ask her that question live, because everyone else is asking, you know, how do I manifest blue, whatever. And I'm like, Guess what, Jen, I have to ask if I'm on my show, because that's what I'm supposed to.

Katie Cross: 53:05

Absolutely. Well, I think what I love most about your story is that you trusted a timeline that wasn't yours. Ya know what I'm trying to lean into more now, as I like, understand the relationship that I have with control. And like, I'm letting it go as you have your year. And I that forces me to then say, well, if I'm not going to hold to that, I have to hold to trust and trusting a timeline that's not mine. So it is that whole? Yeah, I don't know. Like, she might not ever respond. And I can be okay with that. And yeah, nothing may happen in August. And I can be okay with that. And I just think in general, I have, I'm trying to lean more towards the trust that everything's gonna be fine. And that's part of the reason, I don't know that we're going to be doing once a month book launches in 2025. We probably will, because I just love writing. But I also don't feel this need to say this is what we're doing. Because I love understanding that when you allow space for magic to happen, the magic happens. But we so often closed down the space for magic.

Carissa Andrews: 54:05

Yeah, yeah, we really do. We do. It's like we try to control all the minutes of the day. And then we don't realize that all along there were nudges that were trying to come in, but we hadn't created the the mindspace to tell it pull them in to be even able to precede them, let alone act on them.

Katie Cross: 54:21

Yeah. So that's where, you know, when I got so tight into this control, and I have to be on the schedule, and these books and blah, blah, and my husband's like, you're so stressed, is this worth it? I was like, I don't know. And some of it is just like the way you think about it, where you can say, I'm choosing not to be stressed about the fact that my kid is sick, and I'm gonna sit on the couch with them and snuggle them because I'm not going to do that much longer. And then I realized, Oh, if I don't hold the control I have to hold to trust. And so I will just trust that even though my kids sick I'm gonna figure this out because I always do and it might not look the way I wanted, but it will probably be better than what I created. And that's what I think my consultant my bookkeeper trying to tell me like, when you hold so tight and you don't want other People breathe into your company, you lose the opportunity for something better, because they might bring something better that you couldn't. And meanwhile, while they're doing that work, you're up being. And yeah, he did in order to lead this company.

Carissa Andrews: 55:14

I love that so much. That is such a great lesson. And so many people need to hear it. And I think my listeners are gonna be like, Oh, because I mean, I think about all the authors who are trying to do all the things and they haven't even hired a VA yet. You know what I mean?

Katie Cross: 55:26

Yeah. Oh, there's so much that it goes to show that like 10 years, I have a fairly strong reputation in the reading and publishing industry. I've been at this for a long time. I have a lot of books, and I still struggle with that, like, this VA for seven years. She's walking best friends. I love her so much. And I was just afraid. And I was creating my own proof to affirm my fear. And she wanted the work and she's doing phenomenally right. So it's like, yeah, like, even now I struggle with that. So I don't think anyone should judge themselves about it, because we all do it. Right. It's just new levels, new devils.

Carissa Andrews: 55:57

I was just gonna say the same thing. Yes, we're all working on the same. It's, it's kind of like, and I talk about this sometimes. But it's the lessons are a spiral. It's like you learn it on the outside of that spiral. And it cyclones inward and until you really understand it, but it's like, you have to keep circling it until it gets so ingrained that it becomes second nature. But sometimes you're learning it an awful lot of times.

Katie Cross: 56:20

It's a beautiful metaphor. I appreciate you saying that. Because there was frustration for me. It's like, oh, my gosh, like, I've been in therapy for years over my need for control, right? Like, like, how am I still doing this? But I think that's such a beautiful way of looking at it and such a hopeful way, because there is an end, right? But yeah, but on your spiral down, you can look up and see how far you've come? Absolutely. Like you're actually like going somewhere. And eventually it will come to a place where you look back and you don't struggle with anymore, and you didn't realize it. So I appreciate that metaphor, because it gives me something visual. When I get frustrated.

Carissa Andrews: 56:50

I can be like, Nope, we're good. I just have a little just doing another loop. Do spiral. It's okay.

Katie Cross: 57:00

Yeah, I've been thinking about how to deal with the frustration of how am I still struggling with the same problem?

Carissa Andrews: 57:07

Yeah, and we do, and we're learning it all the time with the things that don't frustrate us, too, right? We're learning the same same types of things over and over again. And it's just the ones that really annoy us that are like, Oh, why am I here? Again? Like, what?

Katie Cross: 57:21

Those are the hard ones? Right? Those are the deep ones that really annoying, right?

Carissa Andrews: 57:25

Absolutely, absolutely. Um, so I can still relate to that. Well, Katie, thank you so much. I think my audience has learned so much from you again, and like taking so many cool and valuable insights and mindset tamps to be able to really just level themselves up this year and do some really great thing. So where again, can my audience go to find you find out more about you? What do you do? Oh, Cara? All the things.

Katie Cross: 57:47

Yeah. So KatieCrossBooks.com. It's really your best but I'm on like Instagram, it's @KCWriting. I'm on Facebook. You can look up Katie Cross Author.

Carissa Andrews: 57:57

I think Google is your friend.

Katie Cross: 58:02

KatieCrossBooks.com is really the best spot. There's a contact page. Or you can email me It's Katie@kcrosswriting.com.

Carissa Andrews: 58:07

Awesome. Awesome. Well, Katie, thank you so much for being here.

Katie Cross: 58:10

It's so fun to chat with you. We got to do it again.

Carissa Andrews: 58:12

Absolutely, always. Thanks so much. Well, there you have it, guys. Every time I speak with Katie, I absolutely adore speaking with her. Because we have such a great conversation and so much good stuff comes up. And I love the concept of, you know, when you're getting hung up on things, and when you don't know what it is you're missing. But you know, you're the problem really, when it comes to like what's happening in your life around you reaching out to those who are close to see what they see, to find out, you know, are they seeing a mindset issue that's hanging up the business that's hanging up your progress, so that you can get more clarity, I think that's really a key benefit of doing things. And of course, being able to let go and just trust that you would get to have and be and do and receive anything you want, right that this guests to work for you. That energy of trust is a really important component that unknowing, right, there's a level of knowing inside trust to it's like, you know that this is going to work out some way shape or form, you know, that on the other side, when things aren't coming together the way you anticipated or whatever, that you get to still be okay, at the end of it. It's all going to work out for you. And so when you have that knowing in that trust, it's easier to let go. It's easier to lean into whatever is coming your way so that you can just kind of push yourself through it. And I love that key whenever that you know those difficult feelings were coming up. That radical confrontation of the feeling is really important too. She mentioned how, you know when she did ask the question like What do you see? And they gave her the answer. She didn't just stick with that. No, I'm not. She went with the no I'm not sure Maybe I am, oh crap I really am, and then sat with the feeling of what it feels like to know that this is the case, so that she could integrate it, receive that information, and then release the information, release the story, release the version of her that was doing that thing, right. And healing through that stuff is so important healing through those types of limiting belief and programming that we put on ourselves is so key. And that's part of the reason why I'm putting together the masterclass is coming up this Friday. So Friday, July 19, I'm going to be hosting a masterclass on core wounds, and talking about the healing of core wounds and why it's so important for us to be able to move forward and to receive more of what we want and less of what we don't want it because until we can confront those ideas of what's not working for us, we can't even recognize that we're doing it right, Katie didn't recognize that her need for control was the thing that was really stopping the flow of energy, until she was able to look at it more clearly. Right. And then when she shifted it, things were able to then flow again. And it's the same for us. Like if you're seeing patterns that continue to repeat, and you keep cycling around. But it doesn't feel as though you're learning it on a deeper level, it just feels like you're back at the same starting point. It might be that you have a core wound, or you have a subconscious program that is running that you need to confront in order to let go of. And so that's what this particular masterclass is all going to be about. I know there's many authors who are stuck in this, you know, poverty mentality, and they can't seem to find a way out of it. And so for us to be able to identify it, and then release it. It's so key. And then of course, I got to be weird. And I have to add in a layer of ChatGPT and how Chat can help you uncover your specific wound without having to you know, go through books or to do a bunch of different things. You actually can answer questions with chat, and it can help you identify those core wounds so much faster. I love it. So if you're interested in joining that masterclass, make sure you get signed up. The link will be in our show notes today, which is authorrevolution.org/244. Of course, I will also have more information on Katie Cross and everything that she's done so you can find out and link out to her. One other thing I would like to mention is that if you heard Katie talk about being an audiobook narrator for her own audiobooks, I would really love for you to check out own voice audiobooks is the course that I just created for you guys all about how to be the narrator of your own audiobooks. So if you are also the type of person who's like I have this back list, it would cost me tons of money to hire a narrator, I have more time than I have money at the moment. Or maybe you just are interested in being the voice of your audiobooks because of the fact that you have number one, you have the control, kind of ironic, I know. But also, you want to be able to put the inflection and you want to play around with the concept of audiobook narration, I walk you through from start to finish not only talking about, you know, your voice, and the programs and the equipment and all the things, but I walk you through the entire process that I use every time I do my audiobooks. And it's something that I've obviously done for a long time, I have audiobooks for almost all of my books at this point. And I'm continuing to do the process not quite as prolifically as Katie. But at the same point. It's the same type of thing, right? So check out own voice audiobooks, I will have a link to that as well in the show notes. Because I find that for me being in control of my entire production line, it's not about the control. It's about I like the process. I like all of the aspects of it. And like Katie said, when I am narrating my audiobooks, it's like a relief in a sense, because I don't have to put the brainpower into writing it. But I do have to put the brainpower into reading and speaking it. So it's a different kind of energy. It's a different kind of vibe. Plus, it puts me back in the vibe of the story where I'm like, Yeah, this is this is good. I wrote this well, or I really enjoyed this scene or whatever it is. So check that out. I would love for you to be a part of that program. And of course, if you've got any questions, you can always reach out to me as well. So guys, I hope you enjoy this podcast episode. I hope you enjoyed all that Katie had to talk about. Make sure you click over to the show notes to go out and check out Katie some more check out her Kickstarters when they are launching again. And of course have a wonderful week. So go forth and start your author revolution.