Cooking Up Some Author Automations
Sometimes you just need the right ingredients to make your workflow recipe better!
You know how sometimes when you’re cooking and you can’t get the recipe quite right, but then you taste a flavor somewhere—perhaps a friend’s version of that same recipe—and you think, “EUREKA, I’VE GOT IT!” and then you finally make that perfect meal the way you have always dreamed of making it?
Yeah, me neither. But that’s just because I can’t cook. 🤣 But, the analogy is still valid, so stick with me here.
Despite the fact that my kids like to tell people, “Mommy could burn salad,” I just had my own recipe eureka moment today. I am so excited, I feel like my head will explode! 🤯
Instead of a meal, the recipe I’ve been cooking up is an automation system. For years, I have been dabbling in various platforms and hiring wonderful people to work through them and test them out with me. And, as with the kids in the cooking scenario, I have asked these friends and VAs to sample what I created—maybe even add some spices of their own—to see if any of it was actually decent. The fact is, just like my cooking, much of it was not.
I used these failed automations to manage the editing and posting of my podcast, New Mexicast/New Mexi-Castaways, which chronicled our life aboard two sailing catamarans. For about 5 years, I experimented with platforms like Trello, Slack, Google Sheets, Zapier, Dropbox, Alitu, ClickUp and many, many others, trying to set up systems that would allow my team to edit and post my podcast even while I was losing sight of the shore with my family. Miraculously, we did manage to post about 100 episodes this way, but it was messy. Towards the end, I realized things were falling through the cracks and I was paying for a lot of unnecessary busy work to be done. I knew it was not the fault of my team, so I had to assume I was the problem. But, it turns out self-flogging does not lead to joyful productivity.
Ask me how I know.
Then, about a year ago I decided to become a full-time author and put my podcasting on the shelf. It was such a relief not to have to worry about managing the AutoFlow system (as I call my automation workflows) anymore. I could just write and write and write, and let all the rest of it go.
The good news is, that led to finally finishing my first conspiracy thriller, “Death Wounds” and getting it up on Amazon as a preorder. 🥳 (You can be one of the first to buy it by clicking here!) And, the equally exciting news is that the second book of the trilogy is already written, too. Not to mention about 50% of the third book. So, on the writing front I have to give myself a big thumbs up! 👍
The bad news is, I have missed all the other stuff. I always loved working with my team. I loved geeking out on building automations and figuring out ways to make things work more smoothly. I loved finding ways to do my work while adventuring with my family. Still, I had to admit that my workflows were just not working with the busy lifestyle of a traveling mom. There were gaps between what I envisioned and what my workflows actually looked like and I feared I just had to scrap them altogether.
Then, I met
at the Author Nation conference in Las Vegas (where, I was honored to also be a speaker this year).
Chelle is also a digital nomad who uses automations to allow her to live the traveling lifestyle she loves. Only, Chelle is doing it much, much better than I ever did. How do I know? Because Chelle is making a living at it, which is something I never did. Instead, I had a very fun, very time-consuming venture which supported others but which I often called a “jobby,” a hobby that looked like a job. Obviously that was not sustainable. Which is why I am so excited about possibly finding the missing ingredients for my workflow recipe, thanks to a class Chelle taught this morning through her publication,
.
Admittedly, the class was a bit like drinking from a firehose for me, but it was still wildly thirst-quenching. As Chelle walked participants through her very cool workflows, there was a lot I knew I won’t be using, since I prefer AI-free or at least AI-scarce workflows, but there was still plenty there for me. I can’t wait to play with the platforms she recommended to see if I can finally get that AutoFlow system up and running the way I have envisioned for so long. That way, I can enjoy more adventures with my beloveds. In between all the writing, writing, writing, of course!