Episode 01: Introduction and Goal Setting

Cassie Newell (00:00.353)
Welcome to The Author Next Door, where hosts Angela Haas and Cassie Newell chat about the wild world of writing and publishing. Join them for weekly episodes and special monthly guests. Pull up a chair. The conversation starts now. Welcome to episode one. I'm Cassie Newell and with me is Angela Haas. And this is our intro and inaugural episode.

We are so happy you are here. Let's sit at the table and chat about who we are and what you will love about this podcast. So I'm going to kick it off with my co-hostess with the mostest, Angela Haas. Give us a little bit about your background. Give a little introduction, what listeners can expect and the vision you have for this podcast. Thanks, Cassie. And hello everyone out there in the writer's universe.

I'm Angela Haas and my background is actually not based in writing, even though I've been writing since I was a child and filling spiral bound notebooks with stories because as I aged myself, we didn't have social media. So we had to keep ourselves busy that way, but grew up in a retail background and 30 years later, my husband and I own eight.

brick and mortar retail stores. And I was a gallery buyer in that life and a book buyer and just a general manager of those stores. And I've stepped back so that I can focus more on writing, but something happened just there. So I still help with the business more doing event planning and marketing and things like that. And just general training if I need to.

And then I actually in between stepping away from the business a little bit and kind of before COVID, I was a college professor teaching mass media, public speaking, and just general communication and business classes. COVID hits. We have to teach online and then due to just falling enrollments, I

Cassie Newell (02:16.342)
wasn't getting the classes I wanted, stepped back and decided, you know what? I'm going to just try to write full time. So here I am. And I actually have two books out that are about older women superheroes and sort of a fun Avengers retelling. And I have a romance coming out at the end of January, which is exciting. And now I'm doing this podcast with my lovely friend. So I'm

hoping listeners can get out of this. We are going to do weekly releases. So each week we are going to have table talk discussions about just chats on what's going on in the industry, topics that we feel like as authors we're either currently dealing with or have dealt with. And then we're going to have guests that are going to join us periodically at the table to

share their experiences and their expertise. This podcast I'm so excited about because I've been thinking about this for a long time. My reasons for wanting to do this deal with the feeling that I had after I've published my first book. I don't know if any listeners or other authors can relate to this, but publish your first book.

And I kind of had this now what feeling because all the marketing advice starts to hit you and you're trying to balance marketing with writing. And I kind of noticed that for me, the resources shrank a little bit about how you navigate what I call and what I feel like is my awkward sophomore year in the world of indie publishing. So I wanted to kind of fill that gap and try to create a podcast and chats.

that people could relate to because knowing that I know some knowledge, so I'm not starting at zero, but I'm still learning and I'm still on the journey like a lot of our listeners are. And that was a lot of the why behind why I wanted to do this. And it's the vision of trying to create something that authors can relate to and feel like you've got someone also going through the same thing. You're not alone.

Cassie Newell (04:38.126)
if we can help other authors from the experiences we've had, that kind of makes you feel really good at the end of the day. So yeah, that's my background, my vision. Cassie, tell us about you. I'm Cassie Newell and I've been published since 2016. I write fiction under C.K. Darling as a romance author that's coming out this year. I also write as C.M. Newell for young adult in both fantasy and poetry.

And I have non-fiction books as Cassie Newell via my coaching platform, which is the Sassy Writing Coach. I also work outside of this industry and I work in the pharmaceutical industry actually. And I have for over 25 years. I came into creative writing as a result of later in life, really. I've always been an artist first and I've always loved stories and connecting art with stories.

And my husband got me my very first Kindle and I was devouring things that I just couldn't put down. And I kept going, I could do this. I would make the ending this way, or I'd let this couple get together, or I would do it this way. So I took some creative writing classes and the rest is history. So I've been at it, I guess in 2006 or seven writing and finally published my first story, as I said, in 2016.

So my vision for this particular podcast, actually, I would say this is the brainchild of Angela's and she said, we should get together. And I love that idea. love giving back to the community with what experience I have, but I also am a lifelong learner. To me, it also gives me energy and gives me an opportunity, A, to sit down with a good friend.

at the table and chat about the industry as a whole, but also the fact that we're giving back to other people who are looking to break into the industry or as you said, in that sophomore, junior year of, you know, figuring this thing out. because when they say, write a book, it sounds very simple in a one sentence structure. And there's so much more else we'll get into. and so.

Cassie Newell (07:02.882)
Some of the main points you can expect from my side, I really like the business side of writing and we'll talk about that. In addition, each month is a theme that deep dives into related topics with the guests that we talked about. Angela talked about, and we also just to kind of orient us, we have themes for every month. And right now in January, it's all about mindset for us. So.

This is our big intro for the new year. It's so exciting. We are so excited. This has been building up in culmination, I don't know, since February of 2024. So here we are and it's like our big debut. So we're cutting the ribbon. And as we're doing that, we're going to go ahead and get into our episodes. You get a feel and a flavor for what to expect. So.

Since it's January, we're going to talk about setting writing goals, what works, what doesn't work. And we're just going to dive in. It's basically a table chat and hopefully this rings true to you, gives you some great ideas and tips and things. And let's get started. So with that, Angela, what do you set annual goals? Like how do you, for your writing business, how do you look forward and how do you plan? Tell me your process. Well,

I do set goals. The other thing I want to tell listeners that we like to have fun together and we both have so many great ideas coming in our heads all the time. This podcast may have, we may shoot from the hip sometimes. Sometimes we have things we really, really want to say, but it is table talk and it's chatting.

It's like that flow of the natural chat. So it's not always perfect. You know, I may start something and be like, wait a minute. No, this is the thought. But I think that's what I love about what this podcast is going to be. It's like us chatting, chatting with each other, chatting with guests, chatting with listeners. Anyway, so goals, I do set goals, but I do them in like phases. I kind of look at where I want to be in 2025. So I set like

Cassie Newell (09:25.392)
year goals. And right now I really want to publish three books next year. Now I already have one on pre-order, so I just need to come up with two more, but it's still not published. So it technically will be published at the end of January and that's the romance. Then I want to publish book three in my Keeper series and I want to publish another romance. And then I've got two audio books that I want to release. So those are like my

big gets my big goals. So I planned 2025 that way. Then I try to come back on more of like a micro level and like, what do I want to do for January? And then it comes down to little writing goals for the week. But I know that it's like, because, and this is what I'm excited to talk about where I'm managing like work life balance because I don't write full time.

It's like, have to give myself grace for those goals to shift and change. so before I was so rigid, I would set goals and then I'd be like so upset because I'm so competitive and so like such a planner. If I didn't reach a goal, I'd be so hard on myself. We'll talk about this more, I think, as we get into things, but just I had to learn how to give myself grace in that it's not that you don't meet your goals. It's just you may have to

adjust or shift them. I always have goals. And if I didn't meet one, I just make a new one and go from there so that I don't get too hard on myself for not always meeting every deadline. Right? Where sometimes we put more pressure on ourselves than anyone else. don't know if find that that's for how you set things. Right. I feel like because, well, in our age bracket,

we're not talking about age, but it feels like we just take it all on. And it's really hard to let ourselves be the first person to take care of in self-care. It's always everybody else and the family and your friends and all the things. And maybe that's just our personalities in general. I find that

Cassie Newell (11:48.354)
It is really difficult to put yourself first a lot of the time. So it's great to have an accountability partner too, and somebody that you can touch base with in a community as well. For me, my goals, I do it a little differently and I think I'm going to change it this year. So this should be a hoot. So.

Typically, I do like this big reach annual goal, like you were talking about, like the high level for the year. What do I want to accomplish? And then I dive into quarters. Monthly doesn't work for me because I like to move things. Because sometimes I will overachieve and I want to be able to move things up in a quarter. And I also want to allow myself breathing room in a corner.

I that in a month. I can never find the breathing room. For me has built in part of the grace you were talking about. You know what I mean? Because if I don't have flexibility, if it's go, go, go all the time, I can't breathe because I'm like you. This is not my full-time job. I have a full-time job 40, 50 hours a week sometimes, you know.

That's very demanding. And for me, writing is kind of my reward and it's my, you know, me time that I was talking about that we don't give ourselves too much of, but I also noticed for me, I use electronic planners I have for the last several years and I sit very dutifully.

the end of December and I plan out my year, my quarters and everything. And I am really good at January, February, March. And then at the time summer hits and the fall I dwindle out. And the other problem with that is I do it on my iPad and if it's shut and it's in that program, I just don't open it. Right. And so I noticed something about myself that if it's visually out, I can't avoid it.

Cassie Newell (14:01.008)
Yeah, I have to have a dry erase calendar. I have two dry erase calendars. Big, right here. I have to because it's the first thing I see. it's it's written down. I remember it. like an annual one or a couple of months together in a quarter. But what I did about mid year this year was, and it was mostly not only creatively, but also for work. have a weekly one.

that I fold over every week and I start out on Monday. I like to take a box. So it's there, it's really quite cool and it sits on my desk. I think need something more visual and in my face that I can avoid. All right, I think it's an awesome idea to have a whiteboard. I have to find a fun, cute one, cause I'm girly. Okay, good. Before we end, and.

Most of our episodes, we're going to kind of say what we're doing, but we kind of did that in our intro. Angela had this awesome idea of doing a little hot seat so you could get to know us a little bit, before we end. with that, putting you in the hot seat, Angela, first, since it's your idea, what do you want to tell listeners about you? That is a little more outside of the industry. Yes. Okay. So I am, I was born and raised.

in a very small Colorado town called Green Mountain Falls. Currently live in Colorado Springs with my husband, my French bulldog, English bulldog, and boxer mix. Two step sons that are grown and flown. So that's the only reason I have time to do anything because I was a photographer also in my other life. Sports photography was my jam and I had a media pass and so I could ...

walk up and down the sidelines of our son's athletic games, taking pictures, and they went out to local newspapers. So they were published in local newspapers. If I ever meet you in person and you have your dog with you, I'll probably acknowledge your dog first. I absolutely hate bananas. I hate them. I won't eat them. And I don't like fake candy flavors of like those fruits, like watermelon, bananas. just hate like flavors of stuff. claustrophobic.

Cassie Newell (16:22.188)
No, I only like cherry. Okay. Don't go there. But anyway, I only like blue raspberry, fake blue raspberry and cherry. don't like fake watermelon or lemon or orange or any of You're good with it. It's just the artificial flavors. Yes. Gotcha. Yes. But I don't really like, I can't tolerate bananas. I just can't. They're gross.

A fun fact, I did try out for Survivor right as it came out. It was the fourth season and I did a video with a... borrowed my friend's Okay. That would never be me. I had it around my neck. I had it around my neck and I talking. I thought it'd be fun to just talk as if I was pretending the snake wasn't there and it was crawling all over me and all over my head. I was just like, another thing about me and...

I just thought that would show that I could handle things. Of course I didn't get picked, but it's probably because I didn't audition in a bikini or anything because I wasn't going there. I loved that show. I obsessed with Survivor and I wanted to be on it for all the you still watch it today? I didn't make it, but. No, not as much. No. Yeah. Because after a while, it's not, you kind of know what they're doing now. Before you were like, what is happening? The mental Olympics?

I was enthralled. was like, Oh no, I wouldn't have said that. Nope. got to be, you got to lie in with this person. And now it feels so staged that I'm like, I love those shows. Amazing race. Like all those shows. was always like, to be on these shows, but I, know, they did pick me. So now I don't watch their show. Yeah. Whatever. Cassie tell us, unveil your chamber of secrets to us. don't know how much I want to drop here. am a box, a Pandora's box.

Let's see. I live currently in Florida, just south of Tampa, which for the trivia nuts is one of the top lightning capitals of the world. Hence our hockey team is named the lightning. Didn't know you were going to get some knowledge today. I've lived here for about 13 years now. I'm originally from Tennessee and we're looking to possibly move back. So we're kind of excited about that.

Cassie Newell (18:50.52)
I have my husband and my two daughters. So I am the opposite of Angela. It's all females in our house, except for my husband. And one is grown and flown and the other is in active college her first year. So that's really exciting. And she's doing great and really thriving. What makes us super happy. We've got two cats and our dog, Piper, who will...

turned two in February and she is an English yellow lab. She's adorable. She's usually in my office snoring, checking things out a little bit about me. So I actually went to college on an art scholarship. I'm very artistic. I'm really good at digital art. I am lucky in the vein that a lot of the times the covers you see are ones I've created myself.

or I've worked with other artists cause I am all about supporting the indie. When I went to college, my mother was like, you know, got this scholarship and everything, but art is a hobby and not a career choice. I ended up switching my major to science and that's how I actually ended up in the pharmaceutical industry. And clinical research is actually where I work. Let's see something fun and crazy. I have an obscene.

amount of knowledge about sharks. have a healthy fear about sharks as well. I'm a bit of a beach girl. we were coming down here at Disney World at one time, they had a shark pool and you could snorkel through it with the sharks. My husband and I were like, let's work on your fear. And I was like, okay. Our daughters were really small at the time.

were getting ready and the girls crapped out. And I was like, I can't do that. I have to show them like it's okay. And we went through the whole training of don't make sudden movements, you know, kind of float. It's very salt oriented into the water ratio. You're going to float really nicely and all this. I remember my husband was like, do you want me to go first? And I was like, Nope, I have to go first or I'm not going at all. So I did it.

Cassie Newell (21:13.778)
conquered my fear and I swam with the sharks. That's amazing. Before we leave, I have a shark story, but it's way different because I had a water bed when I was a kid after I watched Jaws. Because you're a child, child brain thought and due to my overactive imagination, which helps me now, but did not help me as a kid. I had a dream that the shark fin came up through my water bed and

a shark attacked me in the water bed and pulled me down until it was actually the ocean under there. So my mother comes in one morning and she opens the door and I'm sleeping on the floor surrounded by a protective dolphin circle of all my stuffed animals. And she was like, what the hell, what's going on in here? And I was like, well, you put me in danger. There was a shark in my bed. Thanks. I was like, are you? Hello? And so she's like, okay.

So first of all, we're in Colorado. Can't be attacked by a shark here. So she sat me down and I watched like shark documentaries from then on. And so even though I'm in Colorado, I have a ridiculous, I love shark week. just, I know about sharks and it's very important to their conservation. That's tag. I actually watched tagged named sharks when my husband goes out cause he's a big fisherman.

sporting fishermen and he loves getting in the kayak and everything. And I'd be like, okay, now you need to know that Molly, the bull shark, because I do not like bull sharks. They are the worst to me, is in the Gulf right now. It's near, my husband's like, it's not like there's just one, but if it's tagged and I know about it, you're going to know about it. Yeah, I know. I know about Molly. Molly, we know about Molly. All right.

I'm going to end our episode and I just want to say thank you for joining us today. We hope you enjoyed our chat. Next week we are diving right in and talking about managing self-doubt. So until next time, keep writing and keep moving forward. Thanks for joining today's episode of The Author Next Door. Be sure to like, follow, and tell us your thoughts of this week's episode. Angela and Cassie would love to hear from you.