Episode 04: Mastering Balance in the Writer's Life

ngela Haas (00:02.209)
Welcome to episode four. I'm Angela Haas and I'm here with my co-host Cassie Newell. And this month it's all about mindset. This episode we're talking about maintaining balance in our writer life and how we as authors find inspiration. And I feel like there is so much to unpack in this episode.

Cassie Newell (00:15.405)
This episode we're talking about maintaining balance in our writer life and how we as authors find inspiration. And I feel there's so much to unpack.

Angela Haas (00:30.062)
Balance and inspiration are so important to maintain as in the authors, but sometimes these concepts can be most difficult too. Am I right? Yes, I'm right. Cassie, you work full time. You're a wife, mother, author, book coach, podcaster. There's probably something else on your resume that I'm forgetting, but how? How do you do it all? How do you have the bandwidth for everything?

Cassie Newell (00:30.701)
balance and inspiration are so important to me and to the authors, but sometimes these concepts can be the most difficult too. I write again and again. Cassie, you work full time, you're a wife, mother.

Angela Haas (01:00.456)
and produce as much as you do.

Cassie Newell (01:04.455)
so you don't see me on my bicycle with one wheel and my hair on fire? Is that what you're saying? So okay, so just to get real for a moment. I think it looks like it's a lot all up front.

But for me, it's quite manageable. I had this interesting conversation at my day job, actually, where people were talking about their hobbies and things they enjoy. And this lady was like, I do all this gardening and I cultivate all these flowers and all this stuff. And I said, well, I write books. And the first thing was like, well, how do you do that? Well, how do you garden? You know, like, how do you find time to paint or do?

Angela Haas (01:43.822)
Yeah, right.

Cassie Newell (01:48.396)
or all these other things. It's the same concept. It's finding that space for yourself in that situation of wanting to do something creative. And my creativity is writing. I do enjoy painting and other things. You just kind of find the space and the time for those things. It is a juggling act. Some things have a higher priority than others.

When my work schedule gets a little crazy, my productivity on creativity sometimes takes a plummet for a period of time, right? Yeah, I mean, we're all weekend warriors to a certain degree, like you're finding those spaces of time. You know, somebody who works out regularly, maybe getting up at 6am, 5am, hitting the gym first thing in the morning. My early morning wake up call sometimes is writing.

Angela Haas (02:23.267)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (02:41.964)
You know, that's where I fit it in. You find it and you fit it in. I also, you know, when my girls were smaller, I used a lot of tools and processes to fit it in, meaning I love the cloud. So if I can do a note real quick, if I can type on my phone or dictate on my phone real quick while I'm at a soccer game, a gymnastics event, you know, whatever it was at the time, a lot of volleyball.

was done with my youngest daughter. You you find those times, you know, when you're sitting in the car lane, stuff like that. Yeah, I think, you know, you find those spaces. I mean, you're quite busy, too. Like, how do you find those spaces, Angela? I mean,

Angela Haas (03:25.71)
Well, for me, I have a dedicated office hours. I have dedicated time where I still try to be productive in my writing life during the day because there's times when you have to make calls, answer emails, schedule things like this during the day. But I am a night owl writer. So from about 9 PM to midnight,

Cassie Newell (03:26.859)
For me, have a dedicated...

Right.

Angela Haas (03:53.368)
That's like where I'm blocking out time. And I love that time because the house is quiet. I can't procrastinate by doing chores. Like there's so many times when I'm like, well, I can possibly do this now. I've got to do laundry, you know, and I, I've kind of go to the grocery store and I can't, you know, sit down to write because I've got to do all these other things for the house and you know, just different things. So when it's night,

Cassie Newell (03:59.459)
Right.

Angela Haas (04:22.914)
There are no emails coming in. There's no phone calls. There's no nothing. It's quiet. And I am forcing myself to do it. Now, does that mean I still have to turn off like social media and not get distracted those ways? But I think going to that time, even if I'm like sitting there reading, even if I'm answering author emails, scheduling one newsletter, and that's all I do, the fact that I keep showing up to that time,

Cassie Newell (04:30.154)
Does that mean I still have to turn off social media and not get distracted those ways? I think going to that time, even if I'm sitting there reading, even if I'm answering author emails, one means learning is all I do. The fact that I keep showing up to that time, that's what helps me be productive.

Angela Haas (04:53.816)
That's what helps me be productive. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (04:57.928)
So it's a lot of consistency for you, right? And scheduling that space.

Angela Haas (05:01.07)
Yeah, and I'm not really. Yeah, that's like the one routine. I'm not really a routine person, but I that is the one routine I've been able to follow for some reason. Yeah, it totally works. So, yeah, I mean, I think.

Cassie Newell (05:13.95)
And it works for you, right? So, yeah. That's great.

Angela Haas (05:23.238)
What's some helpful things that you learned though? Sorry, my brain just short-circuited there for a second. I was like, hello. And I think that's part of maintaining balance too is taking time out when we need to because there's so much going on in both of our lives. And yet we're trying to get the word out about our author business.

Cassie Newell (05:31.274)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (05:49.794)
And sometimes they just have to be real bad. You know, I just like, I'm going to, my brain's going to like short circuit and I'm going to forget what I'm going to say. I'm going to forget why I walked in this room and maybe that's a sign that I need to take a break. So what are some, yeah, but what are some helpful things that you've learned how to maintain that balance between your work, personal and writer life?

Cassie Newell (06:03.785)
Yeah, yeah absolutely.

Cassie Newell (06:15.014)
Yeah, so I have a number of businesses in this industry, and I have the coaching, as well as writing under two different pen names on fiction. And for me, it's what's the priority and the big push for me at the current moment and what my goals are. So right now, I'm leaning all into the romance side. So that is my priority right now. I do feed some energy on

Angela Haas (06:35.075)
Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (06:44.645)
my young adult side and I do feed some energy on the coaching side because I get a lot out of it with my community that's building and it's you know it's starting to build and it's budding and all the fun things so for me

Prioritizing what is important for my goals is where I pivot. So it may look like there's a lot of things and sometimes it feels like a lot of things. I am a list person and if I can list things out and I can figure out what's the low priority, sometimes low hanging fruit is fast to do and it gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Angela Haas (07:24.632)
Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (07:27.345)
and then I can push the things that are higher priority that will give me the biggest value. Something I'm still working on. Sometimes I get energy out of the artsy fartsy things and they're not necessarily giving me a ton of value, but at the same time, it gives me energy to do the next thing because it's a completion task for me and those things go quite quickly for me. So yeah, I think.

prioritizing what your goals are. The second thing is also having processes and systems in place to support you. And I'm learning that as I go, kind of in my career building phase that I am in, that I do think I need assistance. I do think I need support with those arcs. And I'm allowing myself to give myself those things. I don't have the industry pull in that's

It's an easy right off right now, but I'm gambling on it. think it hopefully it will be and for right now it saves my sanity and it supports my business. I think a lot of times in business and you could probably speak to this from the retail side as well. Like some of these things you hesitate on adding to your business, not associating it with a business cost.

Angela Haas (08:24.938)
Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (08:49.383)
Right, you want to use your income to support that business cost, but it takes time to get that income, that slush fund to do those activities. And for me, it's an operating cost. So that's how I'm looking at it right now. So those are the two key tips I would recommend.

Angela Haas (08:56.802)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (09:11.244)
Yeah, those are great. Those are great tips and really helpful and I think realistic for people to follow. mean, what you just said seems like that. Okay. I like the low hanging fruit comment you made because it's like, okay, what can I get done that may feel small, but it's something I'm crossing off my list. so therefore that's progress. You know, I think

Cassie Newell (09:12.68)
So.

Cassie Newell (09:22.553)
Yeah Yeah, and it's supportive to your goal, right? Yeah

Angela Haas (09:40.182)
Right. think sometimes I know I'm hard on myself or I'm like, okay, well, I didn't get X, Y, Z done today. And I think sometimes we focus on the negatives. Just like with reviews, sometimes if we get a bad review, that one bad review takes space in our mind and we forget all the good reviews, you know? And so I think maintaining balance is key when we can

Cassie Newell (09:47.016)
Right.

Angela Haas (10:09.568)
Again, what I talked about before was like that cognitive restructuring where it's like, okay, flip the script in your mind. What did you get done today? What can you feel good about? And even if it's you just did nothing and took a break, that's still progress because it's helping you not get burned out, which is what we talked about in the last episode. So I think having those realistic

Cassie Newell (10:13.128)
Right. Right.

Cassie Newell (10:35.632)
Right.

Angela Haas (10:37.646)
goals and maybe realistically you can cross 10 things off your list. Or if it's just one, hey, that's still progress and there's still reward in that and there's still a feeling of accomplishment in that and that's okay. I think that's the key to balance. Yeah. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (10:59.237)
Right, right. I think too, just talking about systems, I'm just gonna, mean, nobody's sponsoring us at this time. Yet. But like, I use Later, which is a program that helps me with scheduling social media. So sometimes you may think I'm on social media all the time. No, it's a trickery, it's mirrors.

Angela Haas (11:08.398)
Yet, they will.

Cassie Newell (11:26.631)
to some degree. Sometimes I am doing just in the moment kind of thing and you probably could tell the difference but lately I've had a lot of opportunity with launches so it was like you know in the moment it's exciting but using later is great. Also if you are in Facebook and Instagram you can actually schedule Instagram posts. You know you can schedule things in Facebook.

There are a lot of mechanisms within these platforms that we use for scheduling. So like on a weekend when you're figuring out your week, if it would help you to schedule that week of social media, whether it's just three posts during that week, I mean, just think about that. That's three things you don't have to think about. Like scheduling those things are really helpful. I also, I like using programs where I'm in the cloud.

Angela Haas (12:22.144)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (12:22.147)
And so I can write on my computer, my iPad, my phone. I love those things. I love that on my phone and my iPad and my computer, I can talk to it versus typing sometimes. Sometimes me talking it out, I am high in communication, helps me before my fingers take over and I'm typing. So those processes and software are so beneficial. So I just thought I would lay that out in case somebody's listening like, okay, what processes?

Angela Haas (12:33.631)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (12:51.547)
Now I've tried a lot of different ones and it's not to say one will be better for you than another. There are learning curves to everything and sometimes that's a little painful but it's painful in the short term, benefit in the long term. So figure out those new programs that work for you. So I just thought I'd do a little Cassie commercial.

Angela Haas (12:54.638)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (12:58.445)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (13:06.967)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (13:15.022)
I love it. Cassie commercial. Okay. I, I'm such a fan of handwriting everything. And when I, when I was teaching college level classes, I really, the students, I rubbed them the wrong way sometimes because I know there's, there's research that shows that you retain more when you hand writing things down versus typing. I don't know the studies versus like dictating, but

Cassie Newell (13:20.742)
a fan of handwriting everything. when I was teaching college level classes, really, the students, I rubbed them the wrong way sometimes because I know there's research that shows that you retain more when you're handwriting things down versus typing. I don't know the settings versus like typing, but handwriting versus typing, actually need

Angela Haas (13:44.824)
handwriting versus typing, you actually retain more. You're using different muscles in your brain. That's not the scientific explanation. There is a scientific explanation. That's the Angela spin on the research, but it's out there. And so what I do, I have like two months of running calendars that I'm handwriting things and handwriting lists. And then it's still like churning in my mind. And so I...

Cassie Newell (13:48.966)
Right.

Angela Haas (14:15.926)
I'm not sure I really use like a software to keep me on task, but the one thing that has been helpful for me to understand how I work and, I think this pertains to finding balance inspiration is I really rely on like the Clifton strengths. And I think, you know, talking about that now, because we're going to refer to it. It's something that a lot of writers that it's a personality test.

Cassie Newell (14:16.646)
not sure I really use a software to keep me on track, but the one thing that has been helpful for me to understand how I work and I think the pertains to finding balance inspiration is I really rely on the clips and strikes and I think talking about that now because we're going to refer to it is something that a lot of writers, that's a personality test.

Angela Haas (14:46.196)
Well, it's more than a personality test. How would you really describe it? It's not just personality tests. It's just kind of like it measures how you make decisions, your productivity, how you function in groups. Yeah, who you are, behaviors. Yeah. So once I took that, and then I also have done trainings before using the Myers-Briggs test, I kind of understood better.

Cassie Newell (14:57.273)
Yeah, who you are, your behaviors.

Cassie Newell (15:10.821)
better how I make decisions and how my mind works, what sense overload me and what sense underlna and what's the lane to stay in. So having that knowledge I think is really powerful because you can't understand always how to maintain balance and what inspires you if you don't have.

Angela Haas (15:12.046)
how I make decisions and how my mind works and what tends to overload me and what tends to underwhelm me and which lane to stay in. having that knowledge I think is really powerful because you can't understand always how to maintain balance and what inspires you if you don't have the basis for how you function, your behaviors and your personality.

Cassie Newell (15:36.389)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (15:42.2)
For me, having that information in my back pocket, it helps me be like, okay, because I'm like this, I need to do ABC. And that really helps me be productive, but productive, but balanced. I don't know how you feel about how those tests help you.

Cassie Newell (15:59.351)
That's great. So staying balanced and energizing yourself. Okay, let me start that over. Okay. How do you recharge then? When you're staying balanced, meaning we're talking about earlier burnout, and we talked about that last time with Holly, how do you recharge then?

Angela Haas (16:27.95)
I have to take a day, an hour, I have to give myself grace to say, don't do anything. For a present for my birthday one time, my husband got me the sign that says, I give myself permission to not do anything. And that sounds like, like, why would you need a sign for that? But

Cassie Newell (16:48.845)
love it.

Angela Haas (16:53.826)
the my personality is, is I'm always like, I must be on the go. I must be constantly doing if I'm not moving, I'm not worthy. I have to be do, do, go, go, go. So for me giving myself permission to stop, to sit down on the couch, to play a township on my iPad and zone out, that is something I've had to learn to do. Like I've had to say, this is okay.

Cassie Newell (17:00.644)
Right.

Angela Haas (17:23.47)
You can rest your mind and not think about anything and put away your list, put on some music, read a book, play a game, go for a walk, hang out with a friend, stop, stop the productivity and relax. And that's how I recharge. But I had to work on giving myself permission to do so. But I think I'm much better for knowing when.

I just got to take a break. don't want to do anything today. I don't want to or not even today, but for an hour for two hours and living in those spaces. What about you? What do you think? How do you recharge?

Cassie Newell (17:59.268)
So I had a coach tell me creativity begets creativity in my personality. doing arts and crafts and painting and doing other creative endeavors takes me out of the brain space. When I'm painting, I don't I'm not necessarily pondering, you know, it's just kind of free flowing for me.

Angela Haas (18:10.296)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (18:15.338)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Angela Haas (18:21.026)
Yes.

Angela Haas (18:29.422)
Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (18:29.539)
So yeah, for me, I like to do a lot of creative things, but I also love to just sit, watch a movie and zone out. Can I tell you how many times I've watched Ted Lasso? A lot. But you know, I just, there's certain movies that I can have on repeat, certain shows. You know, sometimes I just like to dance it out and listen to music and just jam out. You know what I mean? Like,

Angela Haas (18:43.406)
Yes. Yeah.

Angela Haas (18:55.374)
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Cassie Newell (18:58.378)
Bring on my 13 year old self. Jumping on my bed, jamming out. So yeah, those things, they recharge me. A great bubble bath, know, great dinner, going out to dinner, not having to cook and clean and just anything like that is fabulous for me. That's recharging completely. And even just a good old nap. This girl is about that too.

Angela Haas (19:01.866)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (19:24.387)
So good siesta in the afternoon, sometimes, you know, just one hour. Wow. Yeah. Oh, really? Girl, you missing out.

Angela Haas (19:29.94)
yeah. Yeah, I can't nap. I cannot nap, but no, I cannot because I'll lay down and be like, I'm not comfortable. Why am I not comfortable? Maybe I need to stretch. I probably get up. Maybe I should do laundry. Like it just doesn't it doesn't stop. Like I just I have to like, I my inner like 12 year old needs to be worn out all day and then I can sleep at night, but I cannot take naps. It's so weird.

Cassie Newell (19:43.936)
no.

Cassie Newell (19:59.255)
Yeah, well it's not an everyday occurrence for me, but when I get that opportunity, when my body is just really screaming, it's great. All right, I have one more question for you. I'm so excited. I know.

Angela Haas (20:04.204)
Yes.

Angela Haas (20:07.914)
Mm-hmm. Yes, I love it. I'm so excited.

Cassie Newell (20:15.85)
Do you feel that leveling up is a state of challenging your balance? Because you're doing a lot this year, you've got a lot of big goals. So I'm just kind of curious how that's challenging your balance. And if you have any plans or things in process to help you keep that balance.

Angela Haas (20:36.098)
That is a great question and a hundred percent yes, because when I was just working on one book, Keepers of the Universe, book one, First Strike, that's the name of my book, just because you needed to know. I was just working on that book and I was taking classes and I was just starting to build my network, but I really, there wasn't as much going on.

Cassie Newell (20:54.414)
I was just working on that book and I was taking...

Angela Haas (21:05.166)
And then once I publish the second you publish a book, for those of you who are listening, who are getting there haven't, then it's like all the marketing comes at you. Like you got to be marketing and then you got to keep writing. You got to get all these books out. So I feel like the good old days of just sort of being this, you know, being this person writing a book in her spare time, it it it wasn't as busy. Now I've got.

Cassie Newell (21:11.483)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (21:33.816)
two books out in that series. My romance, my debut romantic comedy is coming out at the end of the month. I've got first strike in an audio book production also coming out end of the month into February. We're doing this podcast. I'm speaking at superstars writing seminars. So I have to get that presentation ready. And it's my own fault because I always wanna just like, I'm always like.

Cassie Newell (21:41.218)
I it. It's my own fault.

Angela Haas (22:03.338)
I say yes to like, I'm like, yes to life, let's do it. And then sometimes I'm like, that's actually, that brings me to a point in that as you level up, before for me, it was the power of yes. Don't say no to any opportunity, to any class, yes, yes, yes, sign up, do everything. My camera's starting to.

I apologize. We're just gonna, you know what? That's one great thing about this podcast is like, we're just two real gals chit chatting away in our dens and sometimes things happen. It's okay. I think you should leave it in. Whatever. Anyway, so for me it was the power of yes. Now it's the power of no to maintain balance.

Cassie Newell (22:39.859)
I could have edited that out, now I'm not gonna.

Cassie Newell (22:50.912)
think that's power of yes.

Cassie Newell (22:55.552)
that's an interesting switch.

Angela Haas (22:57.934)
Truly, you've got to say no to things. You've got to know when to say no. And it's not, you know, there's some things where like maybe I missed an opportunity and be saying, I can't do this right now or no, I can't be in this group or this, but I've had to shift in saying, I cannot do this because that a group or project or whatever is not going to get 100 % of my best.

Cassie Newell (23:01.056)
Mm-hmm

Cassie Newell (23:22.113)
a group or project or whatever, something to get 100 % the night, the best, seeing the energy, but also, I think that physically, all the stuff that we're doing takes away some writing, too. So that's part of that. We don't need to write. We can produce.

Angela Haas (23:27.606)
you know, energy, but also I just physically, all the stuff that we're doing takes us away from writing too. So that's part of balance. I still need to write, I still need to produce. So it's the power of no now that I've leveled up into a different category. And that's, that's important to maintaining balance.

Cassie Newell (23:52.01)
But what I also think for you and for me, the power of yes is still there because you're saying yes to things that are supporting your goals. So what brought you to yes?

Angela Haas (24:03.008)
Yes. I didn't mean to be like, yes, the power of yes.

Cassie Newell (24:09.184)
But what brought you to the point of going, okay, I'm saying yes to too many things. Was there a specific thing that happened or a specific time that you were like, okay, this is do or die and I'm doing too much?

Angela Haas (24:26.222)
I think I, even though I'm a list maker, I have a calendar person, I forgot like a Zoom meeting. It was a group. It's not, know, it's kind of come and go, but I still, once I commit to something, I don't like to have Zs or half ass it. Sorry, I just swore. But I want, when I commit to saying yes, I want to give 100%. And I started to notice, A,

Cassie Newell (24:53.983)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (24:55.886)
I was signed up for too many classes. was like, you know what, you're always learning, but I've published one book. Okay, I need to give myself a break and say, listen, you know more than you think you do. You don't need any more of these classes. It's a lot of money, it's a lot of time. And that's when I started to be like, you've got too much, too many groups, too many things. You need to dial up so that you have space to write.

Cassie Newell (25:24.431)
That's great. Yeah, I'm I think I've centered myself really well over the years as to what I give to groups and then what they give back to me. I've started pulling out of some groups.

Angela Haas (25:24.524)
What about you? that, when has that happened to you?

Cassie Newell (25:43.379)
that weren't serving me as much and I felt like I was serving more to them, I wanna facilitate my own groups and kind of tend to their growth within my coaching platform and as I'm building in romance, I'm excited to have people coming into that forum. So right now that's like super energizing for me.

Angela Haas (25:48.366)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (26:05.794)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (26:11.037)
So yeah, I think I tend to be where my goals are right now. And that's helpful for me. I love helping other people. And that's where I have to take a step back and go, is this something I can do quite quickly? Is it something I can do without a ton of effort? Or is it going to take away from the efforts I need to do for my goals? So I do have to reassess those things more.

Angela Haas (26:21.186)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (26:25.079)
Right.

Cassie Newell (26:40.178)
because I have so many things going on. again, I think I'm a lot like you, I want to give 100 % of my best and if I can't support particular coaching client in the service that they would like to have, then I am saying no. And I am quite booked out. So, you know, that kind of helps to on what I've said yes to then I commit to those things and I maneuver my goals around those things as well. So that's tough. Sorry.

I don't know if you heard that. Anyway, so yeah, I think that's kind of where my alignment is. Yeah, I wonder with your coaching because I can't be an editor. can't be a coach right now because I will. Well, coaching isn't necessarily editing. No, I'm I'm talking about things that help your fun to others.

Angela Haas (27:20.556)
Yeah. I wondered with your coaching because I can't be an editor. I can't be a coach right now because I would end up focusing. No, I'm saying I'm talking, I'm talking about things that give up your time to others. That's editing coaching, different other, you know, ways that you're helping someone else. So yes, those are two different things. But, what I was thinking about doing

both like becoming a story grid editor and doing these things. And I finally said, I can't because I'm going to end up giving so much to others that I don't save time from my own writing. And I don't know if that was a factor. Like when you're coaching, I'm sure you're giving out so much to others. And then you're like, okay, where are you in this? You know, where is your time?

Cassie Newell (28:09.446)
Yeah. So for people that are listening, because there are probably a lot of people going, you know, I love editing, or I love storyboarding, or I'm an idea person, you know, lots of things you can coach on, right, or lots of skills, maybe website building, we know a lot of website builders in our group, you know, all the things, I think you just have to, my advice,

Angela Haas (28:27.83)
Right? yeah, yeah.

Cassie Newell (28:35.257)
on the balance of making those decisions is lean into your strengths. Meaning not Clifton strengths necessarily, but your skill strengths. So for me, I am really good at finding the story and sticking to kind of a story outline if you will. the few people that I am continuing to coach are building out their stories and I can see it for them and I'm not gonna write it down for them because they have to answer the questions and then it

Angela Haas (28:41.678)
That's a great point.

Cassie Newell (29:05.32)
may change and deviate. And I'm really good at asking probing questions to get you thinking and developing your characters and plots and storylines. that's my superpower. know, so that's easy for me to lean into, right? And I'm a really good cheerleader. yeah, think you lean into the things you're good at in those realms. If there's something you're trying out that you would like to be good at.

Angela Haas (29:18.936)
Yeah, I think it is. I agree. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (29:35.281)
You know, I would just hesitate on doing that and writing and doing X, Y, Z, because then you're using a lot of energy on things that you're still developing. Yeah.

Angela Haas (29:49.62)
Mm-hmm. Yes, absolutely. What about inspiration though? Where do you, how do you stay inspired? What little things get your creative juices flowing?

Cassie Newell (29:55.261)
Cassie Newell (30:03.735)
my gosh, so many things like as writers were big readers, so lots of stories, lots of authors have inspired me from not only their words, but their career choices and things of that nature. But I'm just good old fashioned music, TV, movies. I love art too. I can see certain architecture and paintings and build a story in my head.

Angela Haas (30:29.076)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (30:30.053)
You know, like, I get inspired by so many different things and silly things sometimes too, but like, over earlier last year, I was really into binging Netflix and old shows I always thought I wanted to watch, but they just kind of sat there on my list and I never got to them. And one of the two of them were Sweet Magnolias and Hart of Dixie. And that spawned my romance in Peachwood Grove, you know, like,

Angela Haas (30:48.152)
Right.

Angela Haas (30:57.346)
Amazing. Right.

Cassie Newell (30:59.504)
There were things that I was doing and I, know, it, are they mirrors? Not necessarily, but I took inspiration from those things. And, you know, there's a lot of things just in my family being from the South and Tennessee and Georgia that, you know, just you kind of mix in. So all of those things really inspire me. What about you? What inspires you? What gives you the inspiration to do?

Angela Haas (31:25.198)
Definitely listening to music. I'm always driving people nuts because I shazam everywhere. I'll be in the grocery store and be like one sec and I have to shazam the song. Car commercials actually have the best music in the background. It's amazing. And I've actually shazam some and found some great music from car commercials. And once I listen to that while I'm driving,

Cassie Newell (31:35.748)
I

Cassie Newell (31:48.603)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (31:51.936)
I tend to be able to like create a scene like a movie in my mind because of the soundtrack. then I always, Pinterest is a huge tool for me because I cast all my characters in Pinterest and then I get down to the environments and I'm such a visual person. So I'm not great at writing from like setting from something I can't see. If I see it, I can come up with.

Cassie Newell (31:59.804)
interesting.

Angela Haas (32:20.162)
the visuals on paper, but I'm not great at conceptualizing something. I can come up with the concept, but creating the details from something I can't see is really, really a struggle for me. So I storyboard, yes, I storyboard everything in Pinterest down to the setting, clothing, location, know, like everything.

Cassie Newell (32:35.881)
So that solidifies it for you seeing it.

Cassie Newell (32:44.344)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (32:47.854)
cast of characters. then, especially if I have the cast of characters, then I can in my mind better see how they might move or their expressions. And then, so yeah, like, and then when I was writing romance, I just wanted to rewatch all my favorite nineties romantic comedies. Like, well, I don't, I mean, I can't pick one, but when Harry met Sally,

Cassie Newell (32:57.916)
So yeah.

Cassie Newell (33:07.093)
Okay, what was your absolute favorite romantic comedy in the 90s?

Angela Haas (33:16.906)
obviously. And then I love Sleepless in Seattle, because the setting, I love the house that Tom Hanks is in in Seattle, and I just love Meg Ryan. But I love Two Weeks Notice. That's an underrated one with Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant, and the dialogue is fantastic. It's snappy. It's fantastic.

Cassie Newell (33:19.653)
So good.

Cassie Newell (33:26.672)
yeah snappy snappy

Angela Haas (33:40.79)
So I and moon struck because I'm Italian and like moon struck is everything, even though, of course, like Nick Cage is polarizing, but he was perfect in that is a perfect Italian man. So, yes. So, yeah.

Cassie Newell (33:54.427)
I love it. awesome. All right. Such a good one.

Angela Haas (33:59.086)
Cool beans. Great conversation. Great conversation. Do have anything else you want as takeaways for listeners?

Cassie Newell (34:10.527)
I think when it comes to balance and inspiration, it's very individualized. I mean, we talked about that with Holly. I think you just have to find your balance. But I think the most important thing is that. You know, you have to carve out space for yourself. Now you talk about your office hours, which I love. I think that's great. And I think sometimes we give ourselves to everyone else except ourselves.

Angela Haas (34:17.346)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (34:38.499)
Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (34:39.808)
So to have balance, you have to give yourself space to find that balance too, as well as your inspiration. And getting inspiration isn't just fluff time. I call it playful intelligence and Writer Fuel, and it's purposeful. And as adults, we need it. So yeah, my book, Writer Fuel. Let me get my quick plug in there.

Angela Haas (34:47.672)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (35:05.198)
Hey, let's do it.

Cassie Newell (35:07.556)
But it's purposeful, it's important, and I think, you know, just wrapping up the discussion of balance and knowing that it's individualized. What works for me may not work for you. Same thing from Angela, you know, it may not work for you, or it may. But you have to give things a good shot too. Yeah.

Angela Haas (35:18.702)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (35:25.922)
Yes. Yeah. And building on what you were saying, great point about taking time, giving yourself space and telling yourself that's not being selfish. You know, sometimes we're taught that if we really take time for ourselves, we're being selfish. You're not. The other reminder is the power of no can be, can be just as helpful in remembering that versus the power of yes.

Cassie Newell (35:28.228)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (35:54.324)
Right. Right. So good. All right. Table topic time.

Angela Haas (35:54.592)
Sometimes what you say no to is actually going to make things easier for you and be more helpful in maintaining balance and your creative inspiration than what you're constantly saying yes to. So those are my takeaways. Okay, let's turn to the table topic each week for those tuning in. I got a new one. I'm excited. It's a little jazzier. It's

Cassie Newell (36:22.584)
Okay.

Angela Haas (36:23.816)
not your mom's dinner party table topic.

Let's see what's in here. I'm just gonna pick.

Angela Haas (36:37.14)
I don't know. Okay, we just gotta go with it.

Cassie Newell (36:40.384)
I'm scared.

Angela Haas (36:43.31)
That's the topic. What's the most scared you've ever been? Well, first of all, you're a Jedi, obviously, or a mind reader.

Cassie Newell (36:43.674)
no.

Yes, I am a Jedi. What's the most scared that you have ever been?

Cassie Newell (37:01.657)
I don't know. mean...

Cassie Newell (37:10.661)
I get scared a lot. you go. You go first. I'm cutting me out. Go.

Angela Haas (37:12.94)
I know, I can go.

I know immediately only to give you time. But if you know, go. Okay. Well, okay. This is okay. This is going to bring it down a notch, but Hey, we're being real. These, this is our life. so thinking about everything that California is going through right now, it was a smaller scale, but still very

Cassie Newell (37:36.995)
Mm.

Angela Haas (37:41.664)
scary was the Waldo Canyon fire when that hit Colorado Springs. That was 2012, I believe. I remember jogging and seeing the first plume of smoke come over the hill. And I called my husband, said, Tim, we were used to fires, but this one felt different because it was really close and human caused. that thing, the thing is with most forest fires I've lived through,

Cassie Newell (38:01.786)
and human cause. that thing, the thing is with most forest fires I've listened to truly is in the forest. And you know, it's always people in really remote, compact waiting. This one swept through her Colorado Springs neighborhood. And I think that's where it feels like really insane when you're seeing businesses and homes on your street.

Angela Haas (38:09.688)
truly is in the forest. And you know, it's always people in really remote mountain towns evacuating. This one swept through our Colorado Springs neighborhoods. And I think that's where it feels like really insane when you're seeing businesses and homes on your streets go up in flames. And we had to evacuate, my parents had to evacuate from the mountains to us. and then,

Cassie Newell (38:31.801)
wow.

Angela Haas (38:38.782)
Tim's parents had to evacuate with us and then we all had to evacuate out of our house. And as we're packing up the embers from 10 miles away are flying into our yard. And that was probably the scary, just because it's in your city. Like, you know, everything around you is engulfed in fire and you just have to get out and, you know, I, our home is our sanctuary. It's our safe place. And, you know, I, I've just feel for the people in California.

because I know how scary that is but that is definitely the most scared I've ever been packing up and fleeing a wildfire. That is intense. So that was heavy and I said it my heavy voice. I'm so sorry. Yeah, yeah.

Cassie Newell (39:13.273)
Mm.

Cassie Newell (39:19.065)
Yeah, but it's where we are today, right? I've gone through hurricanes, tornadoes. mean, I've been through a lot of things, but not a fire to that degree, you know. But I can tell you the tornado, I think it was 99 that hit Oklahoma City, the F5, was insane.

Angela Haas (39:26.402)
Mmm... yeah.

Angela Haas (39:43.0)
Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (39:48.089)
we got down to my husband's parents as quickly as we could. And we only got in from FEMA blocking us because my husband hadn't changed his license. And we could get in, you know, into his parents' neighborhood. But just the tarps and desks from miles and miles and miles away from schoolhouses shoved into the ground, cars and trees, boats and trees. I mean, it was more surreal than scary to me.

Angela Haas (40:07.182)
Mm.

Angela Haas (40:16.022)
Yeah. I get that.

Cassie Newell (40:17.654)
I've had a lot of clinical experience where my blood pressure goes sky high and you're trying to save people and a lot of sadness that occurs with that. I think for me, the most scary things are more emergency situations with my children more than anything else around me. So, I mean, there just have always been different moments, I think.

Angela Haas (40:23.31)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (40:39.08)
yes. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (40:47.082)
and being scared and for me, I'm one of those very rational people and I think it's my clinical training too is that when scary stuff happens, it's just pick up, what do you do? Where do you go? How do you manage? Get out, know, tend to an issue. So I don't panic ever in those situations. I'm more of a click, click, click.

Angela Haas (41:04.802)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (41:12.291)
Right.

Cassie Newell (41:16.0)
It's interesting because I actually read somewhere that it's genetic and is not experience based. And I was like kind of calling bull on it. But then I was reading it and it was funny because my oldest daughter is a lot like me and my husband where it's just go get it done, get in there, help out, move along. My youngest child is complete panic shut down for a few minutes. Right. And we're just like

Angela Haas (41:23.254)
Interesting.

Angela Haas (41:40.558)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (41:43.895)
go, go, go, go, like there's no time to breathe. Like we've already taken that breath, but she hasn't. And it's genetic and I had no idea. And so it's interesting, you know, as you're seeing these awful things happen, the response of people where it's get in, go and the other people where it's just like, I'm absorbing and I don't know yet. You know, it's, it's really interesting to

Angela Haas (41:45.826)
Right.

Angela Haas (42:03.682)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (42:09.26)
Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (42:13.075)
see that now that I know, you know, part of that is genetic. yeah, scary stuff is not my favorite thing or favorite topic. But I think it's all in how you respond to it. And at the end of the day, stuff is stuff. It is sanctuary. It is important, you know, for daily living. But it's also your life. So take care of you and your family the best you can.

Angela Haas (42:18.509)
Yeah.

No.

Angela Haas (42:26.893)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (42:38.208)
yeah. No, and there wasn't a question. We got the kids and the pets out and I mean, I had time to grab a few keepsakes and my computer only because that's where all the photos are. And they are in the cloud, but there's, like it's a laptop. So I was able to grab my computer quick and we were in the car and we were gone and you know, whatever we were safe. it's just still the clock running.

Cassie Newell (42:44.394)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (42:50.838)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (43:01.407)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (43:06.594)
was the scary thing. Get out and get the, you know, get your kids and pets out. Obviously those are the most important things. then whatever stuff you can grab that's meaningful. My grandmother's jewelry box and still stuff, but it's still that man, you know? Yeah.

Cassie Newell (43:23.162)
mementos and things that you tie history to. Yeah, absolutely. So I'm gonna say let's flip it on a fun thing real quick. Your book is coming out. Yeah. Remember, I'm your hype girl. you forget things. So I'm just gonna say this romcom is so worth it. I love it. Aren't you excited?

Angela Haas (43:35.15)
It is. I was like, it is. Yeah, it is.

Angela Haas (43:49.774)
I'm excited and terrified because it's my first romance. Yeah. I just got my thick skin from putting out a superhero sci-fi fiction, you know, sci-fi fantasy. And now I've got to like, I know there's gonna be people who love it and people who don't. And so, but yeah, it's going to be interesting to see. Yeah. It was, it was really fun to write. It was really fun to pivot. So, and your book is out.

Cassie Newell (43:53.108)
It's different and new and brand new. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (44:00.531)
Yeah.

Yeah, but that's with everything.

Angela Haas (44:17.934)
Year Romance Short Reads. Where is it? It's number 22 right now.

Cassie Newell (44:18.054)
Yes! my gosh!

So I'm numbered, well, as of recording this, I am number 22 in my category in new releases. And I just was flabbergasted because when I started out and I looked, there were over 2,000 in there. And I was like, say what? And then it jumped down to 400. And then all of sudden I was like, oh my gosh. So yeah, and my next arc is coming out already. And it's like, ah, you know, here we go.

Angela Haas (44:31.192)
That's amazing. Congrats.

Angela Haas (44:38.146)
That's amazing. That's incredible.

Angela Haas (44:45.548)
That's amazing.

Cassie Newell (44:52.275)
this goal that I have and it's churning and burning. It's gonna be a little crazy ride for this first quarter for sure. Yep.

Angela Haas (44:56.632)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (45:00.972)
Yeah, absolutely. So fun. Well, I think great episode. High five.

Cassie Newell (45:08.693)
High five.

Angela Haas (45:11.862)
Okay. Well, till next time everyone, keep writing, keep creating, and we'll see you next week for showing up for yourself even when it's hard with a very special guest, Raquel Henry. She is amazing. I mean, she's amazing. Full stop. All right, we'll see you later.

Cassie Newell (45:12.723)
Off screen.

Cassie Newell (45:27.359)
It's amazing.