I have crepe myrtle trees in my front yard that have grown out of control. A neighbor noticed and gave me some tips on how to prune them to a manageable size. I took her advice and pruned the trees aggressively, but soon they were out of control again. Again, my neighbor came by and said, “I forgot to tell you the second step. After the initial pruning, you have to come back and pull off the little branches that are too close to the ground. You need to tell the tree where you want it to grow.” Her advice was very helpful. Maybe you’re wondering what this has to do with authors.  As authors, sometimes we have to say “no” to good things so we can say “yes” to better things. It hurts to cut away parts of our lives that seem good. When I pruned the crepe myrtles, I cut off good branches that were still producing a few flowers.  But if I want the tree to flourish, I must prune good branches to make room for better branches that produce many more flowers. Success is difficult in any area of life because it requires focus.  You can’t focus on your book if you’re over-committed to other good things.Thomas Umstattd, Jr. In 2019, we published an episode called Focus, Pruning, and Why Novel Marketing is About to Change. In that episode, I talked about the mental breakdown I had due to being over-committed. When the episode aired, I was going through a tough season of pruning. I got rid of the WordPress plugins I’d created, stepped down from being a literary agent, stopped traveling, and stopped scheduling new speaking gigs. My podcast co-host at that time, Jim L. Rubart, was also pruning his life. One of the good things he had to prune was being the co-host of the Novel Marketing podcast.  Listeners have often asked how our careers and lives have changed since that time. They’re wondering * How did it go?  * What were the results of that season of pruning? * Did you make any mistakes we could avoid as we prune to improve our writing?  Pruning: 3.5 Years Later Thomas Umstattd, Jr.: What’s happened since you pruned good things from your life three and a half years ago? Jim L. Rubart (Jim): Dropping Novel Marketing was extremely difficult. It was an emotional moment, but it also freed up my time and lifted the emotional weight of the regular responsibility. It was a good move. I could channel more of that energy into the Rubart Writing Academy that my son and I ran at the time.  Pruning also enabled me to channel energy into my hobbies. It’s important to have interests outside of our careers. Cutting away a good pursuit allowed me to pursue my hobbies while slowing the pace of my life and schedule. Now, I’ve even pruned even the Rubart Writing Academy. My son’s business was taking off, and we felt like the season for the Rubart Writing Academy had come to an end.  I have the feeling that I still have more pruning to do. Do you feel that? Do you feel you have more to prune from your life? Thomas: Yes, but it’s difficult to know what exactly needs to be cut.   In 2019, I pruned everything but the podcast,