Fall Focus Mode + Giveaway! | Furthermore October 2025

Or how I "lock in" + an ARC giveaway

Oct 03, 2025

a perfect fall day, courtesy of my back yard

Happy October, friends! I honestly can’t believe there are only three months left in the year, and like many of you, I’m hoping to keep my head down for most of it and tackle the projects I want completed before we roll into 2026.

I’m a big fan of Cal Newport, and his newsletter last week introduced me to the term “lock in,” which is apparently a TikTok phrase for refocusing on the goals you set out to accomplish at the beginning of the year for the last three months of it. So other than some upcoming travel I have (will I be seeing any of you at YALLFest?), my intent for the rest of the year is to lock in. I’m self-admittedly very into productivity, focus, and goal setting ideas (I’m sure many of you have heard me yell about my unending love for Deep Work, a book that single-handedly changed my entire work process), so it feels fitting to add “lock in” to my vernacular.

It makes a lot of sense to me that this is a popular conversation right now. The fall makes me want to retreat and stay in while simultaneously fueling my creativity; it makes me want to dive headfirst into something new and not come up for air until the new year. It both feels like a time to slow down and a time to obsess over a project, and somehow those two things seem to fit perfectly together in fall.

For me, my goals are to finish the YA proposal I’m working on, turn in edits on another project, and read six more books before the year ends. I’m also focusing on maintaining a regular sleep schedule and adding strength training back into my exercise routine after focusing so heavily on cardio since my brain injury.

So, what do I do in service of locking in? First, I adhere to my routine; for me, that’s getting up at the same time every day, working out, then making an Americano and sitting down at my desk. In the fall, lighting a candle with a scent reminiscent of whatever I’m working on is also highly encouraged.

I put my phone on focus mode and keep it in a different room. I try to add as much friction to getting distracted as I can, so I also use Freedom on my laptop to block certain websites that I visit whenever the work gets hard or I’m trying to procrastinate (I’m looking at you, Zillow).

I use the Pomodoro method. I set a timer for however long I want my focus sessions to be (traditionally the method is 25 minutes, but I tend to do better with sessions that are a bit longer), and I sprint for that time before taking a short (off-screen) break to walk around and stretch.

I plan my weeks. Every Sunday I sit down with my planner and prioritize my work and personal to-do lists, so that each morning I know what I want to accomplish.

I time block. Every morning when I sit down at my desk, I schedule out my day, decide what needs to get done, and then I block out time for each specific task in my planner.

I track my focus hours. I keep a log in my planner for how many hours of deep work I get in each day. This holds me accountable and serves as a check-in to make sure I’m devoting time to the things I care most about. (Someone once told me that thinking about work feels a lot like actual work, which can trick us into thinking we’re getting lots done when we’re actually just thinking about it—tracking my deep work hours makes sure I’m not just thinking about what I need to get done, but actually doing it.)

If you have any favorite focus methods, I’d love to hear them! Drop them in the comments below, and here’s to a wonderful season of slowing down and locking in. 🍂

me to my ARCs: I love you, most ardently

I received my The Sun and the Starmaker ARCs, which means it’s time for a ✨giveaway✨! Enter for your chance to win one of three The Sun and the Starmaker ARCs, and I will sign and personalize however you’d like! All you have to do to enter is be an active subscriber of Furthermore. US only this time (I’m sorry, international friends! Shipping rates have skyrocketed. 🙁). Giveaway runs from today, 10/3, through Sunday, 10/12 at midnight. Winners will be randomly chosen and notified via email on Monday, 10/13.

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A Moment of Gratitude

This past weekend I was in Spokane for the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association’s fall trade show, and it was an absolute joy chatting with such enthusiastic champions of books. It was my first conference-style event since my injury, and it isn’t lost on me that I would not have been able to do that a year ago. It was emotional for me to be there, talking about the circumstance in which I wrote STARMAKER, marveling at the fact that I could even talk about the book in the first place. It’s a real book, it will be on shelves one day soon, and I don’t think I’ll ever truly get over that.

Also, we got a new Taylor Swift album today, so lots to be thankful for. ❤️‍🔥

As always, thank you so much for being here. 🤍

Love,

Rachel